NBC to Look Past Claims Made Against Anchor
/Matt Lauer has been fired for sexual misconduct at NBC, but that does mean they still don't have someone with a shady past on the payroll.
The New York Post writes that Mike Tirico is leading NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage for the first time in Pyeongchang, taking over for Bob Costas. It is part of the reason NBC wooed Tirico away from ESPN in 2016.
Tirico, 50, was suspended while working for ESPN in the early 1990s after allegations arose of sexual harassment.
The alleged behavior was detailed in two books, most recently in 2011 by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales in “Those Guys Have All the Fun.” Multiple colleagues at ESPN had accused Tirico of sexual harassment.
But, NBC suits have no plans to replace Tirico in the aftermath of Lauer’s termination over allegations of “improper sexual conduct in the workplace.”
“When we hired Mike in 2016, we were aware of the incidents from more than 25 years ago, which had been addressed in 1991-92 by ESPN, his employer at the time, and for which he has apologized,” a rep for NBC Sports said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Mike has repeatedly assured us that this behavior is long in his past, and we have no evidence of anything to the contrary in his tenure at NBC Sports.”
A spokesperson for ESPN, meanwhile, said the charges against Tirico were “aggressively addressed” 25 years ago with an extended suspension.