NBC Universal settled a sexual harassment complaint made by an assistant producer against Chris Matthews over what the network called “inappropriate and juvenile” comments.
A spokesman for MSNBC confirmed to the Daily Caller that the company made a sexual harassment settlement in 1999 as part of a severance package while two other sources disputed those claims, telling the DC that Matthews paid $40,000 to settle the allegations.
The woman alleged to executives that Matthews made “inappropriate comments and jokes about her while in the company of others” while she worked on his show “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
The network claims that they gave Matthews a “formal reprimand” at the time and concluded that his remarks were “inappropriate and juvenile” but did not constitute sexual propositioning by Matthews. MSNBC refused to answer whether this was the only claim made against Matthews in his history at the company.
The revelations about Matthews are the latest in an embarrassing run for NBC Universal as the network has been rocked with covering up major sexual assault reports, firing employees for sexual misconduct, and retaining an employee who made homophobic remarks in blog posts.
Recent scandals that have given NBC a black eye include:
- Matt Lauer — Accused of sexually assaulting an employee and sexting multiple NBC female staffers and interns.
- Wouldn’t Report Harvey Weinstein Allegations — Ronan Farrow, the reporter who broke the Harvey Weinstein scandal, claims the network refused to run the story.
- Mark Halperin — NBC and MSNBC severed their ties with Halperin after disturbing sexual accusations surfaced about him while he was at ABC News.
- Matt Zimmerman — NBC Universal fired Zimmerman, Senior Vice President for Booking, News & Entertainment, for allegedly engaging in inappropriate conduct at the company with more than one woman.
- Joy Reid — MSNBC surprisingly maintained Reid writings on her old blog were discovered which included conspiratorial homophobic remarks. Reid, who is notorious for making inaccurate comments, brushed off her anti-gay writings by claiming it was okay because “South Park” did it.