sexually harassed by matt lauer. there are two accounts in the new york times as well, and those accounts were, according to the newspaper, corroborated by family and colleagues. and then there are the three women who claim that they were sexually harassed in variety magazine also corroborated by the magazine s colleagues. what about nbc s claim that nobody in current management knew about this if it was so widespread? there was in variety there was, among the reporting was that several women had come forward and told executives that something had happened to them and that it fell on deaf ears. and nbc responded to that reporting with the statement here. they say, we can say unequivocally that prior to monday night, current nbc news management was never made aware of any complaints about matt lauer s conduct. and obviously the word current
the variety magazine article in particular and they spent they say two months researching it, spoke to dozens of people, that article lays out a pattern of alleged misconduct that matt lauer is being accused of. and they spoke to former and current employees. they spoke to these three women who are accusing him of sexual harassment. they say that they had corroborated their accounts with family or friends. they also say and report in their article that multiple women went to executives at nbc, reported complaints, and that executives did nothing about it. nbc responded to that claim in a statement and i will read that to you. in the statement, it says we can say unequivocally that from excuse me that prior to monday night current nbc news management was never made aware of any complaints about matt lauer s conduct. i ve spent a good part of today reaching out to former management at nbc news.
corroborated. they said they complained to the network about lauer s behavior which fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising on today. they say prior to monday night, current nbc news management was never made aware of complaints about matt lauer s conduct. you ve been covering this day. these situations for any organization are awkward situations because we work with nbc news and this is a story about nbc news and we have been committed here today to covering this story because this is a news story. it s without a doubt a news story but it s also important to remember we don t necessarily know the lines and we need to reboot because there is a big difference between sexual assault, sexual misconduct and sexual harassment.
tonight an nbc spokesperson responded to that claim. we can say unequivocally prior to monday night, current nbc news management was never made aware of any complaints about matt lauer s conduct. in september matt lauer interviewed bill o reilly who had just been fired from fox news over allegations of sexual misconduct. doesn t it seem safe to assume that the people at fox news were given a piece of information or given some evidence that simply made it impossible for you to stay on at fox news? that s a false assumption. but you don t let your number one guy go unless you have information you think makes him that s not true. reporter: for nbc news the star anchor s departure is an enormous loss. lauer has been the face of the network during pivotal news events interviewing the world s most influential people. stephanie gosk covering the story tonight for nbc news, which has now by the way confirmed that these two more accusers have come forward.
variety quoted staffers who said they tried to alert executives about lauer s behavior. in response, nbc says we can say prior to monday night, current nbc news management was never made aware of any complaints about matt lauer s conduct. on monday night, a female nbc employee and her attorney met with nbc hr and detailed quote, agree jous act of sexual harassment. the network investigated and decided to fire him less than 24 hours later. ry guthrie found out overnight. i m heartbroken for matt. he is my dear, dear friend and partner. he is loved by many people here and i m heart brobroken by the e colleague who came forward and any other women who have their own stories to tell. that accuser is remaining anonymous. as are the women in the variety account. nbc has known for weeks these stories were coming. in a memo, the chief alluded to