NBC Fires 'Today' Show Co-Host Matt Lauer Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

NBC Fires 'Today' Show Co-Host Matt Lauer Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

NBC has fired its leading morning news anchor Matt Lauer over sexual harassment allegations, the network’s president for news said in a memo to staff on Wednesday. 

NBC News chairman Andrew Lack said the accusation against Laurer by a colleague was a "clear violation of our company's standards."

Lack said it was the first complaint lodged against Lauer, 59, since he took over as anchor of the show in 1997, but there was "reason to believe" it wasn't an isolated incident.

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday, Variety dropped a story on its own two-month-long investigation. A key finding of the piece is that Lauer's sexually-predatory behavior was no secret at NBC News. Surely, one concludes, not all the women at NBC could possibly be so shocked over Matt Lauer's alleged behavior. 

It began with the button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from inside without getting up, two accusers told Variety. Gone was the fear of someone walking in on Lauer while he was doing his business. What happened next is every bit as gross as the Charlie Rose allegations. 

According to Variety, Lauer allegedly sexually harassed several female colleagues, including an instance in which he “summoned a . . . female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis,” then  reprimanding the “visibly shaken” employee for “not engaging in a sexual act.” Three women who identified themselves to Variety as victims of Lauer’s sexual harassment, coupled with dozens of NBC staffers past and present told other stories about NBC's big star, including gifting a female colleague with a sex toy (complete with an “explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her”), inviting young female employees to his hotel room while on assignment covering the Olympics, asking female producers about their sex partners and "offering to trade names" and playing "fuck, marry or kill" with staffers. Lauer was often open about which of his co-stars he'd prefer to sleep with.

And it seems that the married Lauer -- who maintains a distant relationship with his wife -- had an insatiable sexual appetite. 

Boys Club Member Susan Sarandon Tells Women Fighting For Equal Rights To 'Calm Down'

I haven't even commented on Susan Sarandon's Guardian interview choice words on Hillary Clinton. Every day cannot be a day of rage. But none other than W Magazine does a short, brilliant summary of the SS/Guardian interview and reminds us why so many of us loathe this woman. If a guy was making these statements, he would be out of business.

Susan Sarandon, infamously, wasn't with her. She's also not joining the #MeToo movement, and she doesn't like to call herself a feminist (she's more of a humanist, thank you very much). Indeed, the ever outspoken Sarandon has a lot of contrarian opinions, as evidenced by her latest interview with The Guardian. She claims that things "wouldn’t be much smoother" if Hillary Clinton would have won the election, and that there were still a lot of women out there who must've been flattered to be sleeping with Harvey Weinstein and James Toback. Yet, oddly, she also admits to telling women fighting for the Equal Rights Movements to "calm down," and isn't afraid to tell her gay friends about which politicians really are pro-gay.

In Burkina Faso, French President Macron Addresses Restitution Of African Heritage From Museums

In Burkina Faso, French President Macron Addresses Restitution Of African Heritage From Museums

In a speech delivered on a visit to the West African republic of Burkina Faso, French president Emmanuel Macron has promised to make the restitution of French-owned African heritage a priority over the next five years.  Saying that he wants “the conditions to be met for the temporary or permanent restitution of African heritage to Africa”, Macron also spoke to the audience of about 800 students at the University of Ouagadougou about his desire to promote the mobility of talented people between Europe and Africa.

Notably, Macron's comments are at odds with a formal request made in March 2017 to then French President François Hollande, writes artnet News. Lawmakers and civil society groups from Benin wrote an open letter asking for the return of a host of "colonial treasures" 

French President Macron Promises Gender Equality Reforms As France Reexamines Its Own Treatment Of Women

French President Macron Promises Gender Equality Reforms As France Reexamines Its Own Treatment Of Women

French president Emmanuel Macron observed the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women with a minute of silence for the 123 French women killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2016.

The #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal in America have provoked a rethinking of attitudes about sexual harassment in France, known worldwide as the "land of seduction and romance",writes Reuters. 

Unlike Donald Trump, who is trying to roll back women's rights advancements in America with increased legislation around women's reproductive health and a deep plunge in the appointments of women in his cabinet and inner circle and the federal judiciary, Macron campaigned on a platform of rethinking sexual politics and gender equality in France as part of his five-year-mandate.

