Ann Curry is ‘not surprised’ by Matt Lauer scandal
She says NBC had a ‘climate of verbal harassment’
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Emily Yahr.
After Matt Lauer was fired from the “Today” show in November because of allegations of sexual harassment, one incident got a lot of renewed attention — Ann Curry’s disastrous exit when she left “Today” in 2012.
The two visibly had little chemistry on air as co-anchors, and Lauer was widely seen as one of the masterminds behind her exit, even though he said he was against her departure. On Wednesday, Ann Curry appeared on “CBS This Morning” for her first TV interview since her “highly publicized break,” as co-anchor Norah O’Donnell put it.
Curry was technically appearing to promote her new PBS series “We’ll Meet Again,” but people wanted to know her thoughts about Lauer, as well as the current cultural moment recognizing the impact of sexual harassment.
“A lot has changed in the television landscape on morning television in the last three months,” O’Donnell started. “Our former co-host Charlie Rose has left. Someone you anchored with, Matt Lauer, has left his broadcast. What do you make of this reckoning?”
“I think it’s, in general, overdue. We clearly are waking up to a reality and injustice that has been occurring for some time. . . . This is about power and power imbalance where women are not valued as much as men,” Curry said. “I’m not talking about people being attracted to other people. I’m talking about people in the workplace who are powerful, who are abusing that power, and women and men are suffering. And I think the fact that people are speaking out is important.”
O’Donnell got right to the point.
“Do you believe that Matt Lauer abused his power?”
Curry paused. “You know, I’m trying to do no harm in these conversations,” she said. “I can tell you that I — I am not surprised by the allegations.”
“What do you mean by that, Ann?” co-anchor Gayle King interjected. “What do you mean, you’re not surprised? You heard things, you knew things? What does that mean?”
“That means that — see, now I’m walking down that road. I’m trying not to hurt people,” Curry explained. “And I know what it’s like to be publicly humiliated. I never did anything wrong to be publicly humiliated, and I don’t want to cause that kind of pain to somebody else.”
She continued: “Because you’re asking me a very direct question, I can say that I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed. I think it would be surprising if someone said that they didn’t see that. It was verbal sexual harassment.”
As King started to ask a question, O’Donnell interrupted to clarify: “She just said verbal sexual harassment was pervasive at NBC at the time.”
“I don’t want to — boy, I don’t want to cause more pain,” Curry said. “But no, you’re asking me a very direct question. I’m an honest person. I want to tell you that it was, yes, period.”
King segued to Curry’s exit from the show, and noted that “in the court of public opinion,” people thought Lauer derailed her career. Of course, King acknowledged, management makes the ultimate decisions, but she always wondered how Curry felt about Lauer getting the blame.
“No, no, because I don’t know what all was behind it. I do know that it hurt like hell, it wasn’t a fun moment, I’ve learned a great deal about myself,” Curry said. “I’ve really, at this point, let it go. I just let it go, and I think that it’s time — it’s been years and I want to sort of really move on from that.”
