Former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann on Wednesday accused his old employer of knowing about Matt Lauer’s sexual misconduct prior to his termination this week and choosing to “enable” and “bury” the issue rather than take action.
“Matt Lauer was remorsely [sic] vindictive and tyrannical to everyone at NBC News and management repeatedly enabled him and buried the issue,” said Olbermann.
Sheesh, this is what I get for arranging to not have to look at twitter all morning 😉
Matt Lauer was remorsely vindictive and tyrannical to everyone at NBC News and management repeatedly enabled him and buried the issue.
And, I DID kinda tip you on this #NotAtAllHumbleBrag pic.twitter.com/eOSI17bIug
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 29, 2017
Once one of MSNBC’s brightest stars, Olbermann hosted “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” from 2003 to 2011 and during that time would have had intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the network.
Since leaving MSNBC, Olbermann has become a vocal member of the anti-Trump “resistance” — even hosting his own web series for GQ dedicated to Trump-bashing.
Representative’s for MSNBC were not immediately available for comment.
The news of Lauer’s termination was broken on-air by his former TODAY show colleague Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday. “I am heartbroken,” she said while sitting next to her colleague Hoda Kotb.
In a memo to employees sent early Wednesday, NBC News chairman Andy Lack said that he had received a “detailed complaint” from a staffer on Monday night about Lauer’s behavior in the workplace.
“It represented, after serious review a clear violation of our company’s standards,” Lack wrote. “While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”