Early Wednesday morning, new allegations came out regarding former TODAY anchor Matt Lauer. The allegations come from the upcoming Ronan Farrow book Catch and Kill. In the book, former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils revealed that Lauer had anally raped her in his hotel room while the duo was covering the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Laure was fired by NBC in 2017 after initial complaints of sexual misconduct surfaced.
Following the reporting of the rape allegations against Lauer, TODAY hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb took a moment out of the broadcast to discuss the horrific allegations and address their former colleague with the audience.
“I feel like we owe it to our viewers to pause for a moment,” Guthrie said. “This is shocking and appalling, and I honestly don’t know even know what yo say about it. I know it wasn’t easy for our colleague Brooke to come forward then. It is not easy now, and we support her and any women who come forward with claims. And it is just very painful. For all of us at NBC who are at the Today show, it is very very difficult.”
Kotb added: “You feel like you know someone for 12 years, you feel like you know them inside and out, and all of the sudden a door opens up and it is a part of them you didn’t know. We don’t know the facts in all of this, but they are not allegations of an affair. They are allegations of a crime. I think that is shocking to all of us here who have sat with Matt for many, many years.
“I think we are just going to continue to process this part of this horrific story. As you said, our thoughts are with Brooke. It is not easy to come forward. It is not easy at all.”
NBC News also issued a statement on the latest round of allegations against their former longtime anchor.
“Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time,” the statement read. “That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”