Category: katie couric

Katie Couric’s memoir, Going There, has been leaked out in dribs and drabs, and all of the excerpts are appalling. There are layers to the offense: Couric’s words are genuinely offensive, as she seems to still be an out-of-touch Mean Girl who hates women and capes for sexual predators like Matt Lauer. The other layer of offensive is that as she was writing the book, she didn’t seem to understand how bad she sounded and how people would be appalled by her “story.” Her promotion for the memoir thus far has been Couric trying to do damage control on her own words, because clearly it’s too late to rewrite the damn book. So we’re supposed to forget about how Couric actually admitted (in the book) that she had knowledge of Lauer sexually harassing women in the NBC offices, and she’s trying to change the subject about how she was super-stunned to learn that Lauer is actually this vile predator. So… Couric was on the Today Show this morning and she said many words:

(I enjoy the fact that Savannah Guthrie seems to be SEETHING in that video.)

Here’s part of what Couric said to Today:

Tuesday, reflecting on when the news broke of sexual harassment allegations against her on-air partner of nine years, Couric said on Today that it was “really, really hard, and it took me a long time to process what was going on.”

“The side of Matt I knew was the side of Matt I think you all knew. He was kind, generous, considerate, a good colleague,” she said. “As I got more information and learned more about what was going on behind the scenes. And then I did some of my own reporting, talked to people, tried to excavate what had been going on. It was really devastating and also disgusting.”

“I think what I realized is that there was a side of Matt I never really knew. I tried to understand why he behaved the way he did, and why he was so reckless, and callous, and honestly abusive to other women,” Couric said, adding that they have “no relationship” today.

[From People]

On one side, it’s not Katie Couric’s “fault” that Matt Lauer was and is a predator who raped, harassed and abused women. That is his sh-t. And on that side, Couric is right about the “permissive” atmosphere – NBC News, like all newsrooms, is a boys club set up to protect men. Lauer was long considered “the reason” why people tuned into Today, so NBC News gave him implicit permission to do whatever he wanted. But on the other side of all of that… Couric had knowledge of some (not all) of Lauer’s predatory behavior. And instead of using HER power to protect her female coworkers, she did nothing. And then gloated about Lauer’s victims’ humiliation in her book. And now she’s trying to rewrite her own appalling memoir as she does promotion.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, screencap from Today.

Katie Couric’s memoir, Going There, comes out later this month, but we’ve already seen a lot of quotes from it, as it seems like the NY Post and the Daily Mail got their hands on some select chapters. Couric does not come across well, at all. She comes across like a woman who hates other women, who feels threatened by anyone younger and good at their job, who spent years lording her status over everyone else. If the excerpts we’ve seen so far are any indication, Couric does not come across as truly reflective or even ashamed of her old behavior and worldview. Her old colleagues are appalled, but many of them saw behind the mask long ago as well. Anyway, Couric covers the new issue of People Magazine, and the cover story has some excerpts from her book, with a brand new interview where Couric IS suddenly very reflective, especially about Matt Lauer. We’ve already heard some of her sh-t about Lauer, which seemed like she didn’t believe Lauer’s victims and she still considers him a good guy. Let’s watch her damage control unfold! Some highlights from People:

On Matt Lauer: “What upset me the most about hearing these stories [was] that obviously [his behavior] was grossly inappropriate, but also it just seemed so callous. And that’s not the Matt I knew. There’s a duality in human beings, and sometimes they don’t let you see both sides.”

On the Me Too movement: Couric said her thoughts about her former colleague are informed by the Me Too movement that has changed the national conversation about consent and sexual harassment. “I think we’ve learned a lot,” she says of the shift that’s happened since she first entered the newsroom. “I think our understanding of what is a consensual relationship has changed dramatically, and now we know if there is a power dynamic, it can’t really be considered consensual.”

She didn’t notice anything alarming about Lauer’s interactions with other women: “He might comment on a movie star or something, saying, like, ‘Oof, she’s unbelievable.’ He was admiring of beautiful women. But I never felt he was pervy or inappropriate in my presence, ever.”

