Former NBC “Today” host Megyn Kelly decried the attacks on Brooke Nevils, the woman who recently accused Matt Lauer of raping her.
Lauer was fired in late 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct. Nevils said recently that Lauer raped her at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“The attacks being heaped on Brooke Nevils by ppl who have no clue how unchecked power can infect a workplace are deeply misguided,” Kelly wrote in a statement on Twitter late Wednesday.
“No sane person can think Lauer’s behavior here-that to which he *admits*-was anything less than abhorrent. How was he able to get away w/it so long?”
Kelly also shared a missive from Ann Curry, Lauer’s former “Today” co-host. Curry wrote on Wednesday: “Brooke Nevils is a credible young woman of good character. She came to NBC News an eager and guileless 20-something, brimming with talent. I believe she is telling the truth. And that breaks my heart.”
Kelly pushed executives at NBC to hire a company to probe how the network handled the allegations against Lauer and interviewed multiple women who made accusations against Lauer.
No other NBC host interviewed the women.
“I think these guys who want to completely skirt around it and just reappear and re-emerge in their old roles are kidding themselves,” she added. “Women are feeling too empowered to allow that. They don’t want to just see punishment, they want to see that you get it.”
Several weeks later, Kelly and NBC cut ties after she expressed support for wearing “blackface” or “whiteface.”
Nevils told journalist Ronan Farrow that she went to Lauer’s hotel room after a night of drinking that the “Today” host raped her. Farrow’s book is due to be released next week but some outlets have obtained advanced copies and reported on the allegation.
“The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter,” he added.
Nevils told Farrow: “It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent. It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have ... sex.”
Nevils reportedly had additional sexual interactions with Lauer after they returned to New York from Russia. Nevils didn’t deny the interactions but said they were “completely transactional” since Lauer was above her in the NBC hierarchy.
Lauer said in his statement: “She claims our first encounter was an assault, yet she actively participated in arranging future meetings and met me at my apartment on multiple occasions to continue the affair.”
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