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I don't care for him but this is getting ridiculous! It seems guilty until proved innocent. Is all it takes to fire someone now an accusation?
No.
It most certainly does not.
The standard of 'innocent until proven guilty' is a legal one pertaining to the criminal justice system. By your logic, no one can ever be fired for anything short of a criminal conviction.
Now, Matt Lauer is not just another employee. He has, or had, a personally-tailored contract with NBC. That contract is likely long. Very long. It undoubtedly has a substantial personal-conduct section which delineates the terms under which NBC can unilaterally terminate Lauer's employment. Matt Lauer signed this contact, thereby agreeing to its terms in whole.
NBC has a massive amount invested in Lauer, who is tied to the NBC brand. When they received this accusation, NBC - which, breaking news, has an HR department - launched an investigation, if for no other reason than to protect their brand. They ultimately had to decide whether keeping Lauer on or firing Lauer was more damaging to their brand. This will be a very costly move to NBC. They fact that they chose to undertake this very costly move clearly and obviously indicates that the results of their internal investigation found that the accusation was sufficiently credible that keeping Lauer on would have been even more costly to their brand.
If you're naive enough to think that NBC simply decided "Well, we've got a single accusation. Let's not investigate it. Just just fire Matt.", well, that's your problem.
What's really sad is how many people are so damn resistant to the idea that sexual harassment is widespread and pervasive, especially professions where one finds extreme power-dynamic differentials.
This one seems different. In all other cases the allegations surfaced and then the firing happened. From all I can tell he was fired with whatever was happening behind the scenes. Meaning whomever is accusing didn't go public and his employer handled it internally like what happens in most cases where the offender is not famous. Seems a bit more legit.
They didn't have a choice given their reporting over the last year or so when other high profile people were accused... Bet he'll be out later today having a pitcher of beer with O'Reilly, commiserating and maybe talking about starting their own network? It could be called "The he-man woman haters club" or something like that...
If you're naive enough to think that NBC simply decided "Well, we've got a single accusation. Let's not investigate it. Just just fire Matt.", well, that's your problem.
.
I am reading different reports--everything from that the NYT was investigating this for weeks, to that NBC received a letter last night about the alleged incidents, and fired him immediately. It may be too early to know for sure.
Can't say I ever disliked him. He didn't come off as misogynist in any means so let's toss that out the window. Without knowing the details being tossed at his demeanor,I'll wait to hear from the adult making these claims.
Sometimes hearing the nature can clear up the doubts.
Even after all this time -- I'm 64 -- I am still both surprised and shocked when something like this happens, and I don't know which would shock and surprise me more -- that he IS guilty, or that NBC would have the guts to fire him. (Unless, that is, they just want to head off and/or not have to deal with an ongoing investigation and media storm.)
But, to be clear, if he WAS guilty of anything more than short-lived and unwanted "heavy flirting" -- in other words, if he was guilty of any unwanted PHYSICAL sexual contact, then I think that it was right that he was fired. (And it would be good to know that even the rich and powerful are no longer safe from receiving consequences for bad behavior.)
Hey...I'm not saying that some of the allegations didn't happen, but now it appears hey..."me to" appears to be the in thing.
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Bet he'll be out later today having a pitcher of beer with O'Reilly, commiserating and maybe talking about starting their own network? It could be called "The he-man woman haters club" or something like that...