Is Ronan Farrow Banned From NBC Over His Harvey Weinstein Story?
Controversy is reportedly developing at NBC News over whether or not investigative reporter Ronan Farrow has been banned from appearing on the network’s shows by chairman Andy Lack.
According to Page Six, Lack is still upset with Farrow after he suggested NBC News did not want to publish sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein because of connections to the now-disgraced Hollywood executive.
When asked by Maddow in October 2017 why NBC didn’t release the story — as Farrow was a freelance journalist for the network at the time — he responded by saying:
“You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details of that story. I’m not going to comment on any news organization’s story that they did or didn’t run. I will say that over many years, many news organizations have circled this story and faced a great deal of pressure in doing so. And there are now reports emerging publicly about the kinds of pressure that news organizations face in this. And that is real.”
Farrow was scheduled to appear on Rachel Maddow’s Friday show last week for a segment on his latest big New Yorker story on Donald Trump’s alleged affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal, but was booted by Lack, according to insiders, due to his disdain for the journalist.
Others say Farrow’s interview was axed because it was set to happen right as news broke that special counsel Robert Mueller had indicted 13 Russian nationals. Given that much of Maddow’s recent coverage has focused on the Trump-Russia story, this explanation could very well be true.
[images via screengrab]
