WhileThe Morning Show‘s first season does not debut until Friday, viewers have already begun to wonder if the series’ second season will tackle therape allegationagainstMatt LauerfeaturedRonan Farrow‘s new book.
“We don’t know yet,” said Aniston, 50. “We’re just now sort of figuring out what that looks like, because it’s not such an easy thing. Everybody has kind of had to step back, take a break, refocus, and now we will start those conversations.”
Viewers havedrawn comparisonsbetween Carell’s character and Lauer, 61, who wasfiredfrom his anchor role at NBC News in November 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct. (In Farrow’s new book, Lauer wasaccused of rapinga former colleague, which he has denied.)
Despite the eerie similarities, Anistonrecently insistedon SiriusXM’sThe Howard Stern Showthat the series wasn’t written with Lauer in mind.
“It’s hard for me to believe when I watch the first two episodes that this is not based on what happened to Matt Lauer on theTodayshow,” Stern said to Aniston, who replied, “No.”
But according to Aniston, the storyline doesn’t just mirror Lauer. “It’s a lot of people,” she said. “He is the archetype for those, unfortunately many men who were — it was more than just Matt.”
On Oct. 9,Varietypublished details from Farrow’s book,Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, in which Lauer’s former NBC News colleague Brooke Nevils alleges that heanally raped her in his hotel roomat the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
In a statement read on-air on theTodayshow after Nevils’ rape accusation was first publicly reported, NBC News said, “Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”
Annie Watt Agency; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Lauerpenned a lengthy lettertoVarietyand denied Nevils’ claim.
“In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault. It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense,” he said. “I had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014,” he said. “It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia. We engaged in a variety of sexual acts. We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual.”
source: people.com
