Katie Couric says the Matt Lauer sexual harassment scandal “has been very painful to me” — “this was not the Matt we knew”

People

Couric tells People magazine that the sexual harassment accounts she read have been “disturbing, distressing and disorienting and it’s completely unacceptable that any woman at the Today show experienced this kind of treatment.” She adds that when she said on Watch What Happens Live in 2012 that Lauer “pinches me on the a** a lot,” she was joking.  “I had no idea this was going on during my tenure or after I left,” says the former Today anchor. “I think I speak for many of my former colleagues when I say this was not the Matt we knew. Matt was a kind and generous colleague who treated me with respect. In fact, a joke I once made on late-night television was just that, because it was completely contrary to our brother-sister relationship. It’s still very upsetting. I really admire the way Savannah (Guthrie) and Hoda (Kotb) and the entire Today show staff have handled a very difficult situation.”