A subliminal message? Matt Lauer showed off a new forearm tattoo while driving in Sag Harbor, New York, on Wednesday, May 20.
The former Today show cohost, 62, debuted the ink, which reads, “Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in,” while driving his BMW. He wore a white button-down shirt, a black baseball cap and sunglasses while dropping off his 13-year-old son, Thijs, at a house in nearby Noyack, New York.
The quote was part of Alan Simpson’s eulogy at George H.W. Bush’s December 2018 funeral, where the former senator, 88, said, “You would have wanted [Bush] on your side. He never hated anyone. He knew what his mother and my mother always knew: Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in. The most decent and honorable man I ever met was my friend George Bush.”
Lauer has considered getting a tattoo for years. Before NBC News fired him in November 2017 over allegations of sexual misconduct, the journalist said on Today that he was “on the fence” as the hashtag “#MattTattooYes” became a trending topic on Twitter.
The sighting of Lauer’s new ink came one day after he made headlines for writing a controversial op-ed questioning the reporting of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow.
“Will anyone hold Ronan Farrow thoroughly accountable? I doubt it,” the disgraced news anchor wrote via Mediaite. “I ask people to consider how they would react if someone they loved were accused of something horrific and basic journalistic standards were ignored because of a desire to sell books. I also urge people to remember that there are two sides to all stories.”
The author, 32, responded later on Tuesday, May 19, tweeting, “All I’ll say on this is that Matt Lauer is just wrong. Catch and Kill was thoroughly reported and fact-checked, including with Matt Lauer himself.”
In his opinion piece, Lauer also lashed out at Brooke Nevils, the former NBC employee who accused him of rape, leading to his termination at the network. Lauer insisted in the op-ed that he “was falsely accused” by Nevils, writing, “This accusation was one of the worst and most consequential things to ever happen in my life, it was devastating for my family, and outrageously it was used to sell books.”
Nevils responded via Twitter on Tuesday, borrowing an acronym first used by psychologist Jennifer Freyd: “DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.”
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