She thought he was a “player”: “I think we have all these euphemisms that we used to use for bad behavior — and player was one of them. He was a flirt. Certainly I read that he was unhappy in his marriage. But, honestly, I never had that discussion with him. I think it’s hard for people to understand that we didn’t share intimate parts of our lives with each other. I could count on one hand the times that I talked to him as I would a confidant or a really close friend.”

She didn’t know about his inappropriate behavior in the office either: “Our offices were next to each other, and so I think when he engaged in this kind of behavior, he was extraordinarily secretive about it. I [had] heard a few pieces of gossip, that he was involved with an anchor, and I remember thinking, ‘Who knows if this is true?’ I think it was considered nobody’s business. At many news organizations in the ’90s and early 2000s there was a lot of inappropriate fraternization.”

She did know Lauer sexually harassed a producer in 2004: “I remember being shocked and disappointed. But also I think I thought more about the infidelity aspect than the idea that he was taking advantage of someone. The idea of something being consensual was interpreted very differently than it is now. If I had to do it again, I would have made sure that young woman was okay.”

It took her a long time to process the claims against Lauer: “It took me a very, very long time to kind of come to terms with it. Also, to appreciate the damage that was done to women who were taken advantage by many powerful men.”

How she feels about Lauer now: She confirms that she is no longer speaking to Lauer. And while she believes that “we’re starting to look at, as a culture, certain offenses — and I’m not putting Matt in this category, but where is there room for redemption, personal growth and grace, it’s not for me to say with Matt. It’s really not for me to forgive him. This is Matt’s story, and it’s the story of the people he exploited.”

[From People]

Yep, this is damage control from Couric, because the early excerpts/quotes from her book made her sound like she knew some (not all) of what Lauer was doing to women and she turned a blind eye to it, and perhaps is still turning a blind eye. This interview was what people thought her book would be like: reflective on how we, as a society, rationalized predatory behavior and excused powerful men. As uncomfortable as this is to admit and acknowledge, she is right about the “rumors” about Lauer at the time – people thought he was a sleazy womanizer and adulterer, not a rapist. We thought he was having consensual affairs, not abusing, assaulting and harassing coworkers. Except I’m not sure anyone will really believe that Couric had no idea whatsoever, especially since (as she even writes in her book), she was aware that he sexually harassed a producer in 2004.

Cover courtesy of People, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I feel like this is the October series we weren’t expecting: The Katie Couric Is Deplorable series. Couric’s memoir, Going There, comes out at the end of the month. Excerpts and quotes from the piece have been leaked and released for the past week, and Couric sounds completely awful at every level. Couric sounds – in her own words – like someone who hated every woman she ever met, who treats household staff like trash, who thinks she’s being clever when really she’s just desperate for relevancy. One of the stories in the book is about Couric’s nanny, who she refers to as Doris in the book. The real woman is named Nancy Poznek, and she is not happy about what Couric wrote. Couric made it sound like Poznek had significant mental health issues, that Poznek was trying to break up Couric’s first marriage, that Poznek fostered a creepy codependency between the two women. Poznek is pissed and she gave her exclusive to the Daily Mail. Some highlights:

Poznek says Couric was a gross mess: It was Couric, Poznek says, who heavily relied on HER to take care of the television star at home, just as she needed constant coaching from producers at NBC’s Today show in the early 1990s. Poznek, who worked for the family from 1991 to 1994, said Couric’s home was such a mess that the TV anchor wouldn’t shower all weekend because she was so exhausted, and that working for her was like nannying a ‘teenage boy’ in addition to taking care of baby daughter Ellie.

Couric’s marriage problems had nothing to do with her: Poznek had a front row seat as Couric and her first husband Jay Monahan drifted apart once she became a television star, only having sex three times in the past three years Monahan had confided to her – on New Year’s Eve. She claims that Couric was so overwhelmed, Monahan didn’t feel he could tell her he had stomach problems and was popping Tums antacid ‘like candy.’ His health problems later developed into colorectal cancer that killed him at the age of 42 and Poznek claims that Couric was ‘guilty’ because she ‘wasn’t around for him all those years’.

