‘Today’ Tiptoes Through Harassment Allegation Talk With Shaun White
February 14, 2018
‘Today’ Tiptoes Through Harassment Allegation Talk With Shaun White
NBC’s Today show tiptoed through talk with gold-medal winner Shaun White about resurfaced sexual harassment allegations made against him by his former bandmate Lena Zawaideh after his Olympics gold-medal win Wednesday morning.
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At an Olympics presser following his gold medal win, snowboarder White had dismissed the allegations as “gossip” and said he was there to talk about his medal win; he declined to take any more questions on the subject at the presser.
According to published reports, White has not denied sending lewd text messages to former drummer of his band, later reaching a settlement.
“Not all the headlines today have been positive, as you have been aware,” Today’s Savannah Guthrie told White in a live interview from Pyeongchang, by way of seguing to the subject. “A lawsuit filed against you couple year ago by your former drummer has been resurfacing,” Guthrie added, for the sake of viewers back home.
“I’m truly sorry I chose the word ‘gossip.’ It was a poor choice of words to describe a sensitive subject in the world today and I’m truly sorry,” White responded. He attributed his choice of words to having been “so overwhelmed with wanting to talk about how amazing the day was and share my experience.”
He did not address the allegations. “It’s difficult and I take no pleasure in asking it,” Guthrie continued, apologetically, as White nodded and “umhmmmm-ed” composedly.
“But is there anything you want to say? Do you feel like you learned something from it, or are you acknowledging….,” Guthrie trailed off as she ran out of suggested responses to her question.
I’ve grown as a person over the years. It’s amazing,” White marveled, of his growth.
“You’ve known me long time now,” he told Guthrie, who, in November, got elected to announce on-air the firing of her co-host Matt Lauer after a sexual-misconduct review.
“It’s amazing how life works, and the twists and turns and lessons learned. So every experience in my life, I feel like it’s taught me a lesson,” White assured Guthrie. “And I definitely feel like a much more changed person than I was when I was younger. And I’m proud of who I am today, and I’m, yeah.”