Brooke Nevils, a 35-year-old NBC producer, tweeted on Wednesday evening to thank those who have supported her after the rape allegation against Matt Lauer went public for the first time.
She wrote, “I want to thank the many survivors who shared their stories with me today and offered their support. It takes courage, and I am truly grateful,” Brooke Nevils
Nevils was in Russia for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with Lauer as well as Meredith Vieira where she claims that Lauer anally raped her in a hotel room.
In the year 2017, she reported him for allegedly sexually assaulting her one night for the duration of the Olympics and due to her allegation Lauer was then fired.
“Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time,” NBC News said in a statement. “That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”
In an open letter that has been provided to Variety by his lawyer, Lauer rejects any wrongdoing. “In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault,” Lauer says. “It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense.”
In his letter, Lauer responded by stating, “I had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014,” Lauer says. “It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia. We engaged in a variety of sexual acts. We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual.”
Nevils also criticized Lauer in a letter to NBC News, calling Lauer’s written denial of her allegations “a case study in victim blaming.”
As per to the NBC News, Nevins wrote, in part “There’s the Matt Lauer that millions of Americans watched on TV every morning for two decades, and there is the Matt Lauer who this morning attempted to bully a former colleague into silence,”
“His open letter was a case study in victim blaming. … I am not afraid of him now, regardless of his threats, bullying, and the shaming and predatory tactics I knew he would (and now has) tried to use against me.”
As of Wednesday evening, her Twitter post remained public but her Instagram account was then later set to private.
As soon as the Variety story broke overnight, former the former co-hosts of Lauer from “Today” I.e., Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb voiced their support for Nevils on Wednesday morning’s show.
“This is shocking and appalling, and I honestly don’t even know what to say about it,” Guthrie said. “I know it wasn’t easy for our colleague Brooke to come forward then. It is not easy now, and we support her and any women who come forward with claims. And it is just very painful. For all of us at NBC who are at the ‘Today’ show, it is very, very difficult.”
