Disgraced NBC “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer, fired by the network amid a storm of allegations of highly inappropriate sexual behavior, apparently had a secret button installed under his desk that could lock his office door remotely.
“His office was in a secluded space, and he had a button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up. This afforded him the assurance of privacy.”
The insider at NBC also told Fox that the button in Lauer’s office wasn’t the only one at the network’s head office at Rockefeller Plaza. “Today” show’s executive producer reportedly also had one installed, but the Fox source said staff didn’t consider it a sexual misconduct enabler, but “an ego thing so the EP didn’t have to get out of his desk to close his door for a private conversation.”
But the device could also be used to facilitate inappropriate behavior.
According to the Variety piece, the secret button “allowed him to welcome female employees and initiate inappropriate contact while knowing nobody could walk in on him.”
And now this salacious detail is sparking a firestorm of social media commentary.
In a statement read aloud at the start of Thursday’s broadcast of the “Today” show, Lauer apologized for what he called his “troubling flaws.”
Since then, at least two more women have come forward with similar complaints against Lauer, the “Today” show reported on Thursday.
“Repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul searching and I‘m committed to beginning that effort,” Lauer said in the statement, which was read aloud by his former co-host Savannah Guthrie at the start of Thursday’s broadcast.
