Nevils’s response to Lauer’s letter came quickly on its heels. She referred to it as a “case study in victim-shaming.”
Nevils added that she is no longer afraid of him, regardless of the threats and shaming.
What to Say
The network proposed a script to Nevils, telling her what to say and how to act. It asked her to suggest she had left NBC to pursue other endeavors, that she had been treated well, and that NBC News was a positive example of sexual harassment.” A...positive example of sexual harassment?
We're not sure what that means, and we almost don't want to know. NBC tried and tried to quash the story, according to Farrow. Oppenheim even asked Farrow if the investigation was really worth it, and suggested that no one even knows who Weinstein is.
“Completely Mutual”
In an open letter, Lauer wrote that Nevil would visit his apartment and even his dressing room at work. He expressed his bad judgment but insisted that it was completely mutual.
Lauer has also pointed out contradictions in Nevils's story, also stating that many people were aware of the affair.
The Victim's Never-Ending Nightmare
The event and accusation continued to take its toll on Nevils. She's admitted to suffering from post-traumatic stress since filing the complaint in November 2017. She has also attempted suicide, descended into heavy drinking, but through it all has managed to pull herself back from the brink. She experienced extreme weight loss, losing fourteen pounds in one month. During that same period, she visited doctors twenty-one times.
Nevils is still dealing with the consequences but doesn't regret speaking out. “I've lost everything I cared about,” Nevils says in Farrow's book. “My job. My goals.”]
Back on Television
When NBC terminated Lauer, many of his watchers wondered if they would ever see him on television again. In August of 2018, the answer came when – for some reason – Lauer was speaking to a group of women at the Donahue Steak House in New York. He said they “shouldn't worry about missing his face on their television screens,” which sounds a little bit like a threat. He said he would be “back on TV” soon.
However, he didn't go into any more detail about the how, why, or when of his impending return.