| Matt Lauer |
|
| Born |
Matthew Todd Lauer
December 30, 1957 (age 59)
New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality |
American |
| Education |
Ohio University |
| Occupation |
Television journalist |
| Years active |
1979–present |
| Television |
Today co-anchor
(1997–2017)
Today news anchor
(1994–1997) |
| Spouse(s) |
Nancy Alspaugh (m. 1981;div. 1988)
Annette Roque (m. 1998) |
| Children |
3 |
Matthew Todd Lauer (born December 30, 1957)[1]is an American television journalist who was host ofThe Today Show from 1997 to 2017 and a contributor for Dateline NBC. He was also previously a news anchor for The Today Show from 1994 to 1997 and anchor for WNBC in New York City and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, and Richmond. He also hosted the PM Magazine (or "Evening Magazine" 1980–86), and in the early 1990s, segments ofHBO Entertainment News.[2]
On November 29, 2017, NBC Chairman Andrew Lack terminated Lauer after an unidentified[3]employee who was one of Lauer's subordinates complained that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with her.[4] On the same day, NBC News reporter Stephanie Gosk while hosting The Today Show, said that the allegations were related to incidents "throughout 2014".[5] Some sources have said that the allegations were related to conduct that began at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and continued afterwards.[6] Additional women have come forward with allegations that Lauer sexually harassed them. Lauer has also been accused of exposing himself.[7][8]
Early life
Lauer was born in New York City, the son of Marilyn Lauer (née Gentry), a boutique owner, and Jay Robert Lauer (d. 1997), a bicycle-company executive.[9] His parents divorced during his youth.
Lauer's father was of Romanian Jewish ancestry, as seen on the Today Show's Finding Our Roots.[10] Lauer said, "My dad was Jewish. My mom is not. So I was not raised anything. I do feel a desire now to find something spiritual. Getting married and wanting to have kids has something to do with that."[11][12]
Career
Lauer is a graduate of the Scripps College of Communication, School of Media Arts and Studies of Ohio University. In 1997, he received his undergraduate degree from Ohio University at the age of 39. He had previously dropped out of Ohio University in the spring of 1979.[13] Lauer then began his television career in that year as a producer of the noon newscast for WOWK-TV inHuntington, West Virginia. By 1980, he had become an on-air reporter for the station's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
He then started to move around the country, hosting a number of weekly information and talk programs in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, and Richmond.[14] He was also host of PM Magazine in Providence and then in 1984 at WNEW-TV in New York until the show's cancellation in 1986. In 1986, then moved on to co-hosting Made In New York on the station (now WNYW after Fox's 1985 purchase of the station) with Jill Rappaport for a fifteen-week run. In 1986, he also co-hosted Fame, Fortune and Romance.[15] He also worked for ESPN in the 1980s. He then headed to Boston in 1988 to host WNEV-TV's Talk of the Town.
From 1989 to 1991, he returned to the New York area, this time across the Hudson toSecaucus, New Jersey's WWOR-TV, where he hosted 9 Broadcast Plaza, a three-hour live interview program.[16] He departed that series as it took a turn in booking "tabloid" guests and topics, and for what he relayed as a refusal to live-read ads on the show for Dial-a-Mattress[17]. In 1990, he was hired by the Kushner-Locke Company to host a pilot called "Day In Court," executive produced by veteran producer David Sams, who helped to launch The Oprah Winfrey Show into national syndication. The program was retitled "Trial Watch" when it went to series, and ran on the NBC network for two seasons. NBC hired Rob Weller as host over Lauer when the program was picked up as a daily series. The same year, he filmed a pilot for Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation, focused on a new bodybuilding league, though he was not picked up for the series.[18] In 1991 he appeared as the co-host (along with Willow Bay) of "Etc., Etc.", a show on the Travel Channel. Lauer moved to WNBC in 1992 where he became co-anchor, alongside Jane Hanson, of the early weekday news show Today in New York. After a year, he also filled the role of Live at Five co-anchor with Sue Simmons.[16] He held that job until 1996.
NBC News
Lauer's on-camera presence provided him with many opportunities with NBC's national news organization while working for WNBC in New York.[19] Lauer filled in as the newsreader onThe Today Show for Margaret Larson when needed from 1992 to 1993.[16] This "audition" period allowed him to join The Today Show full-time in January 1994 as news anchor, while still co-anchoring Today in New York and Live at Five.[20]
Lauer stepped in for Scott Simon, Mike Schneider and Jack Ford as the co-host ofWeekend Today, and for Ann Curry as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise from 1992 to 1997.[21] He had also filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. As the Today Show news anchor, he also substituted for Bryant Gumbel on the Today Show before being named the official co-anchor on January 6, 1997, after Gumbel stepped down.[22]
In addition to his duties on the Today Show, Lauer also has hosted programming on theDiscovery Channel[23] and MSNBC.
