Details emerge on Matt Lauer's alleged history of sexual misconduct following 'Today' firing

Following NBC News Chairman Andy Lack's announcement on Wednesday morning that Matt Lauer had been fired from NBC News, more details have emerged on the longtime anchor's alleged history with sexual misconduct.

According to a handful of journalists on Twitter, multiple outlets had been working on exposing Lauer's behavior for months. Elizabeth Wagmeister of Variety, Yashar Ali of HuffPost and the New York Times are all reportedly working on exposés that would ultimately shed light on the former "Today" anchor's past.

SEE ALSO: Matt Lauer fired from 'Today': NBC News and more stars react

And, Ali alleges, "some top executives at NBC were aware of these stories."

"I, and other reporters, have been aware of several women who have come forward privately in the past few months," he continued. "Even before Weinstein. They weren't willing to go public though...they were terrified of Matt. Matt Lauer put the fear of God into these women. He had relationships with reporters outside NBC that he cultivated just for this purpose. They knew that."

"Lauer is among the worst I've heard about," Ali added. "Not in terms of the kind of misconduct but the way in which he manipulated these women into silence. It's evil, frightening stuff."

"NBC was aware," Wagmeister said of her reporting. "There are multiple women we've spoken to with far-ranging accusations against Lauer."

In addition to the additional stories being worked on that will likely be published, Page Six reported on Wednesday that Lauer allegedly sexually assaulted a female NBC staffer during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"This happened so quickly," a source told the outlet. "She didn’t go to the media, she made a complaint to NBC’s human resources, and her evidence was so compelling that Matt was fired on Tuesday night. The victim says she has evidence that this has also happened to other women, but so far we don’t have evidence of that."

NBC News Chairman was much more vague about the complaint regarding Lauer, saying that NBC had "received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company's standards. As a result, we've decided to terminate his employment."

"While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News," Lack continued. "We were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident."

And, if top executives at NBC News knew about the stories -- or of Lauer's behavior -- People reports that the actual employees of "Today" were completely blindsided by the developments.

"It's like a death in the family," a source told People. "Everybody is crying. No one knows what the f--k happened. It came out of nowhere. Everyone wants to know what is going on. Matt was really popular around here."

Savannah Guthrie, who also was completely unaware of Lauer's alleged behavior, delivered the news to "Today" viewers on Wednesday morning while holding Hoda Kotb's hand.

"We just learned this moments ago, just this morning," Guthrie said. "As I’m sure you can imagine, we are devastated and we are still processing all of this."

"I will tell you right now, we do not know more than what I just shared with you," she said. "But we will be covering this story as reporters, as journalists. I’m sure we will be learning more details in the hours and days to come, and we promise we will share that with you."

Matt Lauer had been a co-anchor on the "Today" show since January of 1997.

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