....for...you guessed it.
Matt Lauer, a familiar face in morning news as the anchor of "Today" for two decades, was fired by NBC News on Wednesday after a female colleague made a detailed complaint accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The accusation also noted that the alleged behavior continued in the workplace after the games, NBC News confirmed.
"Today" co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb were emotional as they announced Lauer's firing Wednesday, telling viewers at the top of the live broadcast that they were "heartbroken" over his departure but didn't yet know all of the details.
In a memo to employees sent Wednesday morning, NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack said the complaint prompted a serious review and represented a "clear violation of our company's standards."
Lack said it was the first complaint lodged against Lauer, 59, for his behavior since he took over as anchor of the show in 1997, but there was "reason to believe" it may not have been an isolated incident.
"Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender," Lack said.
On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after Lauer's ouster was announced, Variety published an article that depicted Lauer as a serial harasser of women who worked on "Today," preying on many of the female producers who worked for him. The accusers in the article were anonymous, and their accounts have not been confirmed by NBC News.
“He couldn’t sleep around town with celebrities or on the road with random people, because he’s Matt Lauer and he’s married," a former producer told the magazine. "So he’d have to do it with his stable, where he exerted power, and he knew people wouldn’t ever complain.”
Variety said that during the course of a two-month investigation, it spoke with three women who claimed they were sexually harassed by Lauer and corroborated their stories with “dozens of interviews with current and former staffers.”
The staffers who spoke to Variety accused him of exposing himself to one woman, and then reprimanding her for not engaging in a sex act. He was also accused of giving another colleague a sex toy as a present along with “an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her.”
The article said the women complained to management, but the complaints fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising surrounding “Today.”
A spokesperson for NBC forcefully denied that anyone who is now in management was made aware of these complaints.
"We can say unequivocally, that, prior to Monday night, current NBC News management was never made aware of any complaints about Matt Lauer’s conduct," the spokesperson said.
Ari Wilkenfeld, who said he is the lawyer for the woman whose accusation against Lauer prompted his firing, said in a statement that he and his client met Monday evening for several hours with representatives from NBC's Human Resources and Legal Department. He said she did not want to be identified.
"Our impression at this point is that NBC acted quickly, as all companies should, when confronted with credible allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace," Wilkenfeld said. "While I am encouraged by NBC's response to date, I am in awe of the courage my client showed to be the first to raise a complaint and to do so without making any demands other than the company do the right thing."
Guthrie, who joined Lauer at the anchor desk in 2012, said she was "heartbroken" for both him and the "brave colleague who came forward to tell her story and any other women who have their stories to tell."
"I'm sure we will be learning more details in the hours and days to come. And we promise we will share that with you," she said.
Lauer did not immediately respond publicly to the announcement of his firing.
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