Veteran “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw stands accused of sexual harassment but it seems the Left’s “believe all women” mantra, coined during the wave of #MeToo allegations that shook the entertainment and news industries last year, falls flat when a beloved progressive icon is in the crosshairs.
More than 100 of Brokaw’s former female colleagues have signed a letter affirming their support for the embattled former anchor, insisting that Brokaw is incapable of sexual harassment and supporting Brokaw in denying the allegations against him.
“As professional women, we fully endorse the conversation around abuse of power in the workplace. In the context of that conversation, we would like to share our perspectives on working with Tom Brokaw,” the letter says.
“Tom has treated each of us with fairness and respect. He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers. As we have advanced across industries — news, publishing, law, business and government — Tom has been a valued source of counsel and support. We know him to be a man of tremendous decency and integrity,” it continues.
The names at the bottom are a Who’s Who of leftist media icons, from MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow to close Clinton crony Andrea Mitchell.
Brokaw stands accused of harassing and groping a woman named Linda Vester, who says Brokaw touched her inappropriately and abused his power over her while she was a cub reporter at NBC News in the 1990s. Brokaw denied the allegations in a letter last week, calling Vester a “character assassin” with a “grudge against NBC News,” according to CNN.
“She has unleashed a torrent of unsubstantiated criticism and attacks on me more than twenty years after I opened the door for her and a new job at Fox News,” Brokaw added.
Vester claims she’s coming forward with her allegations now “because NBC has failed to hire outside counsel to investigate a genuine, long-standing problem of sexual misconduct in the news division.”
NBC says it’s investigating Vester’s claims, but it’s clear Brokaw’s colleagues have already made up their minds on the issue and they believe Vester, rather than Brokaw, isn’t being honest — a position directly at odds with statements many of the signatories made during the height of the #MeToo wave. But those claims, of course, weren’t against Tom Brokaw.