NBC Today's Show host, Al Roker today announced through his attorney that he would be filing a lawsuit against world-renowned Italian Chef Giada de Laurentis for sexual harassment.
de Laurentis refused to comment on the lawsuit, even though live video filmed during this morning's episode clearly showed her making a suggestive gesture toward Roker.
Roker's attorney, Ida Chaisder alleged that due to the live filming, Roker was forced to participate in de Laurentis' overtly sexual gestures toward the beloved news/weatherman. NBC has refused to release the video which allegedly shows Giada forced Roker to suck gravy off of the chef's little finger.
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OKAY, ONLY THE LAST TEN WORDS OF THAT STORY ARE TRUE.
I was watching the Today Show this morning where Giada, who is one attractive woman I must say, was filming with Roker a segment on making gravy.
I was in tears watching Roker's reaction to the situation. What made it even funnier was they had just had a segment on whether casual flirting was harmful or harmless.
Giada was demonstrating making various gravies and switching to the previously prepared gravy, she casually stuck her pinky finger in the gravy and offered it to Roker for a taste. A split second elapsed with Roker's eyes widening before he took her up on her offer and sucked the gravy off of Giada's pretty little - little finger.
I'm sure every other happiliy married man would have refused Giada's pinky. (YEAH, righhhht!)
You could nearly instantly see Roker's face begin to turn just a bit red and he was doing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING to NOT say something that would get him in hot water with the FCC.
Giada, realizing his quick embarassment continued on, both were smirking and finally Giada said good-naturedly, "Oh, I do that with my husband all the time."
Roker, again just stiffling what he really wanted to say laughed, "But HE's your husband."
You could tell Roker could barely get through the rest of the segment. The off screen muffled chuckling of the crew wasn't helping Roker. It was probably one of the funniest segments I have ever seen on the Today Show.
So, it begs this question.
What exactly IS sexual harassment?
Working in a predominately male environment for nearly all of my career, I have encountered some of the most inappropriate comments from males that could have easily been interpreted by some precious female as sexual harassment. Joking with male friends at work, even when it is entirely inappropriate has never, in my opinion been sexual harassment. Legally, I could have sued nearly every male I worked with in some frivilous lawsuit if I was so inclined.
I have heard of lawsuits in some of these companies being settled because some guy mentioned something about some woman's hair. And I have watched one young girl get smacked on the rear with a file folder by some married old guy who was obviously infatuated with her. She never filed a lawsuit.
I have watched some creepy guy staring directly at a woman's chest. He was seated, she was standing. He reached up and pulled a hair off of her turtleneck that had landed on her chest. She never filed a lawsuit.
I heard that same creepy guy, with an infatuation with another young girl make overtly sexual remarks to her that she complained about to me. When I suggested she actually go to HR because it was very apparent, she did not. She never filed a lawsuit.
I would never discount true claims of sexual harassment, but I've seen too many women get upset over completely harmless comments and threaten or actually file a lawsuit because it was easy money for a settlement.
........
Roker's wife, ABC News' Deborah Roberts was not available for comment.
p.s. I tried googling a slightly suggestive image for this post and....well, except for the cute baby pics, the rest were X-rated. I think google just sexually harassed me.
H/T to Joan and the Today Show for post idea.
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21 comments:
Rush had it right today saying that sexual harrasment accusations were more a political weapon used by the left than an actual problem that women used to suffer daily in the workplace.
The same thing that Chief Justice Thomas had to endure because he was a black man who refused to live on the plantation like the black liberals do.
CnC is absolutely right.....the Cain scandal is all about a Black man who isn't a Marxist; For leftists, he HAS TO GO.
As for Giada and Al; I think it's positively dumb that she had him do that but it's cute and she's going for ratings and $$$, so.... but it's not sexual harassment.
On the other hand, maybe Deborah Roberts might think it was !!
I remember watching the Thomas hearings with Anita Hill's testimony. Some of what Hill claimed SEEMED legit, but since she followed him from one job to the next she lost all credibility.
So, I thought about the judicial system. The preponderance of the evidence did not tip in either direction.
I distinctly remember thinking at the time, then I have to give him the benefit of doubt.
This is Cain's first test if he can withstand the nastiness of the political environment. It's only going to get worse for him if he gains in the polls and will not even compare to what will happen if he wins the nomination.
By the way CnC, I can't believe you didn't comment about the Roker/Giada pinky incident. You KNOW you want to.
Oh Z. Did you see it? I honestly don't think she thought about it until her pinky was in front of Al's face. I've never been a big fan of hers, but it did appear to be just an innocent gesture until she realized the implication.
And who doesn't love Al Roker. I don't think she anticipated his reaction/embarrassment.
It was a CLASSIC live TV moment.
