Melissa Lonner, a former booker for the Today show, is the second woman to go on the record to describe sexual misconduct from Matt Lauer.
She spoke to Ronan Farrow for his new book Catch and Kill where she alleged that Lauer exposed himself to her in an empty office following a cocktail party in 2010. She claimed that Lauer intentionally isolated her while making small talk. Farrow wrote that Lauer then “unzipped his pants and exposed his erect penis” to her.
Lonner said she reported Lauer’s actions to NBC’s Ann Curry, who relayed the information to two executives, but nothing was done. Lonner left the company in 2013 after a legal settlement in which she received a “six-figure sum.” NBC maintains that Lonner only signed customary parting documents that did not include anything that silenced her.
— Melissa Lonner (@MPLonner) October 23, 2017
Lauer’s legal team denied Lonner’s claims in a statement.
“Matt never exposed himself to anyone,” said Elizabeth Locke, Lauer’s attorney. “This ridiculous story has been shopped around for years. Many allegations that are being circulated were never raised during any fact-checking process. And despite repeated requests for an advance copy of this book, we have not been provided one, while many media outlets have. Matt will have more to say at an appropriate time, but he will not take part in the marketing circus for this book.”
NBC also denied many of the allegations made in Farrow’s book.
Lonner is the second woman to come forward with an allegation against Lauer as a result of Farrow’s book after Brooke Nevils claimed he raped her in a hotel room in Sochi.
