Boston media react to Matt Lauer shocker
Ex-colleague John Dennis: Matt ‘thought he was above it all’
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Credit: Herald file photo
Matt Lauer
On
NBC’s “Today,”
Matt Lauer seemed to be the male version of America’s sweetheart — doe-eyed and ready to deliver a saccharine tearjerker interview. But the camera apparently added a whole lot of likeability along with the usual 10 pounds, as the recently terminated anchor allegedly had an arrogant air about him dating back to his local TV days in Boston.
“The general consensus was that Matt didn’t think his farts stunk,” said former
WEEIhost
John Dennis, who worked with Lauer when he was at WNEV-TV (now
WHDH) Channel 7 in 1988.
Matt Lauer frequently pinched Katie Couric's butt & once told Meredith Vieira to 'keep bending over''
“If I could assign a word to Matt, I would start in the beginning of the alphabet with the letter ‘A’ for aloof,” Dennis continued. “He marched to the beat of his own drum and didn’t interact with anyone. He thought he was above it all.”
That attitude prevented Dennis and his fellow WNEV co-workers from ever getting too close to the now-fallen, then-future superstar — swiftly terminated by NBC yesterday as stories emerged of what seems like pretty arrogant-sounding sexual harassment and abuse.
“I was just a lowly sportscaster so he didn’t really interact with me,” Dennis joked. “He didn’t want to get the soles of his
Bruno Maglis dirty by associating with the cretins of the sports department.”
But as to whether there were ever any whispers circulating WNEV about Lauer allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct, Dennis said, “None. None whatsoever.”
The rest of the Hub’s broadcast community seems to be keeping a tight lip about what they think about the accusations surrounding Lauer. A few local names reacted to the news on social media, but kept it simple.
For instance, NBC Boston entertainment reporter
Jackie Bruno tweeted shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday, posting that there was a “collective scream of shock in (her) house” when they caught wind of Lauer’s termination.
Ally Donnelly, an investigative reporter at NBC Boston, also took to
Twitter, writing, “Wow. Culture shift,” in response to
TMZ’s tweet that “Katie Couric in 2013 said Matt Lauer pinched me on the (expletive) a lot.”
And
Robin Young, co-host of
NPR’s “Here & Now” and a WNEV alum, summed up what many of us now think whenever we see a new headline about yet another falling star: “What??@NBCNews @TODAYshow fires #MattLauer for inappropriate.. oh you know the rest.”