Ann Curry: Sexual harassment was ‘pervasive’ at NBC News
Ann Curry took only the most subtle shots at Matt Lauer in her first TV interview since leaving NBC News and “Today” when discussing the “pervasive” sexual harassment at the network.
“I’m trying to do no harm in these conversations. I can tell you that I am not surprised by the allegations,” Curry, 61, told “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday. “See, now I’m walking down that road — I’m trying not to hurt people. I know what it’s like to be publicly humiliated. I never did anything wrong to be publicly humiliated, and I don’t want to cause that kind of pain to somebody else,” she said, likely referencing when she was infamously and unceremoniously dismissed on air from the morning show in 2012 after just over a year, reportedly at the behest of Lauer, 60, and left NBC in 2015.
“But I can say, because you’re asking me a direct question, I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed,” she said. “I think it would be surprising if someone said they didn’t see that. Verbal sexual harassment was pervasive … It was, period.”
Lauer was fired from the network in November after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
When asked about the current “reckoning” of powerful men accused of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, Curry was diplomatic.
“I think it’s in general overdue. We clearly are waking up to a reality, an injustice that has been occurring for some time, and I think it will continue to occur until the glass ceiling is finally broken,” she said.
“This is about power, a power imbalance where women are not valued as much as men. I’m not talking about people being attracted to other people. I’m talking about people in the workplace who are powerful who are abusing that power, and women and men are suffering,” she continued. “I think the fact that people are speaking out is important, and the fact that we are working against this imbalance of power is absolutely overdue.”
In terms of what happened behind the scenes during her experience at NBC and “Today,” Curry joked, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna start crying.”
She explained, “I’m not the one to ask about that because I don’t know what was behind it. I do know that it hurt like hell. It wasn’t a fun moment. I’ve learned a great deal about myself. I’ve let it go. It’s been years, and I want to move on from that … I think that the real question in my view is, ‘What are we going to do with all this anger?'”
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