Ex-NBC Producer Rich McHugh Blasts Outgoing Chairman Andy Lack, Says NY AG’s Office Probing the Network
Rich McHugh, a former NBC News producer who worked with Ronan Farrow, had some tough words for the network tonight over the departure of NBC News/MSNBC chairman Andy Lack.
Lack and NBC News president Noah Oppenheim have faced a great deal of scrutiny for, as Farrow wrote, trying to kill his reporting on Harvey Weinstein, among other serious allegations — allegations Lack subsequently denied.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson covered Lack’s departure Monday night and blasted him for “protecting a serial predator for being a major Democratic donor.”
Carlson started his interview with McHugh saying he’s heard that the New York attorney general’s office is “investigating NBC on sexual abuse, sexual harassment claims, and no one’s been charged, but people have come in and been interviewed.”
“Yes, I have, Tucker. That is true. I am aware of it,” McHugh said. “I have been looking into it for a story. It was the New York attorney general’s office civil division. We’re not sure if it could lead to anything criminal, but I do know they have been looking into this and interviewing employees over a number of months.”
Regarding Lack’s departure, McHugh was very unsparing:
“One has to assume that they caught wind of this investigation because it’s been going on for months and they have spoken to dozens of employees. I believe that has a role to play in it. There’s new management at the top and so they have decided we’re going to try to get away from this black eye who presided over the Harvey Weinstein story and the Lauer disgrace and all of it. This is a good first step, I should say. I should point out that I’ve spoken spoken to a number of women, victims who worked at NBC, and they say, you know, the fact that Andy Lack gets to walk out of the building on his own accord is a disgrace. Their careers have been ruined. I personally left NBC largely because of things that he and other executives did with our reporting. The fact that he can just kind of walk away is upsetting.”
Carlson pointed out that Oppenheim is still at NBC and asked if he’ll stay on.
“It looks like this move has taken some of his power away,” McHugh said. “I think it needs to be said that if they’re really going to clean house and try and restore their credibility, they need to clean house. One half of the team that presided over our reporting killing our story is still in power.”
You can watch above, via
