the boot for sexually harassing staffers.
“We keep in touch with him. I mean, look, this is one of those complex situations,” Kotb said in her profile as part of THR’s “35 Most Powerful People in New York Media” list. “I’ve known him since I started working at NBC [in 1998]. When I was sick with breast cancer, he was the first to call. He helps and helped in ways that . . . you know, he was incredible in that way. There is that Matt and then there’s the Matt that the accusers speak of.”
Kotb, who replaced Lauer opposite co-host Savannah Guthrie, added, “And those accusers’ voices matter, and that story matters.”
Meanwhile, “CBS This Morning” host Charlie Rose, “He tells me that he’s fine. [Laughs.] Because I said, ‘I’m worried about you.’ He keeps assuring me there’s no reason to be worried about him. But I am worried about him, I am. And I do care about him. He was a big part of my life for six years. So I can’t just turn that off. But I also can’t dismiss the stories that I’m hearing, and I do take them very seriously.”
Norah O’Donnell said of Rose — who was also ousted amid sexual harassment allegations — “I think we now know that his behavior was abusive and predatory. And there is absolutely zero tolerance when it comes to that. End of story.”