1998–2011
From 1998 until 2009, Lauer embarked on what was generally an annual five-day, globe-spanning adventure called Where in the World is Matt Lauer? on the Today Show[24] during TV sweeps. The segment was named after the PBS game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? from which it borrowed the theme song. This segment sent Lauer to various locations around the World, from where he reported on the importance of each location. He broadcast from locations including Bhutan, Easter Island, the Panama Canal, Iran, Hong Kong, Croatia, and the Great Wall of China.[25] In 2009, NBC News announced the segment would no longer air in consideration of the stagnant, unstable U.S. economy.[26]
On some occasions, interviews conducted by Lauer have escalated into tense exchanges. In a June 2005 interview, Tom Cruise argued with Lauer about psychiatry and postpartum depression and called him "glib".[27] In December 2008, more than three years later, Cruise said he regretted the exchange, and arm wrestled Matt Lauer in the same studio where the confrontation took place.[28]
On June 19, 2007, he interviewed Prince William and Prince Harry.[29]
Since 1998, he has co-hosted NBC's live coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[30]
Olympics
Lauer co-hosted the opening ceremonies of several Olympic Games, carrying on what his former co-host Katie Couric had done since the 2000 Summer Olympics. He co-hosted theopening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics. His commentary on the 2012 opening ceremonies, along with that of co-hostsMeredith Vieira and Bob Costas, came under fierce criticism, being described as "ignorant" and "banal".[31][32][33]
2012–2017
On the April 5, 2012, program, Lauer announced that he had signed a new contract with NBC News through 2017. An estimate by Forbes indicated that the contract paid Lauer $25 million a year.[34]
Although it was widely reported by gossip websites that Lauer had much to do with the departure of Ann Curry, his then co-host, these reports were later proven to be untrue. Ann Curry's departure was planned by then Today executive producer, Jim Bell. The plan was called "Operation Bambi". Lauer wanted Bell to delay the departure of Curry.[35][36]
During the 2014 Winter Olympics, prime-time host Bob Costas suffered a major eye infection over the first five days of primetime coverage. As a result, Lauer replaced him for the sixth day of coverage, and hosted from February 11 until February 14.
In November 2015, Lauer led the interview with Charlie Sheen in which the actor revealed he was HIV-positive.[37]
On September 8, 2016, Lauer conducted separate 30-minute interviews with presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The New York Times reported that the reaction to Lauer's performance was "not kind". Lauer devoted much of the Clinton interview to questions about her e-mail server, and according to critics appeared to rush through audience-led topics such as domestic terror attacks and veterans' affairs, implying that there was not enough time to cover these in detail. Many also felt that Lauer failed to challenge Trump on alleged inaccuracies, such as his statement that he was "totally against the war in Iraq", which other sources called "lies".[38][39][40][41] CNN reported that the short amount of time for the interviews, the short notice with which they were conducted, and the small amount of audience questions were a major reason for the poor reviews.[42]
On November 30, 2016, it was announced that he signed a new contract through 2018.[43] His salary was reported by Variety as $20 million per year.[44] On January 6, 2017, Lauer celebrated his 20th anniversary on Today, with a look back at some of his most memorable moments on the show.[45][46]
Dismissal from NBC News
NBC News announced on November 29, 2017 that Lauer's employment had been terminated after a "detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace."[47][3] Andrew Lack, chairman of NBC News, made this statement to staff in a memorandum on November 29: "On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident." As of that date, the name of the complainant had not been revealed but The New York Times had met with the relevant individual; the article states that "she said she was not ready to come forward and tell her story publicly".[3] Following Lauer's firing, Variety published a more detailed accounting of accusations of workplace harassment.[8]
Other work
Lauer had a guest appearance as himself on a live episode of Will & Grace in early 2006.[48]
In November 2006, Lauer and his daughter Romy hosted the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD showSesame Beginnings: Exploring Together.[49] Lauer hosted The Greatest American on theDiscovery Channel, which used Internet and telephone voting by viewers to select the winner. Lauer was critical of his own program since it tended to favor well-known figures over others who had less influence in pop culture.[50]
Lauer appeared as himself in 2009's Land of the Lost movie, appearing in the beginning when Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) appears on his show and single-handedly ruins his career.[51] Lauer appears again at the end of the film, when Marshall shows up with his new book, Matt Lauer Can Suck It. Both scenes end in violent physical confrontation between the two, with the staff trying to break them up.
He served as the 2009 Class Day speaker at Harvard University's undergraduate commencement ceremonies on June 3, 2009.[52]
Lauer appeared as himself in the TV movies, Sharknado 2: The Second One and Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!.[53]
Career timeline
Personal life
Lauer was married to television producer Nancy Alspaugh from 1981–1988.[1][54]
In July 1997 Lauer met Annette Roque, a Dutch model for American retailer J.Crew, on a blind date that stylist Maria Santoro had set up. Just five months later they were engaged, and on October 3, 1998, they married in Water Mill, New York.[55][1] They have a son, Jack Matthew (born 2001), and a daughter, Romy (born 2004). In September 2006, while pregnant with their third child, Roque filed for divorce,[56] citing cruel and inhumane treatment from Lauer, as well as Lauer demonstrating extreme anger and hostility toward her, according to the documents. The couple later reconciled. Their son Thijs was born in November 2006.[1]
In June 2016, Lauer purchased a property known as Strongheart Manor in North Haven, New York, from Richard Gere for $36.5 million.[57][58]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Lauer