Couric’s NBC bosses learned to contact Poznek: Soon Poznek’s role extended to waking Couric up at 4am so she could get to the Today studio. NBC would call Poznek and tell her to make sure Couric had the things she needed because she was more organized than her boss. When Couric came home she and Poznek would go out for a couple of hours and then the ‘packet’ – material to prepare for the next day’s show – would arrive from NBC and Couric would have to study it. Poznerk said: ‘She was not a smart person, as in she’s studied the packet but Jeff Zucker helped her through it.’

Couric is as fake as they come: Pozek said that she was turned off by Couric’s manufactured charm that she deployed for her job. She said: ‘She’d say to Jay and me: “I have to go out and schmooze.” I’ve seen her operate, I was with her when she was interviewed by People magazine, she reels these people in, they think she’s their best friend. As soon as she goes out she puts on that smile and that cutesy thing. Now she’s too old for that cutesy thing.’

OH MY GOD: Meanwhile, when she got home, Couric would discard clothes all over the house and her room looked like a ‘disaster.’ Monahan would have to push Couric into the shower because she wouldn’t wash all weekend, Poznek claimed. ‘One time when we were in Key West, Jay said to me, come on you gotta come with me. He took me up to the bedroom, she was in the bathroom and he said look – it was her pillow, she’d picked her nose all night, all the (boogers) were lined up,’ Poznek said. ‘She was like that. She’ll drink out of a milk carton and when her underwear were dirty she’ll turn them inside out’.

Men didn’t make passes at Couric: Couric rarely cooked and didn’t diet – Poznek recalled that she was ‘built like a little wrestler’ and ‘never saw a man make a pass at her – Jay had nothing to worry about there.’

[From The Daily Mail]

There’s a ton of other stuff, intimate stuff about Katie’s first marriage and how both Katie and Jay confided in Poznek constantly, and how their marriage was not great at all. It’s all just… three deeply dysfunctional people and their dysfunctional relationships. That’s all it was. It wasn’t like Couric claimed, where Poznek was trying to destroy her marriage. It probably wasn’t like Poznek claimed, where Couric couldn’t do a thing without her. My guess is that Poznek was incredibly close to both Jay and Katie… and then Katie was the one who got petty and jealous. The booger thing…my God. And to not wash for an entire weekend? EW.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Katie Couric’s memoir Going There hasn’t even come out yet and there are all of these terrible stories from the book. It really does feel like Couric took a special interest in derailing Ashleigh Banfield’s career, and it’s a wonder Banfield doesn’t have more to say about that. While Couric didn’t include this story in her memoir, it’s a story that has been circulating this week:

Katie Couric mocked and humiliated her NBC rival Ashleigh Banfield during an incident at the 2000 Olympics, a network source told The Daily Mail. The “disgraceful” scene occurred as both journalists were setting up to interview Olympic Gold medalist Michael Johnson. A producer working for Couric is said to have loudly shooed Banfield out of the TODAY Show’s Sydney set, telling her to “sit outside the studio door.” Couric made fun of her junior colleague to her team afterward, reportedly joking, “I hope it wasn’t too mean having her kicked out of here,” according to the report. Couric then reportedly made Banfield wait outside as she and her daughter interviewed Johnson.

When Banfield was finally allowed on set, one of her questions to Johnson was about alleged drug use by athletes at the Olympics. Banfield had been told she could address the rumors with the athlete, but Johnson apparently halted the interview soon after. Couric, in the studio, reportedly called the incident “so embarrassing,” quipping as Banfield walked by, “Ew. That was awkward, Ashleigh. Ew. Awkward.”

Though Couric discusses the Sydney Olympics in her forthcoming “scorched earth” memoir Going There, she reportedly makes no mention of the incident. When reached by the Daily Mail for comment, Banfield said, “I don’t want to reopen old wounds, but Sydney certainly was a professional challenge for me.”

[From The Daily Beast]

So Ashleigh was working at the Sydney Olympics alongside the NBC/Today team and she clearly had the clearance to interview one of the Olympians and Couric kicked her out of her interview? Yiiikes.

