Matt Lauer Is Still a F#@king Dirtbag

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

Matt Lauer, longtime host of the Today show, is a fucking dirtbag. His interview of Anne Hathaway, while she was promoting Les Mis, cemented his position in the Dirtbag Hall of Fame. But he's still GOING FOR IT like it's not a lifetime appointment, reminding us all of how he earned his spot.

Today Show host Matt Lauer on Thursday asked General Motors CEO Mary Barra if she felt she could run a company and be a good mother during an interview about the company's controversial recalls.

"I want to tread lightly here," Lauer said before launching into a question about why Barra got the CEO job, noting that she is extremely qualified.

"But some people are speculating that you also got this job because, as a woman and as a mom, because people within General Motors knew this company was in for a very tough time, and as a woman and a mom you could present a softer image and softer face for this company as it goes through this horrible episode. Does it make sense or does it make you bristle?" he asked.

"Well, it's absolutely not true," Barra responded. "I believe I was selected for this job based on my qualifications. We dealt with this issue — when the senior leadership of this company knew about this issue, we dealt with this issue."

Lauer then asked Barra about her children, noting that her kids have said they will hold her "accountable for one job and that is being a mom."

"Given the pressures of this job at General Motors, can you do both well?" he asked.

"You know, I think I can. I have a great team, we're on the right path," Barra replied. "I have a wonderful family, a supportive husband and I'm pretty proud of the way my kids are supporting me in this."

Lauer on Thursday afternoon defended his question to Barra about balancing her at work and with her family. He said...that if a male CEO had discussed his struggle with work-family balance, Lauer would have followed up with him on it.

...Lauer interviewed Ford CEO Alan Mulally in 2009, and did not ask him how his job running the company would impact his role as a father to his five children.

So, first Matt Lauer suggests that the only or primary reason that Barra was hired as CEO of a massive corporation is to blunt public criticisms (because no one ever criticizes women), and then suggests that it's possible she cannot be both a successful CEO and a successful parent.

Which is something about which men are never asked, despite Lauer's specious claim to the contrary.

A man would also never be asked a question like: "Hey, this company that hired you has some PR troubles at the moment. Do you think that you were hired because you're a man, and as a man, the company knew you'd present a tough image for the company? Does it make sense that you were hired specifically because you're a man and can fulfill male stereotypes of strength in a way a woman could not, or does that suggestion make you bristle?"

It would never happen.

Even the thought of a male CEO being asked a question like that, being obliged to address the idea that he was only or primarily hired because he was a man, is absurd.

Despite the fact that lots of male CEOs probably have been hired in part because they're men. White straight cis men, to be precise.

Lauer's question about Barra's ability to balance work and parenthood have been getting a lot of attention, and deservedly so, but, for me, it's the other part I find even more contemptible.

There is no way that Lauer would ever even dare to claim he'd ask a male CEO sitting in front of him to account for and justify his hiring on the basis of his gender. There is no way that Lauer would ever look at a male CEO and say, "Sure, your credentials are excellent, but why do you think it is that they hired a man?"