BREAKING: Andy Lack Steps Down as NBC News Chairman, Noah Oppenheim Sidelined in Reshuffle
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 4, 2020
CONTACT: Anna Zuccaro | anna@unbendablemedia.com
BREAKING: Andy Lack Steps Down as NBC News Chairman, Noah Oppenheim Sidelined in Reshuffle
UltraViolet, a leading national women’s group, responds to NBCUniversal’s announcement saying Lack’s departure is overdue
Moments ago, NBCUniversal announced that NBC News Group chairman Andy Lack would be stepping down from his role.
Said Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and Executive Director of the leading national women’s group UltraViolet:
“After a career of enabling sexual abusers, preying on women in the workplace, and silencing stories from survivors, Andy Lack’s name is synonymous with NBCUniversal’s toxic workplace culture. Lack should have been forced to step down after Ronan Farrow’s reporting exposed his role covering up sexual abuse at the network.
“Today’s announcement that Lack will be stepping down and that his chief ally Noah Oppenheim, who similarly silenced abuse survivors, has been sidelined, is a positive development that suggests NBC is beginning to take issues regarding its workplace culture seriously.
“While no single decision or individual can eliminate the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace, these are positive developments. Still, NBC has a long way to go before it takes the steps necessary to address their toxic workplace culture, which has been cultivated by men like Andy Lack for decades.”
Since Ronan Farrow’s story broke last October, UltraViolet has called for Comcast/NBCUniversal to address its toxic workplace culture. In November 2019, UltraViolet organized a letter to the DNC, signed by Presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Julian Castro and Tom Steyer, calling on the DNC to demand Comcast/NBCUniversal take action to address the sexism and toxicity that exists across their newsrooms and boardrooms.
In October 2019, members of UltraViolet rallied outside of NBC’s headquarters in New York City to deliver more than 20,000 signatures demanding changes across Comcast.
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UltraViolet is an online community of over 1,000,000 women and men who want to take collective action to expose and fight sexism in the public sector, private sector and the media. Find out more at WeAreUltraViolet.org.