Proposals that could be included in a 2018 draft law include criminalizing street harassment and extending the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years. France has no minimum age of sexual consent and Macron is personally in favor of setting the age of sexual consent at 15. 

Squirming Over His Support For Roy Moore, Trump Now Suggests That His 'Access Hollywood' Tape Is A Fake

Squirming Over His Support For Roy Moore, Trump Now Suggests That His 'Access Hollywood' Tape Is A Fake

The Times reports: "He sees the calls for Mr. Moore to step aside as a version of the response to the now-famous Access Hollywood tape, in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitalia, and the flood of groping accusations against him that followed soon after. He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently. "(Note that in the hours after the tape was released in October 2016, Trump acknowledged that the voice was his, and he apologized.)

Republican candidate Moore is accused by eight women of pursuing romantic relationships with them when they were teenagers. At the time he was an assistant district attorney in his 30s. Two of the women have accused Moore of assault or molestation, which he vehemently denies. 

Besides Trump's endorsement of Roy Moore for the Senate, Trump feels the need to back the popular argument among Alabama men, asking why the women didn't come forward sooner. Numerous stories confirm that Trump doesn't believe the women accusing Moore, just as he accuses all the women alleging sexual misconduct by him as being liars. 

Jessica Chastain On Molly Bloom: "She Doesn't Trade Romance For Leverage" | Town & Country December 2017

Jessica Chastain On Molly Bloom: "She Doesn't Trade Romance For Leverage" | Town & Country December 2017

Actor Jessica Chastain covers the December 2017 issue of Town & Country, styled by Nicoletta Santoro. Photographer Matthew Brookes flashes the star of 'Molly Bloom' in 'Catch Her If You Can./ Hair by Didier Malige; makeup by Fulvia Farolfi

Surprise, surprise, writer Tim Teeman reveals in his interview with Chastian, the actor takes the Hampton Jitney to the Hamptons. 

"This is quite the caper," Chastain marvels, as she and Teeman speed around Manhattan with her assistant picking up weekend essentials. "One might have assumed that a famous Hollywood actress—she received Oscar nominations for her roles in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty and is in the midst of launching a major campaign for a new Ralph Lauren fragrance—would prefer a more private mode of transport to the Hamptons."

Chastain, who wore her pink pussy hat to the Women's March in DC in January, married  Italian count and fashion exec Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo at his family’s Treviso estate this past summer.

Plus, the cloak-and-dagger feel to our chaotic afternoon echoes, if unintentionally, her latest big project, the film 'Molly’s Game'. Aaron Sorkin’s movie-directing debut tells the story of former champion skier Molly Bloom, who came to run high-class, high-stakes poker games in Hollywood and New York at which the players included Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as art world scion Helly Nahmad (who would later be jailed for his part in the illegal ring).

Eye: Karlie Kloss Works Fearless Wonders For Adidas & Stella McCartney Adidas Collection

Eye: Karlie Kloss Works Fearless Wonders For Adidas & Stella McCartney Adidas Collection

Kloss is known for not faking anything she does, including her recent run in the New York City Marathon. Karlie ran the New York City marathon for the first time ever, and was sponsored by Addidas by Stella McCartney. Kloss fronted the brand's Ultraboost eco-friendly sneakers  made from recycled plastic from the ocean.

Karlie appears in the powerful new adidas Running film Fearless AF, one of six female athletes defying stereotypical arguments about women in sports. 

Betty Tompkins' Ballsy Feminist Art Project 'Women Words' Heads To Art Basel Dec 7-10

Betty Tompkins' Ballsy Feminist Art Project 'Women Words' Heads To Art Basel Dec 7-10

The rebellious, banned, ballsy and sometimes banned art of American feminist Betty Tompkins soars into relevancy in the age of Trump. Her big moment comes at the age of 72 and celebrates a project launched in 2010 as 'Women Words'.

In making my own short graphic post two days ago -- one in which I referenced graphic, slutty words about my own identity -- I was actually in sync with women worldwide who responded to Tompkins' invite for them to share phrases about women.

The answers were sent back from all over the world and were shocking - but not surprising - exposing the corrosive, endemic misogyny in our world. Tompkins made 1,000 paintings of the words, putting the writing on the wall in unflinching plain-speak.

Betty's project 'Women Words' will be front and center in Art Basel in early December. The timing couldn't be more perfect, and I will cover it in detail.

Claudia Schiffer Talks Three Decades of Modeling, Lensed By Nico Bustos For The Edit November 23, 2017

Claudia Schiffer Talks Three Decades of Modeling, Lensed By Nico Bustos For The Edit November 23, 2017

Supermodel Claudia Schiffer celebrates three decades as a top model in her new book, styled is iconic Claudia as sex kitten looks by Raquel Franco. Photographer Nico Bustos flashes Claudia for The EditNovember 23, 2017.

Laura Craik sits down with Schiffer who talks retirement, regret and her return to the runway in her new book. Key factoid: Schiffer's the most prolific cover girl in history. Over 1,000 have borne her image so far, a fact celebrated by a new book simply called 'Claudia Schiffer', published by Rizzoli.

From early shoots with Ellen von Unwerth through to legendary campaigns with Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts and Steven Meisel, Claudia has carefully curated the documentation of her supermodel reign. We learn that her favorite photographers are von Unwerth, Ritts and Arthur Elgort. One of the standout moments in her career was being shot by Elgort in the early ’90s, in Rome, for a Valentino ad campaign. Standing on a balcony waving for her photographer, the assembled crowd below waved back at her. 

In Private Trump Doubts Roy Moore's Accusers, Backs Alabama's Candidate

In Private Trump Doubts Roy Moore's Accusers, Backs Alabama's Candidate

Politico reports that President Donald Trump's near-endorsement of the sexually-accused Alabama Republican senate candidate Roy Moore came after intense conversations with senior Republicans and White House aides. 

The White House advisers told Politico that the president "drew parallels between Moore’s predicament and the one he faced just over a year ago when, during the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, Trump confronted a long line of women who accused him of harassment. He adamantly denied the claims."

Speaking with reporters as he departed for Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump couldn't have come closer to saying that he believed Roy Moore's declaration that all nine of his accusers are lying. In Trump's typically incoherent, repetitive way of speaking, he said: “Let me just tell you, Roy Moore denies it. That's all I can say. He denies it. And, by the way, he totally denies it,” 

“I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it,” Trump said. “He says it didn’t happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about, he said 40 years ago this did not happen.”

Bollywood's Deepika Padukone Cancels Appearance With Ivanka Trump In India As Hindu Nationalists Put $1.5 Million Bounty On Her Head

Bollywood's Deepika Padukone Cancels Appearance With Ivanka Trump In India As Hindu Nationalists Put $1.5 Million Bounty On Her Head

In India, the highly-anticipated release of the movie 'Padmavati' has been delayed after a politician from India's governing party has offered a bounty of $1.5 million for the heads of Deepika Padukone, Bollywood's highest-earning actress, who plays the 14th century Hindu queen -- and also the movie's director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. 

Padmavati is a fictional queen in the epic poem 'Padmavat' by 16th-century poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi. The poem was written more than 200 years after the actual invasion and was absolutely impacted by folklore. 

The poem elevated the virtue of Padmavati, who committed sati, in which a widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre in order to protect her honor. Initially sati was practiced after Hindu men were defeated in battle and to avoid being taken by Muslim men. Like so many customs, the act of sati -- or committing suicide by fire with the death of the husband -- came to be seen as an act of devotion. The custom was outlawed by India's British rulers in 1829 following demands by Indian reformers.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has courted Hindu nationalists as part of his political base -- as has Donald Trump. In the US presidential election, Hindu nationalists were burning images of Hillary Clinton in the streets. 

CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell & Gayle King Speak With Cold Realism About Charlie Rose's Suspension

'CBS THIS MORNING' ANCHORS NORAH O'DONNELL, CHARLIE ROSE AND GAYLE KING ON A HAPPIER MORNING THAN NOV. 21, 2017, WHEN THE WOMEN CONDEMNED THE ACTIONS OF THEIR CO-HOST.

CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell & Gayle King Speak With Cold Realism About Charlie Rose's Suspension

Disgraced, power-brain talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose was honored in October at the Flax Trust annual luncheon at the 21 Club, New York.  Rose was introduced by Norah O’Donnell, his co-host on “CBS This Morning,” and presented with the Flax Trust Award by Sr. Mary Turley. The group publishesIrish America magazine,  vehicle for expression on a range of political, economic, social and cultural themes that are of paramount importance to the Irish in the United States.

This morning, Charlie Rose lies in the smoldering ashes of another Icarus who flew too close to the sun. Viewers of “CBS This Morning” start the day with the show’s signature “eye opener,” a first-moment montage of overnight news. The Tuesday morning 'eye opener' was painful as co-anchors Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell told their audience in stark terms how much they were shaken by allegations of sexual harassment leveled at the third member of their team, Charlie Rose.

“None of us ever thought we’d be sitting at this table in particular telling this story, but here we are,” said King, making a reference to the round-topped glass table that has become the center of the CBS morning program, which features Rose, King and O’Donnell not only reporting the news but talking over the ramifications of the stories they deliver. “This is not the man I know, but I’m clearly on the side of the women who have been very hurt and very damaged by this,” she added.

Laura McGann Details Glenn Thrush's Sexual Harassment, With Five Victims & 40 Sources

Laura McGann Details Glenn Thrush's Sexual Harassment, With Five Victims & 40 Sources

In October, New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush made an impassioned Facebook post, in the throes of accusations against ace political journalist Glenn Thrush. The post was written in response to political journalist Mark Halperin's admission of significant sexual transgressions. Thrush wrote: “Young people who come into a newsroom deserve to be taught our trade, given our support and enlisted in our calling — not betrayed by little men who believe they are bigger than the mission.”

Vox writer Laura McGann reports that journalist insiders found Thrush's comments ironic, given his own reputation with young women, including her. 

Recounting an encounter with a young Politico reporter and Thrush, 50, her friend Bianca Padro Ocasio, also 23 and a journalist launched a text conversation the next day with Thrush. 

“I want to make sure you don’t lure young women aspiring journalists into those situations ever again,” she texted. “So help me out here. How can I do that?”

“I don’t lure anybody ever,” Thrush wrote back, according to screenshots provided by Padró Ocasio. “I got drunk because I got some shitty health news. And I am acutely aware of the hurdles that young women face in this business and have spent the better part of 20 years advocating for women journalists.”

Now Laura McGrann lowers the boom, citing her own experience with Glenn Thrush:

Eye: Katja Mayer Captures The Patriarchal Contradiction in 'Melancholia' For Numéro December 2017

Katja Mayer Captures The Patriarchal Contradiction in 'Melancholia' For Numéro December 2017

Model Marland Backus feels the 'Melancholia' in images styled by Samuel Francois. Photographer and artist Katja Mayer captures the provocation for Numéro's December 2017 issue.

The obelisks of ancient Egypt represented the benben, the primordial mound upon which the god Atum stood at the creation of the world. As such, they were associated with the benu bird, the Egyptian precursor to the Greek phoenix. According to some Egyptian myths the benu bird was the first living creature whose cry awoke creation and set life in motion. The bird was linked to the morning star and the renewal of each day but was also the sign of the end of the world; in the same way the bird had cried to begin the creative cycle, she would sound again to signal its completion. via

Seaton Schroeder, an engineer who helped bring Cleopatra's need to Central Park recounts:  “From the carvings on its face we read of an age anterior to most events recorded in ancient history; Troy had not fallen, Homer was not born, Solomon’s temple was not built; and Rome arose, conquered the world, and passed into history during the time that this austere chronicle of silent ages has braved the elements.”

It's noteworthy that in the march of human civilization from the Egyptians to the Romans -- which coincides with the rise of monotheism and patriarchal values, the Romans built twice as many obelisks as the Egyptians. During this time, condensed into a period of several hundred years in Greece, three famous philosophers chronicled the decline of women from Socrates, who had no issue and embraced the idea of a woman head of state; to Plato, who said 'perhaps but preferably not' (metaphorically speaking) to AAristotle, who saw women as very inferior to men. Aristotle actually believed that all the DNA, all the human qualities of life were transmitted through semen and the man. The woman was only the 'oven' , the incubator of babies that men actually created.  Read on.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.) Accused of Groping & Forcible Kissing By Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden

Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.) Accused of Groping & Forcible Kissing By Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden

Broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden said on Thursday that Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken "forcibly kissed" and groped her during a 2006 USO tour. Franken has apologized and called for a Senate investigation into his own actions. 

