While many have been slow to own up to the fact that they knew about Matt Lauer‘s misconduct throughout the years, Denis Leary says he’s had issue with Lauer for years.
“I thought he was a creepy, douchey guy from the get-go,” Leary said on Thursday’s episode of CBS’ The Talk.
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The Rescue Me star said he refused to let the former Today host interview him.
“I stopped being interviewed by him on the Today show about 10 years ago because he was so creepy,” Leary said. “He never made a move on me … but you get a vibe. I just got a weird, weasel-y vibe from the guy. And I said to my publicist … I don’t want to be interviewed by him anymore. I want to be interviewed by the girls.”
In recent years, Leary chatted with Today personalities Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb in 2016, and at a roundtable interview in 2015 with Natalie Morales, Al Roker, Willie Geist and guest host Ellie Kemper.
The comedian added, “I do think people deserve second chances,” but, referring to a damning Variety report on Lauer, “When you have a button under your desk to lock women into your office, you know what? Screw you.”
Lauer was fired last week from NBC’s Today for “inappropriate sexual behavior.” After his firing, multiple accounts of sexual misconduct and assault have been alleged against the longtime news anchor.
It’s unlikely that Leary and Lauer will run into each other anytime soon, as the latest report on Lauer puts him off the grid, with a source telling Page Six that he wants to stay private from now on.
“Matt has no intention in returning to public life,” the source said. “He plans to disappear and play golf. He wants to be a regular Joe. To play golf and stay in the Hamptons.”
They added, “He has no intention of mounting a Billy Bush-style comeback campaign. He is going to stick to his one statement and not address the allegations further.”
While Lauer has been seen with and without his wedding ring since his firing, his wife of 19 years, Annette Roque, has not been wearing hers and sources say the couple is taking things “day by day.”
Earlier this week, Roque’s father told the Daily Mail that she “is not going to stay with him and work it out.”
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