NEW YORK — Posted Wednesday, November 29, 2017 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
While sexual misconduct crosses party lines, reaction to news of Matt Lauer's firing over "inappropriate sexual behavior" became political almost from the moment the news came out this morning, starting from the top.
At 7:16 a.m., Donald Trump tweeted with: "Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace." But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack's past!"
Lack is NBC News chairman and Comcast owns NBC.
Ana Navarro
, a contributor for CNN, ABC and Telemundo, wrote on Twitter that Trump is still president despite multiple sexual allegations against him while plenty of others have lost their jobs:
Matt Lauer lost his job.
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) November 29, 2017
Charlie Rose lost his job.
Mark Halperin lost his job.
Glenn Thrush lost his job.
Billy Bush lost his job.
Harvey Weinstein lost his job.
Kevin Spacey lost his job.
But in politics...
Conyers still in Congress.
Moore still running.
Trump still President.
Variety reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister wrote on Twitter that she and Ramin Setoodeh have been working on a story about "far ranging accusations" against Lauer from multiple women for months. "The power of journalism has never been more evident with this cultural change," she wrote, acknowledging how quickly men in multiple industries have lost their jobs soon after such accusations became public, starting with former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein last month.
And Keith Whitney, a reporter who had been based in Atlanta, posted on Twitter that rumors about Lauer have been floating around for a decade.
Now if only #NBC could fire itself. Those rumors have been around for a decade. If WE heard them, you know they did. https://t.co/uzGbfLe4qT
— keithwhitney (@keithwhitney) November 29, 2017
And while tabloids don’t always get it right, InTouch Weekly wrote about Lauer’s possible firing on its cover a few weeks ago:
Make NO mistake, this has been @megynkelly & Andy Lack’s mission in recent months. My story from a few weeks ago. #MattLauer #TodayShow #NBC #MegynKelly #AnnCurry pic.twitter.com/YS0Pn3Ge1x
— jen hutton heger (@jenheger) November 29, 2017
At 9 a.m., Lauer's former colleague Megyn Kelly said this: "Matt has been kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC News. I see the anguish on my colleagues' faces. But what we don't see, is the pain on the faces of those who had the courage to come forward."
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