God knows the hours of politically correct and sexual harassment training I had to go through in managing my people. And much of the training was just bullshit. They want you to believe that women are stupid and vulnerable to comments like, "That is a pretty dress you are wearing today." And like you said, women know the men they work with and can kid as much as they do. Not when an outsider says something, then we react.
I wish I'd seen The Today Show. It sounds hilarious. Obviously, Roker didn't have to lick her finger.
Love,
Lola
Lola, let me clarify, it wasn't a lick, it was a half-pinky taste.
And Roker is a talented comedian, not to mention a heterosexual male, do you THINK he would pass that up? The whole gravy sucking thing happened so quickly I think both of them were in the middle of just some silliness before it hit them just how suggestive/funny it was.
I think Giada was more embarrased than Roker was at the end. I can just imagine at the camera cut, the whole crew just losing it and Giada just hiding her face at her impulsiveness.
Been there, done that. Well, NO, I haven't had a male co-worker suck my pinky, but I've realized a split second later that I have said or done something that was completely suggestive at work, when I was not realizing how the words or gesture would be interpreted.
Enough of the pc stuff. Women (mostly) need to get a sense of humor and quit the belly-aching.
OH. And watching The Five today discussing the latest BS on the allegations against Herman Cain, I heard one of the sexy young woman say that her fellow co-host, liberal Bob Beckel threw something down her cleavage.
Beckel was clearly thrown off guard, so you could tell it was true. The woman was not complaining about being sexually harassed, just making the same point I am making. Men and women work together and not everything is pc-proof. Hell, even when I have been sitting in meetings with some of my younger well-endowed female friends who are showing their cleavage have tossed a paperwad toward the crevice when the opportunity arises.
As Joan's original post indicated, just TALK about it.
Making a casual joke is completely different than TRUE sexual harassment. Confusing the two or making false claims is negating true harassment, just the same as making false racism charges does.
Coffey, maybe it's just me, but I have an innate sense about who I can joke with and who I can't. In over 30 years, I have only been wrong ONCE, years ago, when some married guy couldn't tell the difference between harmless joking and...well, you know.
I quickly set him straight and walked off.
And what happens after that happens, the man avoids you at all cost, which was exactly my intention.
I'm sure it happens somewhere, but by and large, any man who suggests taking harmless flirting to the next step and is quickly rebuffed knows he is out of line and does not want to face his stupidity again.
On the slip side, a couple years ago I worked at a company where I watched some woman routinely and uninvitedly spend waaay too much time with the good looking guys I worked with. She talked way too long and way too close and she lacked that genetic ability to realize they were not interested.
One of my good looking single male friends had made it more than obvious he wanted her to leave him alone. He worked at the dead-end of a cube row, so no one just happened past unless you wanted to talk with him.
First he tried just maintaining his concentration on his monitor and only responding to her in one word answers. When that didn't work, she had gotten so close to him, even while he was turned the other direction, that he finally just quickly took his elbow and shoved it back in her direction actually hitting her and forcing her back. And he was one well-built guy, so I would imagine that elbow hurt.
She never visited him again.
Rita, I guess I need to see it first , I will look for it on YouTube
Obviously Jeff you have to be so much more careful at work than the average business worker. It's sad, as you have indicated in some previous posts that you are not even supposed to hug one of your students if they are hurting and confide in you.
That would be very difficult for me if I was a teacher. My natural tendency is to hug kids that desperately need a hug. That you have to pause before you consider a natural nurturing reaction to comfort a kid is sad.
And even back in the 70's I remember 16 and 17 year old girls flirt and come on to the male teachers. I'm not saying that gives a green light to child predators whatsoever, but when you have a 23 year old teacher being pursued by a 17 year old student, it's not what I would consider being a child predator. The young male teachers have to continually remind themselves the trouble that could be lurking just around the corner. And even when you guys do everything by the book, that won't stop some vindictive girl from making a claim and ruining your reputation and career.
I'm thinking you have that innate ability to sense what's appropriate with each kid, regardless of what the school guidelines might be.
When you have some schools claiming sexual harassment because a couple of first graders were "caught" hugging it proves the world has gone mad on the pc stuff.
So, with the latest, latest, and not quite latest news updates on Cain, here's my prediction.
The GOP circus is now a sudden-death overtime game. Here are the two outcomes.
1) If the allegations have even some semblance of truth, not just a couple bogus settlements and new vermin hoping for their 15 minutes of fame with a pay-off from National Enquirer, Cain is done.
2) If all this ruckus is just another political stunt "exposing" women who have stupid stories, Cain will not only win the nomination, but the election. The American people are sick of the political environment and slanderous games. They will vote Cain, not just because they might agree with him, but because he will have been another victim of the political war. He'll be Everyman.
Whoever was sitting on this story (and you know they were) until/if Cain became a force to contend with, may have played their hand too soon.
Only time will tell.
If it's true, look for another four years of Obama.
I was in a car accident many years ago. Not my fault...another driver crossed two lanes of traffic without the right of way.
