NBC News reporter Kate Snow spoke with a man who says he witnessed Ryan Seacrest sexually harassing Suzie Hardy, as the former E! stylist accuses. The man, who worked with Seacrest at E!, asked to remain unnamed. He continues to work in Hollywood and “fears retaliation,” per Snow.
“She would go to tie his shoe and Ryan would shove her head toward his crotch,” the man told Snow, who reported the story on Wednesday’s “Today” show. “I saw that more than once.”
A source close to Seacrest dismissed the former co-worker as “a friend of Hardy’s and a disgruntled former E! employee,” per Snow, adding that there are other witnesses who dispute Hardy’s accounts.
Watch Snow’s report via the video above.
The man also said he witnessed Seacrest holding Hardy in a bear hug from behind just before a 2008 Oscars red carpet special.
“She yelled, ‘Get off of me,’” he recalled. “She was trying to get away from him.”
The man added of Seacrest: “I could see an erect penis in his underwear.”
Hardy was visibly shaken, the former staffer said, and he urged her to go to human resources.
Seacrest’s lawyer told NBC News that the former co-worker’s claims are “lies.”
“These claims are not new and were considered by the investigator hired by E!, who found no evidence of wrongdoing,” the lawyer said.
Read Seacrest’s lengthy Tuesday statement about the accusations here, and find out more about the E! investigation here.
Seacrest, who says Hardy asked for $15 million in hush money, is scheduled to host the Oscars red carpet for E! on Sunday.