Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY
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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 15 January 2018
Katie Couric breaks silence on Matt Lauer: ‘I had no idea’
By The Associated Press more than a month since
Katie Couric, who was Matt Lauer was fired. NBC News
Lauer’s “Today” co-host for conducted an investiga-
several years, broke her si- tion of a Lauer colleague’s
lence Saturday on sexual detailed complaint of “in-
misconduct allegations appropriate sexual behav-
against him. Couric told ior.” Other women have
People magazine: “I had come forward with accu-
no idea this was going on sations against him.
during my tenure or after I “I think I speak for many
left.” of my former colleagues
She departed NBC in 2006 when I say this was not the
to anchor the “CBS Evening Matt we knew,” Couric told
News” and has been criti- People. “Matt was a kind
cized for her silence in the and generous colleague
In this May 31, 2006 file photo, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, co-hosts of the NBC Today” program,
open her farewell broadcast in New York.
Associated Press
who treated me with re- me on the ass a lot.” The channel called “Gender
spect. In fact, a joke I once clip received wide atten- Revolution: A Journey with
made on late-night televi- tion online after Lauer’s fir- Katie Couric” and said
sion was just that, because ing in late November. Cou- one episode will focus on
it was completely contrary ric’s only other public state- harassment women have
to our brother-sister rela- ment on Lauer was one faced in the workplace.
tionship. It’s still very upset- she made on Instagram “The whole thing has been
ting. last month in response to a very painful for me,” Couric
I really admire the way user who chided her for not told People of Lauer’s be-
Savannah (Guthrie) and speaking out: “It’s incred- havior.
Hoda (Kotb) and the en- ibly upsetting and I will say “The accounts I’ve read
tire ‘Today’ show staff have something when I’m ready and heard have been dis-
handled a very difficult situ- to. Thanks for your interest.” turbing, distressing and
ation.” Couric was referring Lauer has since apologized disorienting and it’s com-
to a remark she made in in a statement. pletely unacceptable that
2012 on “Watch What Hap- Couric is working on a six- any woman at the ‘Today’
pens Live with Andy Co- part documentary series for show experienced this kind
hen” that Lauer “pinches the National Geographic of treatment.”q
Clooney directing, starring
in ‘Catch-22’ drama series
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — nounced. Clooney will play forts to evade combat are
George Clooney is direct- Col. Cathcart in the dra- thwarted by a bureaucrat-
ing and starring in a TV ma he’s directing with his ic rule, Catch-22, which
series version of the novel Smokehouse Pictures part- became a lasting catch-
“Catch-22.” ner, Grant Heslov. Smoke- phrase for a no-win situa-
Streaming service Hulu said house is producing it with tion.
Sunday that the six-part Paramount Television and A 1970 film based on
series based on Joseph Anonymous Content. “Catch-22” was direct-
Heller’s anti-war satire will The 1961 novel focuses on ed by Mike Nichols and
go into production in 2018. a World War II Air Force starred Alan Arkin as Yos-
A debut date and other bombardier, John Yossar- sarian and Martin Balsam
cast members weren’t an- ian, whose determined ef- as Cathcart.q
budgetaruba@setarnet.aw