Megyn Kelly Says Attacks on Woman Who Accused Matt Lauer of Rape ‘Are Deeply Misguided’

Megyn Kelly Says Attacks on Woman Who Accused Matt Lauer of Rape ‘Are Deeply Misguided’
Megyn Kelly speaks onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 at Ritz Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel, California, on Oct. 2, 2018. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fortune
Zachary Stieber
Updated:

Former NBC “Today” host Megyn Kelly decried the attacks on Brooke Nevils, the woman who recently accused Matt Lauer of raping her.

Lauer was fired in late 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct. Nevils said recently that Lauer raped her at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

“The attacks being heaped on Brooke Nevils by ppl who have no clue how unchecked power can infect a workplace are deeply misguided,” Kelly wrote in a statement on Twitter late Wednesday.

“No sane person can think Lauer’s behavior here-that to which he *admits*-was anything less than abhorrent. How was he able to get away w/it so long?”

Kelly also shared a missive from Ann Curry, Lauer’s former “Today” co-host. Curry wrote on Wednesday: “Brooke Nevils is a credible young woman of good character. She came to NBC News an eager and guileless 20-something, brimming with talent. I believe she is telling the truth. And that breaks my heart.”

Kelly pushed executives at NBC to hire a company to probe how the network handled the allegations against Lauer and interviewed multiple women who made accusations against Lauer.

No other NBC host interviewed the women.

“I didn’t let anyone stop me at Fox, and I’m not going to let anyone stop me at NBC,” she told US Weekly in October 2018. She declined to answer when asked if anyone inside NBC had pushed back against her segments.

“I think these guys who want to completely skirt around it and just reappear and re-emerge in their old roles are kidding themselves,” she added. “Women are feeling too empowered to allow that. They don’t want to just see punishment, they want to see that you get it.”

(L-R) Carson Daly, Matt Lauer, Hoda Kotb, and Megyn Kelly of NBC's Today Show pose for a photo during the 100 Days Out 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics Celebration - Team USA in Times Square in New York City on Nov. 1, 2017. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USOC)
(L-R) Carson Daly, Matt Lauer, Hoda Kotb, and Megyn Kelly of NBC's Today Show pose for a photo during the 100 Days Out 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics Celebration - Team USA in Times Square in New York City on Nov. 1, 2017. Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USOC

Several weeks later, Kelly and NBC cut ties after she expressed support for wearing “blackface” or “whiteface.”

Nevils told journalist Ronan Farrow that she went to Lauer’s hotel room after a night of drinking that the “Today” host raped her. Farrow’s book is due to be released next week but some outlets have obtained advanced copies and reported on the allegation.

Lauer said in a statement to Variety that he and Nevils did have sex but claimed it was “mutual and completely consensual.”

“The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter,” he added.

Fired NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer at an awards ceremony in New York City on Nov. 24, 2014. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
Fired NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer at an awards ceremony in New York City on Nov. 24, 2014. Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

Nevils told Farrow: “It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent. It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have ... sex.”

Nevils reportedly had additional sexual interactions with Lauer after they returned to New York from Russia. Nevils didn’t deny the interactions but said they were “completely transactional” since Lauer was above her in the NBC hierarchy.

Lauer said in his statement: “She claims our first encounter was an assault, yet she actively participated in arranging future meetings and met me at my apartment on multiple occasions to continue the affair.”

Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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