NBC Fires Matt Lauer

No, I think that was you.

 

LOL. I actually don’t think that’s even true.

 

Andrew Lack is a very foolish man to double down on his claim he only learned about Lauer's behavior Sunday night. He's gonna be called on to repeat that under oath. Since it is apparent to a child of five it's a preposterous lie, he'll either eat it, which sure gives Comcast grounds for firing him, or he'll go the perjury route, never a wise idea.
Footnote to the phrase "preposterous lie." Variety story had been worked on for months. Word had to get back to Lack. That's a minimum. The idea that what happened on the news division's cash cow didn't rise to his attention even if it was just rumors he preferred not to believe defies credulity.

 

I'll give you credit here, this is your post from the Carlson thread:

Rush was defending Ailes today, using language very similar to Geraldo. Says he's never seen him flirt.

It's a pretty dumb counter argument.

You don't do the kind of things that Ailes is accused of in front of other people.

It has nothing to do with being flirty, or being good at picking up women.

He's accused of using his power and influence to coerce women into having sex with him. You don't have to be a flirt, or smooth with women to be able/willing to do that.

 

Perhaps people should have listened when I started that thread about NBC's long list of fuckups! And we haven't even heard the leaked Apprectice tapes yet.

 

A very good idea would be for women to launch a very loud boycott of NBC. Without women viewers, a broadcast entity has nothing left to peddle but light beer and Papa John's.

 

You’re allowed to lie in a civil suit as long as long as you’re lying in response to questions about sex.

 

Guys who look like Ailes or Weinstein are not “womanizers”.

As much as power can be a turn on, beautiful young women are not falling over themselves to sleep with guys like this.

Is there a woman anywhere who wanted to see Charlie Rose naked?

This all reminds me of the Penn State situation. At the time, I said every college that played big time sports needed to examine their programs. Did they create the kinds of situations where someone had so much power that horrible crimes would be covered up to protect the program, or the head of the program.

I suggested programs should hire lawyers, and investigate themselves. And, they had to make sure they did not empower a coach or program where this kind of thing could happen.

@Dick Whitman said it was crazy, and not worth the expense.

But, it’s the same thing at these Hollywood companies, big news organizations, and in congress. Too many people have too much power, with almost no oversight. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Roger Ailes was brilliant at what he did professionally, but was anyone surprised by the allegations against him or Bill O’Reilly?

If you give Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Matt Lauer, or Charlie Rose that much power, with no oversight, the odds are, they’re going to abuse their power.

 

The Variety article mentions that the booker for the Today Show was already fired for sexual harassment.

Once one person goes down, others have to be worried. No one likes to be the one guy to get fired if everyone’s guilty of the same thing.

There’s no way Lack and others didn’t know what was going on.

 

It's honestly stunning the music business and sports business hasn't really had its turn in the barrel yet. No chance Sony stands by Dr. Luke if the Kesha allegations surfaced today instead of years ago. Imagine the Isaiah Thomas, Knicks and Stephon Marburry-sexing-a-woman-in-his-truck thing playing out now.

 

Less corporate structure might be one reason it hasn’t blown up more.

Most of the big media and Hollywood guys work for giant, public companies.

One of the craziest things we did learn in all of this was from the Glenn Thrush story. Politico has no HR department until recently? WTF?

 

One of the dumbest things Tronc! did before they truly became Tronc, so I guess they were just Sam Zell's Idiot Brigade back then, was fire 90 percent of the HR people at my paper and then have completely unqualified managers say stuff to employees like "We'll consider you for this promotion, but we're really looking for someone younger, or without kids, because that's a real drag on productivity." Or this gem: "I'm thinking of hiring you, but I'm not a fan of your husband who used to work here."

Watching one poor HR person try to put out fires and prevent those dumbasses from getting sued into outer space was a sight to behold.