Ann Curry Opens Up About Matt Lauer: 'Verbal Sexual Harassment' Was Pervasive at Today Show — Watch
Former Today show anchor Ann Curry on Wednesday appeared on CBS This Morning, where she opened up about disgraced former colleague Matt Lauer and suggested that there was verbal sexual harassment during her time at NBC News.
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Curry was famously let go from Today in 2012. As a news anchor, she was a daily presence on NBC’s morning news program for 14 years before succeeding Meredith Vieira as Lauer’s co-host in 2011. Lauer, who in November was fired by NBC News for sexual misconduct, is long believed to have played a hand in her unceremonious ouster.
Curry’s CBS This Morning sit-down marked her first TV interview since leaving Today. Among the highlights:
* Asked if she believes Lauer abused his power, Curry said, “I am not surprised by the allegations.” Not wanting to publicly humiliate anyone in particular, she continued, “I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed. I think it’d be surprising if someone said they didn’t see that.” Asked to specify whether there was verbal sexual harassment going on while she was at Today, she responded, “I don’t want to cause more pain, but you’re asking me a very direction question and I’m an honest person, and I’m going to tell you that it was. Yes, period.”
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* On whether she thinks Lauer tried to derail her career: “You know, you should ask someone else. I’m not the one to ask about that. I don’t know what was all behind it. I do know that it hurt like hell. It wasn’t a fun moment. I’ve learned a great deal about myself. I really, at this point, have let it go.”
* On the firings of Lauer and CBS’ own Charlie Rose: “I think it’s, in general, overdue. We clearly are waking up to a reality — an injustice that has been occurring for some time, and I think it will continue to occur until the glass ceiling is finally broken. This is about power and powered imbalance, where women are not valued as much as men.”
* On the significance of the #MeToo movement: “I think that the real question… is what are we going to do with all this anger…. I wonder if we keep focusing only on these individual scandals, if we’re actually going to move off of that into creating something better in the future.”
Watch the interview above, then hit the comments with your reactions.
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