In her first appearance on Fox News since leaving the network in January 2017, Megyn Kelly addressed a wide range of issues, including allegations of sexual harassment against film mogul Harvey Weinstein and longtime NBC veteran Matt Lauer.
During an interview with Tucker Carlson, Kelly, 48, said that her former employer NBC had participated in “legal sleight of hand,” accusing them of paying inflated severance packages to employees that had claims of sexual misconduct against the network stars. Kelly appeared on NBC’s Today from 2017 until her departure at the end of 2018 and had been absent from television until her Wednesday interview with Carlson.
In a discussion of journalist Ronan Farrow’s recent book, Catch & Kill, which outlines several allegations of sexual abuse by NBC News host Matt Lauer, 61, Kelly credited former NBC employee Brooke Nevils for coming forward with the allegation discussed in Farrow’s book. “The question is what did they know about Matt Lauer prior to the time the woman came forward who was ultimately his downfall?” Kelly skeptically questioned of NBC.
“Here is what they are saying,” Kelly said of NBC’s likely involvement in accusations against Lauer. “No settlements of any kind. No settlements. That’s a legal sleight of hand. You can get paid out as a sexual harassment victim in something other than a settlement. You can get what’s called enhanced severance. That’s the situation where the receptionist is suddenly getting a seven-figure goodbye. She was, like, an amazing typist.”
“They haven’t gotten specific about what monies were paid out to whom,” the former lawyer also said. “Show us the money. The number one thing that needs to happen now is they need to release any and all Matt Lauer accusers from their confidentiality agreements.”
NBC has so far consistently denied knowing that Lauer was guilty of any sexual misconduct before Nevils’ accusations that Lauer had raped her became known in 2017.
