A new book by New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow reportedly includes several new allegations of sexual harassment against former Today host Matt Lauer.
Lauer, 61, who was fired from his job at Today on NBC in November of 2017, had been accused of sexual misconduct by an unidentified woman during coverage of the Sochi Olympics in 2014, and also afterward in New York. The woman provided a more detailed account of her relationship with Lauer in Farrow’s new book, Catch & Release, according to the New York Post.
Other women, still unidentified, have also reportedly come forward with previously unknown allegations of misconduct against Lauer. Addie Zinone, who formerly worked as a production assistant on Today, is the only woman has commented publicly on an alleged affair with Lauer. Zinone described a brief affair with Lauer in 2000 that she said was an “abuse of power.” At the time that she told her story in 2018, Zinone asked, “Where are the other victims, and why haven’t they come forward?”
Other anonymous allegations against Lauer include that he gave an NBC staffer a sex toy, that he had sex with a woman in his office, and that he exposed himself to a woman asking her to touch him.
Farrow, 31, the son of actress Mia Farrow, has built his journalistic career on attempting to expose high profile men by publishing exclusive stories by women accusing them of sexual impropriety. He was among the first to publish accusations against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which led to his Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2018. Farrow has also published stories about alleged misconduct by former CBS head Les Moonves and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, though his reporting on Kavanaugh could not be substantiated. Catch & Release will be released on Oct. 15.
