Megyn Kelly Breaks Silence on Matt Lauer Rape Allegation, Praises Ann Curry and Meredith Vieira
Megyn Kelly is breaking her silence on the rape allegation brought against ousted Today anchor Matt Lauer.
“Let’s not lose sight of the forces for good in this story, like former Lauer co-host Ann Curry, who, despite the risks, sounded the alarm on Lauer in 2012 after a young woman complained to her, and Meredith Vieira, who, when confronted with Brooke Nevils’ account, told her to go report it,” she told Page Six in a statement.
Lauer’s rape allegation came to light in Ronan Farrow‘s new book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators (out now). In it, former NBC News employee Nevils alleges that Lauer, 61, anally raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics while she was working under Vieira, which Lauer denies.
According to Catch and Kill, Vieira, 65, encouraged Nevils to come forward.
“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” Nevils tells Farrow in the book. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
Nevils says in the book that she had more sexual encounters with Lauer back in New York City, telling Farrow: “It was completely transactional. It was not a relationship.”
Lauer, who was fired for sexual misconduct in November 2017 due to Nevils’ complaint, penned a lengthy letter in response, claiming the encounter was “extramarital, but consensual.” He said the encounter in Sochi was the beginning of his affair with Nevils and “the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months.” He concluded by stating that he has “never assaulted anyone or forced anyone to have sex. Period.”
As for Curry, Farrow writes that Lauer’s onetime co-anchor told two senior executives about him allegedy exposing himself to Today show producer Melissa Lonner at a work event in 2010.
In a statement read on-air Wednesday on the Today show, NBC News said, “Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”
Kelly’s message comes just months before the premiere of Bombshell, which stars Charlize Theron as Kelly, Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson and Margot Robbie as women who claim they were sexually harassed by former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, played by John Lithgow.
Kelly, 48, and Carlson, 53, both former employees of the network, claimed Ailes sexually harassed them during their careers.
Of course, Kelly has her own complicated history with NBC. She left Fox in 2017 and signed a three-year, $23 million-a-year contract with NBC, launching her own 9 a.m. hour of Today to much fanfare. But Megyn Kelly Today was canceled in October 2018 amid immense backlash for her controversial remarks about blackface.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to online.rainn.org.
