NBC’s Tom Brokaw has become the latest media personality to be accused of sexually misconduct.
Former NBC correspondent, Linda Vester, told The Washington Post that Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her in the 1990s.
One of those advances, she claims, was a forcible kiss. Vester said she was in her 20s at the time of the alleged incidents.
Vester alleged that Brokaw, now 78, invited her for a drink when she was in New York on assignment in 1994.
NBC’s Tom Brokaw (pictured on April 6) has become the latest media personality to be accused of sexually misconduct
Former NBC correspondent, Linda Vester (left), has claimed that Brokaw (right) made unwanted advances toward her in the 1990s. One of those advances, she claims, was a forcible kiss. Vester said she was in her 20s at the time of the alleged incidents
She reportedly responded to him by saying that she only drinks milk and cookies.
‘It was the only thing I could think of at the time, hoping the reference to milk and cookies would make him realize I was 30 years his junior and not interested,’ she told the Post.
Vester claimed that Brokaw called her and told her that he was coming over because he was looking for ‘an affair of more than passing affection’.
She alleged that he tried to give her a ‘real kiss’ while sitting on the hotel room’s sofa. When she resisted, he allegedly left the room.
Vester also claimed that he made a second advance toward her a year later in London, where she rejected him once again.
Brokaw denied the allegations in a statement released to the Post by NBC.
Brokaw denied the allegations in a statement released to the Post by NBC, saying that his meetings with Vester ‘were brief, cordial and appropriate’. He’s pictured with Katie Couric in June 2017
‘I met with Linda Vester on two occasions, both at her request, 23 years ago, because she wanted advice with respect to her career at NBC,’ he said.
‘The meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate, and despite Linda’s allegations, I made no romantic overtures towards her, at that time or any other.’
Another woman, who worked as a production assistant in the 1990s when she was 24, claims that Brokaw put her ‘hands under his jacket and against his chest and pulled me in so close and asked me, “How is your job search going?”
Then he allegedly said: ‘Why don’t you come into my office after the show and let’s talk about it.’
She told the Post that she refused to go to his office, and never reported the allegations.
Brokaw left Nightly News in December 2004 and stayed on with the company as a special correspondent.
He later served as interim host of Meet the Press after Tim Russert’s death in 2008.