Journalist Ronan Farrow arrives for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Ronan Farrow continues to embarrass NBC News for refusing to run his bombshell that would have outed now-disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator months before he was exposed by more courageous publications. This time, Farrow celebrated Thanksgiving by posting a still photo from an interview he conducted with a Weinstein accuser that never aired on NBC.
“Thankful for the women and men who have come forward with painful stories and helped to chip away at a culture of silence. When I sat down for this interview almost a year ago, the world was a different place,” Farrow wrote to caption his Instagram post.
An NBC News insider told Fox News the photo is “the first frame” of any of Farrow’s sit-down interviews with Weinstein accusers that has been seen publicly. Last month the HuffPost reported that “NBC tried to put a stop” to an interview with a woman accusing Weinstein of rape so the celebrity scion “wound up paying out of his own pocket for a camera crew to film an interview.”
In the Instagram post, Farrow tagged NBC News producer Rich McHugh, who presumably worked on the interview. An early November Twitter storm by Farrow cast shade on NBC News, as he wrote that McHugh was “risking his job” by continuing to report on Weinstein.
The accuser in the photo appears to be actress Rose McGowan, who sat down with Farrow in January 2016 and accused Weinstein of sexual assault. However, the HuffPost reported that she later “received legal threats from Weinstein” and got cold feet about airing the interview. Since Weinstein’s lewd past has become public knowledge, she now says he actually raped her
NBC News did not immediately respond to request for comment about Farrow’s Instagram post. Farrow himself did not respond and McHugh could not be reached.
Farrow also appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday to discuss his latest Weinstein bombshell, which details secret settlements the shunned mogul used to hide harassment claims. His reporting was again published in the prestigious New Yorker magazine, and did not appear on any NBC News properties.
NBC, which has been under fire for weeks since it spiked Farrow’s initial Weinstein bombshell (which he later took to The New Yorker), has persistently declined to comment on Farrow’s status at NBC News. Farrow’s Twitter bio still says he works as an investigative reporter for NBC’s “Today” show, which is locked in a ferocious ratings battle with “Good Morning America.”
Farrow’s employment contract with NBC has reportedly expired, though he continues to identify himself as an NBC reporter on his Twitter bio. He is reportedly freelance now and no longer exclusive to NBC, making his appearance on “GMA” a slap in the face to NBC executives. Farrow’s current relationship with NBC is unclear, but it is extremely rare for any network to refuse to comment on the status of a staffer – especially one as high-profile as Farrow, who is picking up Pulitzer Prize buzz for his recent Weinstein coverage.
Embattled NBC News President Noah Oppenheim (Larry French)
Embattled NBC News President Noah Oppenheim faced public pressure to step down after it was revealed that he killed Farrow’s long-gestating investigation. NBC News has denied that Oppenheim has ties to Weinstein, but the NBC News president moonlights as a Hollywood screenwriter and the two men recently shared a relatively small table at a swanky media event.
Oppenheim, then under siege, contended during a private NBC News event last month that the “incredible story” Farrow published in The New Yorker was “not the story that we were looking at when we made our judgment several months ago.”
Farrow has essentially accused Oppenheim and NBC of lying, saying The New Yorker had no problem publishing the same story. During an appearance on “The Rachel Maddow Show” when his first Weinstein article was published last month, Farrow said The New Yorker “immediately” realized his story was reportable and “there were multiple determinations” that NBC had enough to run it.
The Weinstein debacle is the latest embarrassment for NBC News, which a year ago also sat on the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women to future “Today” co-host Billy Bush. At the time NBC was sitting on the tape, Oppenheim was overseeing “Today.” The tape was eventually leaked to The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold, who is Oppenheim’s friend from Harvard University. Bush was fired after the tape became public and Oppenheim was soon thereafter promoted to NBC News president.
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