Flashback: That Time Katie Couric Said Matt Lauer ‘Pinches Me On The Ass A Lot’

couric lauer
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 12: "TODAY" Show correspondent Matt Lauer and Katie Couric attend the "TODAY" Show 60th anniversary celebration at The Edison Ballroom on January 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that “Today” show host, Matt Lauer, has been fired by NBC following allegations of sexual misconduct.

What usually happens now are the follow-up of stories in which people surrounding the accused talk about all these obvious signs of the reprehensible conduct that they failed to report.

Not so with Katie Couric, who, during a 2012 interview on Andy Cohen’s “Watch What Happens Live,” said that one of Lauer’s most annoying habits was that “he pinches me on my ass a lot.”

She saw the signs. She apparently felt the signs too.

I mean, holy cow. How does that not raise a few alarm bells, even prior to the current climate of daily sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood and politics?

Couric spent over a decade co-hosting the “Today” show alongside Lauer.

What makes this semi-remarkable is the fact that NBC is claiming they only learned of Lauer’s behavior this week, prompting the firing.

In a statement, they claimed ‘it was the first complaint lodged against Lauer since he was named in 1997.’

But here is Couric, on video, making a very public complaint about having her a** pinched. Repeatedly!

Instead, nobody batted an eyelash at the comments. The interview rolled on. The media didn’t care. NBC didn’t care. Utter silence.

“Katie’s answer came and went,” TMZ reported. “It was hardly picked up by the media.”

Couric proceeded through the interview and played a game of “shag, marry, and kill,” in which the former “Today” host said she’d “marry” Lauer. Bryant Gumbel was her choice for “shagging” while Dan Rather was on the receiving end of the “kill” order.

What do you make of this video of Couric saying Lauer ‘pinched my ass a lot?’ Light-hearted joke or ominous warning? Share your thoughts below!

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

Mentioned in this article: