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Former NBC producer publicly accuses Matt Lauer of rape; visibly upset 'Today' hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb express disgust
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Former NBC producer publicly accuses Matt Lauer of rape; visibly upset 'Today' hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb express disgust

Disturbing rape allegation detailed in forthcoming book

Ronan Farrow's forthcoming book, "Catch and Kill," details a disturbing rape allegation against former NBC News host Matt Lauer, according to Variety.

Lauer has been under fire since his 2017 firing after a former NBC News employee accused Lauer of a rape that reportedly took place while the network covered the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Former NBC producer Brooke Nevils has now come forward publicly and admitted that she was the one who made the allegations against Lauer. She discussed the incident in-depth with Farrow, whose book is set for an Oct. 15 release.

What are the details?

According to Farrow's book, Variety reported, Nevils said that Lauer anally raped her when the two were reporting on the 2014 Winter Olympics.

From Variety:

According to Nevils, she "was in the midst of telling him she wasn't interested again when he 'just did it,'" Farrow writes. "Lauer, she said, didn't use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful. 'It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?' She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow." Lauer then asked her if she liked it. She tells him yes. She claims that "she bled for days," Farrow writes.

Nevils tells Farrow: "It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent," she says. "It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn't want to have anal sex."

During her interview for the book, Nevils also told Farrow that she and Lauer did engage in consensual sex after the 2014 incident occurred.

"It was completely transactional," she said. "It was not a relationship."

Nevils didn't tell network executives about the attack until 2017, and reportedly received a "seven-figure" settlement when she left the network in 2018.

What else?

"Today" hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb responded to the accusation, saying that they support Nevils in her accusation against their former co-host.

"I feel like we owe it to our viewers to pause for a moment," Guthrie said. "This is shocking and appalling, and I don't even know what to say about it."

She continued, "I want to say that we know it wasn't easy for our colleague Brooke to come forward then. It's not easy now and we support her and any women who have come forward with claims. We are disgusted to our core."

In a statement to TheWrap, NBC News said, “Matt Lauer's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That's why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."

You can read more details about the background of Lauer's downfall here.

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