However, the passenger in the car at fault sued ALL three of the drivers involved in the accident...for $1,000,000.00 each. Yeah. The insurance company settled, because it was cheaper than a court battle. A settlement doesn't mean guilt. (And yeah, I was PISSED about any kind of money going to this crazy woman, but it's the way the system works.)
Actually anything is harassment in the workplace.
1) A lawyer complained about a book on my shelf making his client uncomfortable. The book assumed to be a Bible turned out to be Moby Dick which was placed in a file cabinet.
2) You can't have a picture of honest Abe on your desk, but Yogi Bear and Dan Rather are fine.
3) Men talking about car parts was claimed to be creating an atmosphere that prevented women from socializing.
Harassment laws are tools by management to use against people as it deems to. I have seen things
that make your head spin excused because mgt wishes it so.
Women have backed themselves into a corner. We had a harrassment incident at work not long ago. A guy was fired over it, and the gal making the accusations soon felt isolated because none of the other guys wanted to do anything more than necessary with her to get the job done. Soon, she too was gone.
Now, most guys would prefer to work with other guys...
Working with a gal that may accuse you of something is just not worth the risk.
What a shame.
Hell GB, I have always preferred to work with guys. I'd estimate more than half of women never get past that junior high girl cat fight mentality.
Luckily most women in my industry behave more like guys in that regard, so I have made some good and lasting friendships with those women.
That catty gossip trash irritates me to no end. Rarely do you find men participating in that (although I have occasionally witnessed that too).
Normally that's a female trait.
Now in the case of real sexual harassment, I'll also guarantee you most women would not report it. The reputation (as you indicated) doesn't end with changing jobs. Unless you live in a huge city like NYC, that word gets around and no one is willing to take a risk.
I honestly believe true sexual harassment rarely happens. Most women just avoid the offender. If that ever happened to me, the guy would be lucky to make it out of the building alive.
And I consider sexual harassment a lot different than someone making ONE unwanted pass. I consider one pass simply a misinterpretation of a signal.
And I'd hazard a guess that the majority of women would place a higher bar on what would be considered sexual harassment than men do.
Years ago I attended an out-of-town conference with another woman and a man.
After a few drinks, the man said that our company was one of the worst ones he had ever worked where the men making sexual comments about women as soon as the woman left the room. I figured he was probably naive since I wasn't surprised men talk about the good looking women in the office when they are out of earshot.
Obviously he had never overheard what women will say about the good looking guys in the office when they are not around.
;)
I guess it's just me, but if I'm offered some gravy off anyone's finger....
Doesn't she use a spoon to cook with?
I don't see it as sexual harassment. I just see it as gross.
Dana. Ok, I'd say you have an issue with hygiene rather than some innocent sexual joke.
No, I wouldn't suck the gravy off of the finger of anyone I work with, but I HAVE grabbed the last olive from Olive Garden's salad off a co-worker's fork. She wasn't very happy with me.
And I've had a couple of male co-workers take my fork and eat from my plate. That didn't stop me from using my fork and I wasn't offended.
Pretty funny especially since my mom can not stand even sharing her food with her kids.
I figure nothing I encounter from eating after my friends or sharing my meal could compare to what probably happens in the kitchen of a restaurant before they bring me my food.
Roker participated for the comedic value and maybe Giada offered her pinky for the same reason.
With some guys, I would do the same thing that Giada did. But the second I realized they would take me up on the offer, I would have jerked my hand away quickly. For me, that would be a poker bluff.
Just like the time I had a nasty cold sore on my lips. When some of my guy friends would make some comment about it, I would point to it and say, "kiss me....right here." One guy turned his head away and laughed. The second decided he would call my bluff and said, "OK" and came toward me. He wasn't four feet away before I caved and said, "Go AWAY." He knew I was bluffing and it was all just innocent fun.
It really irritates me when women just look for some reason to be offended.
Gross has to be with hygiene, which is what you are saying (I think.)
The whole episode of Roker/Giada was completely hilarious.
Not a huge fan of Giada's myself in comparison with other FOod Channel celebs, but your explaining kind of endeared me to her....sounds like she wasn't being seductive or trashy at all and kind of surprised herself with the gesture. I like that :-)
Have you seen her little girl Jade on any of her shows? Absolutely GORGEOUS!
Yep. It's the hygiene gene in me. I used to work with 80 mine. EIGHTY men. And this was at the height of my va-va-voom body.
I figure, if you're going to work with 80 men, they didn't ask me to be there, I did my job, and any joking was just a way of making a stressful job less stressful.
I guess it's only when someone in higher authority makes "moves" on a woman that harassment should be address. If anyone had actually put the "serious" moves on me, he would have landed on his ass, but not how he would prefer. lol
Sorry for all the typing errors. It's hard to type with a Maltese rolling around on your lap.
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