Former NBC staffer accuses Matt Lauer of rape in Ronan Farrow’s new book

NEW YORK CITY -- (WPIX) -— When NBC News fired Matt Lauer two years ago, the network said an employee accused him of “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.”

Now that employee, Brooke Nevils, is speaking publicly for the first time. And Nevils is saying that Lauer raped her. The disturbing account is detailed in “Catch & Kill,” a book by Ronan Farrow that comes out next Tuesday.

Representatives for Lauer have not yet responded to CNN's requests for comment about the allegations.

Variety magazine published excerpts from Farrow's book, including quotes from Nevils, on Tuesday evening.

NBC News responded by saying, in a statement, “Matt Lauer's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That's why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”

Lauer's former show, the “Today” show, covered the new reporting from Variety on Wednesday morning.

“This is shocking. And appalling. and I honestly don't even know what to say about it,” Savannah Guthrie said on the air.

These “are not allegations of an affair, they're allegations of a crime,” Hoda Kotb said.

“We're disturbed to our core,” Guthrie added.

Nevils told Farrow in an interview that the rape occurred while she was in Sochi, Russia, covering the 2014 Winter Olympics.