“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Tweeden wrote in a blog post. “You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later and be ashamed.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Senate Ethics Committee to review the 11-year-old allegations against Franken, who first issued a brief statement of apology, then later a longer one in which he called for an investigation, saying, “I will gladly cooperate.”

Tweeden's 2006 USO tour was the ninth for the Fox Sports Network correspondent and fitness model,writes The Washington Post. Franken was an Air America radio host just months away from announcing his Senate candidacy.

Angelina Jolie Criticizes UN Peacekeepers For Not Tackling Global Violence Against Women

Angelina Jolie Criticizes UN Peacekeepers For Not Tackling Global Violence Against Women Art of Living

Angelina Jolie remains one of the strongest voices for women worldwide, and she did not hold back in addressing the UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Conference in Vancouver on Tuesday with her keynote speech.

“Sexual violence is everywhere – in the industry where I work, in business, in universities, in politics, in the military, and across the world,” she said during her keynote address on Wednesday. “All too often, these kinds of crimes against women are laughed off, depicted as a minor offense by someone who cannot control themselves, as an illness, or as some kind of exaggerated sexual need,” she continued. “But a man who mistreats women is not oversexed. He is abusive.”

Two New Accusers Come Out Against Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore

Two New Accusers Come Out Against Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore

Tina Johnson

Two more accusers of sexual misconduct came forward tonight against Alabama Republican Senate race candidate Roy Moore. Al.com reports late Wednesday that Tina Johnson alleged that in the fall of 1999 (when Moore was married) she sat in Moore's law office with her mother Mary Katherine Cofield. 

Moore began flirting with her from the moment she walked into Moore's office, alleged Johnson.

"He kept commenting on my looks, telling me how pretty I was, how nice I looked," recalled Johnson. "He was saying that my eyes were beautiful."

It made her uncomfortable. "I was thinking, can we hurry up and get out of here?"

Johnson was in a difficult period of her life, and in the process of signing over custody of her son to her mother. As she left the office, Johnson recalled that Moore grabbed her buttocks.

"He didn't pinch it; he grabbed it," said Johnson. She was so surprised she didn't say anything. She didn't tell her mother.

Gal Gadot Confirms That Brett Ratner Is No Longer Involved In 'Wonder Woman' Sequel

Gal Gadot Confirms That Brett Ratner Is No Longer Involved In 'Wonder Woman' Sequel

Hollywood producer Brett Ratner has met his match in Gal Gadot. The 'Wonder Woman' actor said that she would not make a sequel to the blockbuster movie, if he remained involved in the project. Warner Bros must have taken her seriously, knowing also that women worldwide would boycott the film with any new 'Wonder Woman' in place. That will not be necessary. 

Vanity Fair reports that Gadot is on the record revealing that before the Wonder Woman star even appeared on 'Today' Wednesday morning, interviewed by Savannah Guthrie, the matter had been resolved. In fact, says Gadot, it was resolved before the Page Six article.

Swedish Film Institute (SHI) Considers New Rules For Training On Sexual Harassment In Industry

Swedisn Film Institute (SHI) Considers New Rules For Training On Sexual Harassment In Industry

The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) is responding with lightening speed to the recent #MeToo letter signed by nearly 600 local actresses, including Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (above), calling out harassment and abuse in Sweden's film, theater industry.

SFI head Anna Serner's proposal, which requires board approval, stipulates that production companies seeking public funding attend free educational seminars, likely one or two per year, that would cover issues, such as sexual harassment, gender equality and diversity. 

Asserting “zero tolerance against sexual exploitation and violence” the letter signatories demanded that employers, from film companies and theaters to book publishers and Swedish television networks, “stop protecting, hiring and making money on perpetrators” of sexual violence.

Writing on her blog, Serner said the #MeToo movement could only truly change the culture "if there are consequences" and called for zero tolerance of sexual harassment. The problem, writes Serner, is about power and an industry decision to profit from known abusers.