Former NBC “Today” show star Matt Lauer has been accused of violently raping a co-worker — and it has critics on social media calling for Lauer’s arrest.
In his explosive new book “Catch and Kill,” author Ronan Farrow writes that Lauer forcibly anal raped then co-worker Brooke Nevils in a hotel room during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Nevils’ complaint about Lauer ultimately led to his firing in 2017 — three years after the incident that was reportedly “no secret” among NBC executives. At least seven women eventually came forward to accuse Lauer of sexual assault or misconduct.
Nevils was working with former “Today” host Meredith Vieira on NBC News’ coverage of the Winter Olympics at the time of the alleged incident. According to Farrow’s book, Nevils had been drinking with colleagues, including Lauer, at a hotel bar one night.
She told Farrow she was heavily intoxicated when she went back to Lauer’s hotel room twice that night — once to get her press credential, which Lauer had taken, and once after being invited back.
Nevils “had no reason to suspect Lauer would be anything but friendly based on prior experience,” Farrow wrote in his book.
She claims that once she was alone in his hotel room, Lauer forced her against the door and kissed her. He then pushed Nevils onto the bed, “flipping her over, asking if she liked anal sex. She said that she declined several times,” Farrow wrote.
According to Nevils, Lauer “just did it” while she cried and repeatedly asked him to stop.
“Lauer, she said, didn’t use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful,” Farrow wrote in his book. “‘It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?’ She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow.”
According to the book, Nevils “bled for days” after the encounter — but also told Lauer she’d enjoyed it.
Nevils also told Farrow she continued to have sexual encounters with Lauer when the Olympics ended. She claimed they were “transactional” and that she was terrified of the control he had over her career.
“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” she told Farrow about the alleged rape. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
Lauer’s marriage of 20 years formally ended in divorce this September after he admitted being unfaithful to his wife.
The Horn editorial team