A 2012 video of a Today show skit in which Matt Lauer played the victim in a spoof sketch where he was spanked by a colleague resurfaced on Wednesday in new context after he was fired amid claims of misconduct.
The segment saw Lauer complain to the camera after being spanked by co-host Willie Geist who slapped him on the backside with some papers.
Savannah Guthrie was in on the joke and introduced the segment jokingly as ‘the smack heard round the studio’.
Al Roker and Katie Couric were also part of the segment. Both – along with Guthrie – expressed shock at Lauer’s termination on Wednesday.
In the segment, Lauer said softly after being spanked by Geist, who jokingly denied it:’If you do it, just own up to it’ and joked that Geist had not ‘called or written’ since the spoof incident.
It ended with the crew turning to guest Dustin Hoffman – who has also recently been accused of sexual misconduct – for advice.
In the 2012 skit, Lauer played victim after being spanked by co-host Willie Geist in a spoof segment which has resurfaced and which critics say pokes fun at sexual harassment
They laughed when Hoffman said: ‘Did Willie swat him with his willy?’
The video was reposted by The Daily Show on Wednesday after Lauer was fired over an allegation he sexually assaulted a co-worker while working on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Page Six cited an NBC source which claimed the woman made her complaint on Monday night and presented ‘compelling evidence’ of it.
NBC Chairman Andy Lack announced his departure in a memo to staff on Wednesday morning.
Today stars Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kobt, Megyn Kelly and Kathy Lee Gifford have all since commented on his departure and told of their shock at learning of the claims he faces.
Lauer himself has not commented on the allegations.
In the 2012 clip, Lauer told Jeff Rossen that the spank was unsolicited.
‘I didn’t do anything differently, I wasn’t wearing a different cologne, this was uninitiated,’ he said jokingly.
As part of the segment, Geist smacked Lauer on the backside with a stack of papers. Today presented footage of it that had been taken on studio surveillance cameras and presented it in jest as a serious incident
Lauer returned the gesture, smacking Geist on his backside with his bare hand
Savannah Guthrie, who this morning fought back tears over her co-anchor’s firing on air, was in on the joke and called it ‘the smack heard around the studio’
The segment was created for Rossen Reports and asked: ‘Did Willie touch Matt’s tush?’
Dustin Hoffman, who has himself recently been accused of sexual harassment by two different women, was asked for his view on the smack and said jokingly: ‘Did Willie swat him with his willy?’
Also involved was Katie Couric (next to Lauer, right), Willie Geist (right) and Al Roker (far left)
‘I’m upset for a couple reasons. One, that he denied it. Why deny it?
‘If you do it, own up to it and secondly, since it happened he hasn’t called, he hasn’t written. Nothing. The abandonment.’
Rossen led the segment, asking: ‘Is it really appropriate for the workplace? Judge for yourself.’
Later, he said: ‘This kind of play is only appropriate when you have the prior permission of both people which our investigation has uncovered, Willie did not have.’
Today did not comment on the resurfaced clip on Wednesday when approached by DailyMail.com.
Viewers were outraged by the segment and questioned why it had ever been allowed to air.
‘Not funny then, definitely not funny now,’ said one disappointed viewer.
Viewers were outraged by the segment and questioned why it was ever allowed to air
Another said the show was ‘making fun’ of sexual harassment and accused it of ‘poor taste’.
Others labeled it ‘sick satire’, ‘insensitivity’ and ‘dismissiveness’. ‘How was this considered funny before the 2017 reckoning?’ said one woman.
On their respective shows on Wednesday, Guthrie and Kelly both commended the woman who had filed a complaint against Lauer for her bravery.
Geist said it took ‘real courage’ for the woman to come forward and described Lauer as ‘the most powerful person at NBC News.’
All said they ‘loved’ Lauer but vowed to report the scandal engulfing him as they would any other story.
‘I don’t want to lose sight of a person who took a pretty big leap and stepped out on a ledge to take on someone of Matt’s stature,’ Geist said.
Roker was visibly shaken and said he was ‘still trying to process the news’ about his ‘friend of 30 years’.
Couric, who no longer works for the network, has not commented since Lauer’s firing. A 2012 interview in which she described how Lauer ‘pinched her butt a lot’ when they were co-anchors resurfaced after the news.
Hoffman is among a growing number of Hollywood stars who have been accused of widespread sexual misconduct.
Guthrie was emotional on Wednesday after announcing Lauer’s firing on the morning show he ordinarily co-anchored with her
Geist commended Lauer’s accuser for her ‘real courage’ and said he was the ‘most powerful person at NBC News’
On Wednesday, Al Roker, who was part of the 2012 joke segment, said he was ‘still trying to process the news’ about his ‘friend of 30 years’
Two different women say he harassed them.
Anna Graham-Hunter, a former production assistant, said Hoffman harassed her on the set of Death of a Salesman in 1985. He denied her accusations.
Later, Wendy Riss Gatsiounis said he sexually propositioned her in the 1990s when she was 26 and he was 53. He has not responded to her allegations.
After NBC announced Lauer’s firing on Wednesday, Variety and The New York Times both revealed they had been working on exposés about his alleged misconduct.
Variety published some of its reporting in the afternoon. It included claims from three separate women who all say they were harassed by the 59-year-old.
They spoke with 10 NBC staffers for the piece. Among the allegations is that Lauer exposed his penis to one woman and gave a sex toy to another along with a written note about how he wished to use it on her.
Another claim is that he requested young staffers to visit his hotel room late at night while covering various Olympic Games around the world.
Lauer has been accused of sexually assaulting a co-worker during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics