The latest story about the latest celebrity accused of sexual harassment can provoke a variety of reactions. Supplies, sadness and outrage are understandable but as Liz goes longer, you may find boredom as people begin to get tired of the revelations.Harvey Weinstein has been forced out.The backlash for Kevin Spacey amid that accusation.Matt Lauer has been fired over reports of inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.Karla Peterson wants to nip that boredom in the but what she says stop the eye rolling and buckle your seatbelts because this concerns what's been happening to half the people on the planet. Joining me is Karla Peterson. Matt Lauer, Russell Simmons, those are the people were been accused of sexual harassment in the past 24 hours. In a situation like this how do you avoid outrage fatigue?I think you have to look at what we are outraged about and how long this has been going on in the scope of it. This is a story that has been going on for ever and if you are a woman, you've had a deal with it, if you are a man, you've had a woman in your life has to do with it. Some men have had to deal with it also. I think before you get fatigued, you have to say is is over yet? It is not.So you've given us reasons to avoid the eye roll. What are we learning from these revelations?Were learning how pervasive it is. I think we are learning that it reaches into so many levels of entertainment and politics and journalism and that it is everywhere and it affects everyone. It affects the narrative that shapes our lives. Matt Lauer interviewed Hillary Clinton and was famously taken to task for not interviewing her fairly. We look at that now we think -- I think there's going to be a lot of old that moment when you look at the gatekeepers who are in charge of the movies we see in the news stories I get followed and the shape of our lives in the shape of our narrative.The big question many had been asking is why now? Why are all these revelations coming up now? Someone who study popular culture what you think the reason is?I think there are things that play. With Harvey Weinstein something big that happened is you had celebrity women speaking out. You had Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow and I think we are such a celebrity driven cultural that we were able to look at those woman and think this is terrible in a way that we maybe did it with Bill Cosby's accusers because they were older women. These were accusations that happened a long time ago. With Harvey once he reports they put together such a broad sweeping case that it was easy to focus on. It was a very focus report. I think another thing that happened with Bill Cosby -- the cases were horrific and they were so horrific that some women have not have felt that they could piggyback on that. So there were women coming out sink Bill Cosby rate me too. If your woman who thought I wasn't rates, I was only groped, I don't feel like I can do me too but then with Harvey Weinstein you had the whole thing of horrible behavior from rape to just groping, exposing. I think that made it easier for women to say that happened to me too because it really did happen to us to.Have you think we will be able to tell if this is a watershed moment of real change for women as opposed to just more of the new cycle we have been experiencing this year?If you look at what's happening and you look at the fact that Matt Lauer was fired and NBC is not going to upset their beautiful expensive carefully built morning show for nothing. Bill O'Reilly is gone. Garrison Keillor and we don't know what happened yet. I think we are seeing that when women speak out there is the impact and there is an impact on other places that there needs to be impact. I think that for a lot of women as long as Donald Trump is in office, there is this feeling that there's a big elephant in the room that is still doing his elephant thing and nobody is doing anything about it. I think that's going to continue to fuel the outrage. You see Matt Lauer gone, Bill O'Reilly gone, the head of Amazon studios gone, you see these men falling like dominoes in a way they did not before. That it's me some hope that it's not going to just fade away because there are more stories that are going to come out and more men that are going to fall.I've been speaking with Karla Peterson. Thank you.
Matt Lauer says, "There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions," issuing his first public response after NBC fired the longtime host of Today, its flagship morning program.
Lauer spoke after lurid details of alleged sexual misconduct emerged in both Variety and The New York Times, ranging from inappropriate remarks to sexual assault — and a door in Lauer's office that he could lock by pressing a button at his desk.
In his statement, Lauer apologized to those he has hurt and said he realizes "the depth of the damage and disappointment I have left behind at home and at NBC."
The remarks come one day after Lauer was fired after a female colleague told NBC human resources officials about Lauer's behavior during the network's coverage of the Sochi Olympics in 2014. As NPR's David Folkenflik reports, "that younger colleague said he sexually harassed her there. The network says there was inappropriate sexual behavior and that the woman said the harassment continued. She has not been identified."
NBC fired Lauer as Variety was preparing a story in which several women detailed their allegations against the powerful TV host, whose annual salary was more than $20 million.
As the Two-Way reported yesterday:
"Lauer allegedly gave a female colleague a sex toy with an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her. According to Variety, he exposed himself to another female employee and then 'reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act,' and he made lewd comments verbally or in text messages in front of other employees, including references to their performance in bed."
Since Lauer was fired, NBC has received at least two more complaints about him, The New York Times reports. The newspaper says it spoke to a former Today employee who said Lauer had sexually assaulted her in his locked office in 2001.
In response to the growing accusations, Lauer said, "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. I regret that my shame is now shared by the people I cherish dearly."
Lauer's former co-host Savannah Guthrie read his statement aloud on Thursday's Today show. It concluded:
"Repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul searching and I'm committed to beginning that effort. It is now my full time job. The last two days have forced me to take a very hard look at my own troubling flaws. It's been humbling. I am blessed to be surrounded by the people I love. I thank them for their patience and grace."
Lauer's name joins a growing list of high-profile men in the media who have fallen from grace after women reported behavior ranging from inappropriate to illegal.
On Wednesday, Minnesota Public Radio said it had cut ties with Garrison Keillor, the creator of A Prairie Home Companion, over allegations against him. Two other figures in public media were also recently fired in what has become a wave of sexual harassment scandals: NPR's former News Chief Mike Oreskes and longtime PBS host Charlie Rose, who also worked for CBS.
The firings come less than two months after a number of claims were made against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The culling of men who are accused of abusing their power also includes former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, who resigned last year, and the network's former star host, Bill O'Reilly.
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