Matt Lauer will not receive a payout after being fired by NBC amid allegations of sexual harassment, CNNMoney reports.
Though Lauer’s contract called for him to be paid tens of millions of dollars, the network doesn’t expect to pay it now that he’s been fired, a senior NBC source told the outlet. Lauer “will not be paid past his last day of work,” the source said on Friday, December 1.
According to a story published in the New York Post on Thursday, the lawyers of the former morning talk show host, 59, have been angling to get him a payout. Their headline read “Lauer’s lawyers trying to get him $30M payout after firing.”
The expected monetary compensation was based on the fact that Lauer was paid around $20 million a year to cohost the Today show. Lauer’s contract was said to expire in late 2018, but the Post indicated that it stretched through the first half of 2019, ultimately leading to the $30 million figure.
The NBC source did not dispute that Lauer’s attorneys might designate a plan for get him paid, but said the network will not agree to any sort of payout.
As previously reported, Lauer was fired by NBC News chairman Andrew Lack late Tuesday, November 28, after a female colleague of the journalist claimed he engaged in “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.”
He broke his silence one day after being fired: “There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions. To the people I have hurt, I am truly sorry,” he said in a statement to Us Weekly. “As I am writing this I realize the depth of the damage and disappointment I have left behind at home and at NBC. Some of what is being said about me is untrue or mischaracterized but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed.”
