Report: Matt Lauer’s Lawyers Trying to Get Him Paid $30 Million

Report: Matt Lauer’s Lawyers Trying to Get Him Paid $30 Million
NBC's "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer models the official Opening Ceremony outfit by Polo Ralph Lauren that Team USA members will wear, on July 29, 2016. (Brendan McDermid Picture Supplied by Action Images/Reuters)
Jack Phillips
12/1/2017
Updated:
12/1/2017

The lawyers for Matt Lauer are reportedly trying to get the ex-“Today” host a $30 million “golden parachute” after he was fired.

Lauer reportedly made at least $20 million per year before he was terminated this week. NBC News said that he was fired over allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace—which Lauer apologized for in a statement read aloud on “Today” on Thursday, Nov. 30.

Sources told The New York Post that Lauer’s legal team is trying to get him paid through the remainder of his $20 million per-year contract, which expires in about 18 months.

“They are currently looking at his contract and determining whether the claims against him, which clearly would affect any moral clause in his contract and his ensuing termination, would cut off his contractual rights to be paid through to the end of his contract,” an unnamed source told the Post.

The contract, renegotiated in 2016, paid Lauer $20 million to 2018.

Another source told the paper: “There is no way Matt is getting paid. There has been an irrevocable breach of Matt’s contract, there is a moral clause that says if he brings the company into disrepute—which he clearly has—NBC can terminate his employment immediately without pay and they do not have to pay out his contract.”

Lauer met lawyer Eddie Burke Jr. on Long Island, according to photographs published by the Daily Mail and Post. He appeared to hand him an envelope.

It comes as his ex-wife, Nancy Alspaugh, who was married to him between 1981 and 1989, told Entertainment Tonight that she was stunned by the firing.

“He’s been the best person that’s ever held that job and I couldn’t imagine that anything that he would have done—that would have been so out of character for him—that would have caused that reaction,” she told ET.

She then praised his character, saying that some allegations might not be truthful.

“He’s just a very giving person and charming and I think a lot of this stuff is obviously going to come to light, whether it’s true or not, and some of the things that are being stated may not be true,” she said.

“We have to find that out, you know? As time goes on here, people should be aware there’s a family involved here. There are three children and that’s—I think it’s important to be aware that this can destroy a family. Reporting on accusations before they know whether they’re real or not.”

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Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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