NEW YORK — Former "Today" show anchor Ann Curry said Wednesday that the atmosphere of verbal sexual harassment when she worked at the morning show left her not surprised by the allegations that got former colleague Matt Lauer fired.
Curry resurrected some unpleasant memories for "Today" with an interview at competitor "CBS This Morning." She's promoting a new PBS show. Curry offered no specific examples of harassment or wrongdoing associated with Lauer, who was fired in November for an inappropriate relationship with a colleague that began in 2014.
"I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed," Curry said, later amending that to add the word "sexual."
She said the world is "waking up to a reality, an injustice that has been occurring for some time."
NBC News and Jim Bell, executive producer of "Today" during Curry's tenure as anchor, declined comment. Curry lost her job after less than two years as Lauer's co-anchor in 2012, and her tearful farewell was a low point that contributed to ABC's "Good Morning America" ending NBC's longtime reign at the top of the morning ratings. She left NBC in 2015.
Many viewers blamed Lauer for Curry's unceremonious exit. When asked if she believed he was behind her firing, Curry said that "I'm not the one to ask."
Cumberbatch returning as
Sherlock? It's a mystery
PASADENA, Calif. — Benedict Cumberbatch had a ready answer when asked when he might star in another "Sherlock" on PBS.
"Goodbye," he said, pleasantly, as he quickly stepped off-camera during a satellite Q&A Wednesday.
Cumberbatch was speaking to TV critics from London about a very different drama he stars in and produced, "The Child in Time." The TV movie, based on Ian McEwan's novel about a couple whose child is kidnapped, co-stars Kelly Macdonald and debuts April 1 on public TV stations.
Macdonald, who'd flown in from her native Glasgow, Scotland, to promote the TV film, said she'd confessed to Cumberbatch that she was "a huge" fan of his modern-day Sherlock.