Jennifer Aniston says her upcoming Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show” — about a morning talk show host who is fired after a series of accusations surface — is not based on Matt Lauer’s experience with sexual misconduct accusations that led to him being ousted at NBC.
Steve Carell plays Mitch Kessler opposite Aniston as his “Morning Show” co-host Alex Levy, with Reese Witherspoon playing Bradley Jackson, the young reporter brought in to replace Kessler after he’s fired.
In an Oct. 7 interview with Howard Stern for his Sirius XM radio show, Aniston addressed the similarities between the series’ plot and NBC’s 2017 dismissal of Lauer, longtime co-host of the “Today” show, after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
“It’s hard for me to believe when I watch the first two episodes that this is not based on Matt Later from the ‘Today’ show,’” Stern told Aniston in the video clip, which you can watch above. “It’s fascinating because it’s about a guy who’s one of the biggest morning star guys, and he f—s up, and he gets thrown out. Very #MeToo. It’s Matt Lauer.”
“It’s a lot of people. He is the archetype for those, unfortunately many, men — it was more than just Matt,” Aniston responsed, mentioning Charlie Rose, another longtime newsman fired over accusations of sexual misconduct.
When Stern pointed out that Carell bears a physical resemblance to Lauer, Aniston said, “There is an uncanny resemblance,” and added, “but it’s not.”
On Wednesday, Lauer responded to a new accusation, this one from NBC News employee Brooke Nevils, whose report of then-unspecified sexual misconduct led to Lauer’s firing two years ago. Nevils’ latest accusation, detailed in Ronan Farrow’s new book “Catch and Kill,” says that Lauer raped her in his hotel room during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
In a letter to Variety via his lawyer, Lauer denied that he raped Nevils and said the encounter was “consensual,” and called the accusation “categorically false.”
A representative for NBC News did not immediately return a request from TheWrap for comment on the letter, nor did a lawyer for Lauer.
“The Morning Show” premieres Nov. 1 on Apple TV+.