Former NBC News staffer and conservative pundit Emily Miller said on Sunday that during her tenure at the network in the 1990s, “older men and men in power” propositioned her and dangled a promotion in exchange for sex.
Appearing on Fox News’ “Media Buzz,” she discussed her former boss Andy Lack, who stepped down as chairman of NBC News and MSNBC on May 4, and told host Howard Kurtz that the New York Attorney General’s Office had opened an investigation into harassment claims at NBC that were connected to Lack.
Kurtz asked Miller if she had experienced sexual harassment when she worked at NBC News in the 1990s, she answered, “I did.”
“I did suffer from sexual harassment and from older men and men in power,” she said. “They made it very clear some of the exchanges that would have to happen in order for me to be promoted there. And I was so young, so naive I didn’t even really understand what was going on. I knew that I had to leave.” She went on to say that one of those interactions got physical and that those who harassed here are all still employed by NBC.
A rep for NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Miller later went on Twitter and repeated that she had been sexually harassed and that she “didn’t have any other option” but to leave the network because of her values. “I was young and powerless and sure wasn’t going to sleep with a married man my father’s age for a promotion at NBC. I walked out the door and never went back. Got a job at ABC News,” she said.
Miller, who served as deputy press secretary for Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, currently works as a political analyst for One America News Network. She did not identify any of the men she said had sexually harassed her at NBC News.
In October 2017, she was among several women who accused veteran political reporter Mark Halperin of sexual harassment when they both worked at ABC News. He was subsequently fired as producer and co-host of Showtime’s “The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth” and as a senior political analyst for MSNBC.
On Sunday, Miller also called for an independent investigation of NBC News executives over pervasive sexual harassment. Last October, critics from across the media landscape called for an independent inquiry into Lack and NBC News President Noah Oppenheim over accusations that they muzzled Ronan Farrow’s story on accusations against Harvey Weinstein, while failing to address misconduct by their own employee, ousted “Today” co-host Matt Lauer.
You can read her Twitter thread below and watch her interview with Kurtz at the top.
That’s exactly what I said. NBC Comcast must have an OUTSIDE investigation so the truth can finally come out and the bad guys are all fired. It’s outrageous it’s gone on this long. @HowardKurtz https://t.co/o7Dpz5BKaL
— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) May 10, 2020
Since Comcast NBC refused to allow an outside investigation, the NY state attorney unit that got Weinstein has to do it. NBC just fires the bad guys who the state says are under investigation instead of cooperating. Just wrong ! https://t.co/PMYEPqdg13
— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) May 10, 2020
I didn’t have any other option because of my values. I was young and powerless and sure wasn’t going to sleep with a married man my father’s age for a promotion at NBC. I walked out the door and never went back. Got a job at ABC news. https://t.co/NtKC99EDYh
— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) May 10, 2020
Yep NBC Andy Lack had too many skeletons in his own closet to let @RonanFarrow @RichMcHugh expose disgusting Harvey Weinstein. Time for Comcast to allow outside investigation of NBC News top to bottom. https://t.co/9WTlPqAL3j
— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) May 10, 2020