Complaints of sexual harassment against Matt Lauer have cost the Today Show host his job. His colleagues, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, made the announcement at the beginning of Wednesday’s broadcast. Guthrie said that the company decided to terminate Lauer after receiving what Chairman of NBC News Andy Lack called “credible allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace.” The NBC staff was notified via email Wednesday morning. According to that email, the complaint against Lauer was the first of its kind, but there were reasons to believe the incident was not isolated. One media journalist says that the mounting allegations have given companies the playbook to react to this behavior, as NBC beat other journalism organizations to the punch. “Everybody was kind of blindsided,” Cinemablend Managing Editor Sean O’Connell said, “but not blindsided by the Harvey Weinstein reveal. And then all of the high-profile cases that have surfaced after this have shown the companies and the networks how to react.” O’Connell added that Lauer’s case may be different because the Today Show hosts reacted to the story live on air. “Our highest priority is to create a work environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender,” Lack wrote. O’Connor told Cheddar that while some companies do have insight into industry gossip regarding sexual harassment, it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly who knows what, when. He noted, however, that the extraneous evidence surrounding Lauer’s case shows more compelling detail will come. “It shows me that we don’t know the true full extent of the story,” he said. On air, Guthrie said the show will be covering Lauer’s case, and will be updating its audience as it would with any other news. Both co-hosts said the story was difficult to process, as they both have known Lauer, who was with NBC for two decades, for many years. “It’s hard to reconcile what we are hearing with the man who we know, who walks up in this building every single day, ” Kotb said. The news can hit the network right in the ratings, if devoted show watchers react by turning to other news sources. O’Connell says NBC might see the show ratings dip. Still, the editor made comparisons with recently released Pixar movie “Coco”, a box-office smash that brought in $89.6 million on its release weekend. That movie came out right after John Lasseter, the company’s Chief Creative Officer, took a 6-month leave of absence due to sexual harassment allegations. “We are a reactionary culture, and I can see some of the people deciding in the short term, ‘I’m going to get my news from somewhere else,’” O’Connell said.

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