Meanwhile, Couric hasn’t even started *promoting* Going There. And considering how many bridges she’s already burned, where would she even be welcomed? Not CBS – sources told Page Six that her criticism of CBS as a network and specific executives there has guaranteed the fact that she will not be allowed to promote her book on any CBS show. NBC has apparently allowed her back on Today on October 19th for an interview though. Which should be “awkward.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Was Katie Couric stupid all this time? Or was she clever in a maniacal, Mean Girl way, and now she’s just out-of-touch? I can’t decide, but I truly do not believe that Couric predicted that the early excerpts from her memoir, Going There, would land the way they have. Instead of coming across as dishy, fun gossip, the excerpts from Couric’s book have her coming across like a bully, a misogynist and an apologist for rapists. While I know the NY Post has their own (Rupert Murdoch-y) agenda, they’re doing a lot of reporting from media insiders who are completely shocked by how Couric completely miscalculated:

Why did Couric do this? “Nobody can understand why Katie did this,” a senior news producer who has worked with Couric, told The Post. “She’s ruining her legacy.”

The Deborah Norville stuff: She cruelly trashes fellow “Today” host Deborah Norville for having a “relentless perfectionism” that turned off morning viewers. Norville told The Post: “I’m really too stunned and, frankly, hurt to comment.”

Couric hates women & never supported women: According to a TV industry insider, the Banfield snubbing “certainly wasn’t an isolated incident. [Couric] definitely contributed to the toxicity [at NBC]. Katie was part of a culture that wasn’t supportive of women, and she contributed to it.”

Her former media peers will not forgive her: “From the excerpts I’ve seen, she’s taking down women from Martha Stewart to Diane Sawyer and Deborah Norville. She’s … so rough on other women for being ambitious like she was, it’s unforgivable,” said the senior news producer. “She gives fresh meaning to that old saying: ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’”

A rude awakening: A former TV colleague of Couric’s told The Post: “I think she genuinely wants to settle scores, but she didn’t realize how bad this would be and how badly she would come across.”

Couric was an a–hole on the job too: A TV industry insider said: “Katie is a lot of fun — funny, charismatic, cool … But she can also be a pretty frightening person. When you think of a mean girl, it’s her. She was not a girl’s girl, by any means. It seems she’s revealing that side of herself in the book, whether she intended to or not.” Over at NBC, where Couric hosted “Today” alongside Lauer for 15 years, a producer recalled that all this is “par for the course with her.” Indeed, there was a “sense of relief” when Couric left in 2006, as she was “self-absorbed and snippy toward the end…. You would never see Meredith (Vieira) do anything like this. [Couric] just wants to be relevant. She doesn’t have a platform, so this [book] is a cry for relevance.”

LOL this is her legacy now: One former colleague said: “A lot of people said they can’t believe nobody in her orbit told her this book is a bad idea, because this is her legacy.”

Couric is trying to do some damage control: “She has been calling friends telling them she’s a good person and telling them that her publisher told her to add all the gossip in order to sell more books,” the former TV colleague said. “But she has more money than any of us could ever need. This isn’t about selling books.”

[From The NY Post]

Again, is this Couric being stupid or did she just misread the room because she’s so rich and out-of-touch? I can’t decide. I’m glad it’s happening though and it’s pretty glorious to see a Karen taken down by her words, hoisted by her own petard. Incidentally, it did occur to me that the publisher might be leaking the most WTF-passages as a way to cultivate interest in the book. Sure, that’s definitely part of it. But mostly I think her publisher and editors are like “holy sh-t, Couric is a complete a–hole and there’s no way to hide it so let’s just put a bow on it and move on.”

Also: there are apparently some lengthy passages in Couric’s memoir where she goes on and on about a nanny who tried to ruin her life and her marriage, but I’ll spare you – if you want to read that mess, you can see it here. It’s basically a story about how Couric is a terrible boss who failed to maintain healthy boundaries with an employee who was clearly struggling with mental health issues. Couric also decided to talk sh-t about her dead first husband too. Whew, girl.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.