Brooke Nevils, a former NBC employee who accused Matt Lauer of rape, said the former Today show host was attempting “to bully” her “into silence.”
“There’s a Matt Lauer that millions of Americans watched on TV every morning for two decades. And there is the Matt Lauer who this morning attempted to bully a former colleague into silence,” Nevil said in a statement that aired Wednesday on NBC Nightly News. “His open letter was a case study in victim shaming. I am not afraid of him now regardless of his threats, bullying and the shaming and predatory tactics I know he has tried to use against me.”
Lauer wrote Wednesday a nearly 1,500-word denial of the rape accusation, saying he planned to fight back against Nevils and others who had accused him.
“It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense,” the Lauer said about the new accusation.
“For two years, the women with whom I had extramarital relationships have abandoned shared responsibility, and instead, shielded themselves from blame behind false allegations. They have avoided having to look a boyfriend, husband, or a child in the eye and say, ‘I cheated.’ They have done enormous damage in the process. And I will no longer provide them the shelter of my silence.”
Nevils, 35, accused Lauer in an excerpt of Ronan Farrow’s upcoming book of anally raping her during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Farrow also accused NBC of attempting to cover up rape allegations against Harvey Weinstein, including threats by NBC News’ general counsel Susan Weiner over his coverage of the story.
