Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow spoke with "Good Morning America" Friday about the stunning revelations from his upcoming book on reporting stories that fueled the #MeToo movement.
Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow spoke with "Good Morning America" Friday about the stunning revelations from his upcoming book on reporting stories that fueled the #MeToo movement.
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A portion of Farrow’s upcoming book, "Catch and Kill," includes the allegation from a former NBC News producer that Matt Lauer raped her while they were covering the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Farrow said on "Good Morning America" he "can't answer specific questions" about whether or not Lauer spoke to him for the book but said that the book was "extensively fact checked."
His accuser, first identified in Farrow’s book as Brooke Nevils, worked as a producer for "Today" co-anchor Meredith Vieira at the time of the Olympics. On "GMA," Farrow said that Nevils "consistently has described" the incident in Sochi "as non-consensual."
Beyond the specific allegations involving Nevils, Farrow described how he reportedly found that NBC News had been aware of and arranged earlier settlement agreements involving allegations against Lauer.
"What we show in this book, with a paper trail, with documents, was that there were multiple secret settlements and non-disclosures being struck with women at NBC News," Farrow said.
Farrow wrote that Nevils told Farrow she and Vieira were at the hotel bar and Lauer joined them. After six drinks, Nevils said she went to Lauer's hotel room twice later that night, first to get her press credentials, which Lauer had allegedly taken as a joke, and later at his invitation.
According to Farrow, Nevils alleges that on that second trip to his room, Lauer, who was wearing a T-shirt and boxers, pushed her against the door and kissed her, pushed her onto the bed and asked if she wanted to have anal sex. Farrow wrote that Nevils "declined several times" and "she was in the midst of telling him she wasn’t interested again when he 'just did it.'"
"It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent. ... It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn't want to have anal sex," Nevils told Farrow.
Lauer released a lengthy letter on Wednesday in response to the allegations calling this account "categorically false." He describes the relationship as an "extramarital affair" that began in Sochi, saying that night in his hotel room "we performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual." Lauer also insisted, "There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter... she was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner. At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent...She embraced me at the door as she left."
In the letter, Lauer wrote that "this encounter, which she now falsely claims was an assault, was the beginning of our affair. It was the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months."