Matt Lauer’s Accuser Brooke Nevils Says She’s Not Afraid Of His Victim-Blaming Ways

Brooke Nevils isn't letting Matt Lauer have the last word. The former NBC producer is speaking out against Lauer's open letter in response to Nevils' rape allegation.

Released to NBC Nightly, Nevils calls out her former colleague Lauer for victim-blaming. "There’s the Matt Lauer that millions of Americans watched on TV every morning for two decades, and there is the Matt Lauer who this morning attempted to bully a former colleague into silence," she said. "His open letter was a case study in victim blaming."

She added: "I am not afraid of him now. Regardless of his threats, bullying, and the shaming and predatory tactics I knew he would (and now has) tried to use against me."

Nevil also returned to Twitter to thank other survivors for sharing their stories with her.

In his statement, Lauer, who was fired from NBC in November 2017, claimed his relationship with Nevil was "completely consensual." He went on to describe his version of their relationship. "In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault," he said. "It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense,” he said. "I had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014. It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia."

Nevils' description of that evening is very different, and very disturbing. “It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” she reportedly says in Ronan Farrow's upcoming book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, according to Variety. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.” According to Farrow's account, Nevils told her boss at the time, Meredith Vieira, who encouraged her to report the alleged rape to NBC.

NBC has responded to the new allegations, stating: "Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific, and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."

Refinery29 has reached out to Vieira and Nevils for comment.