Matt Lauer's (left) handling of the “Commander-In-Chief Forum” in September 2016 faced renewed criticism Wednesday as news of his firing spread. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Clinton backers sense justice in Matt Lauer firing

Hillary Clinton supporters on Wednesday sensed a degree of justice in the ouster of “Today” show host Matt Lauer, pointing to his highly scrutinized interviews of the 2016 presidential candidates as evidence of greater gender bias in the media.

Lauer, who was fired from NBC over allegations of “inappropriate sexual behavior,” was torched by Clinton backers on the campaign trail for what they perceived as a double standard in his questioning of the Democratic nominee and her electoral foe, Donald Trump.


His handling of the “Commander-In-Chief Forum” in September 2016, an event Lauer moderated as Clinton and Trump fielded questions on national security and military affairs, faced renewed criticism Wednesday as news of his firing spread. Lauer at the time was slammed for grilling Clinton on the controversy over her private email server while seemingly sidestepping some of Trump’s campaign scandals.

“Another person whose interview with Trump was ridiculously soft and interview with Hillary was incredibly tough: Matt Lauer,” Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress and a prominent Clinton backer, tweeted Wednesday following’s Lauer’s ouster.

Peter Daou, who led Clinton’s digital campaign operation during her 2008 presidential bid and is the creator of the liberal leaning political site Verrit, posted on Facebook: “Matt Lauer was fired today. One by one, we’re finding out the true character of the male journalists who treated Hillary Clinton (and her voters) with seething disdain.”

Former Clinton aide Christina Reynolds responded to Lauer’s NBC departure by decrying the effect of the coverage of Clinton on women at large.

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“To every woman and little girl who loved Hillary but consistently heard she couldn’t REALLY like or support Hillary — we knew you were there and were so grateful,” she said.

Clinton herself was highly critical of Lauer’s campaign questioning in the book “What Happened,” her 2017 memoir on last year’s presidential race.

“Trump should have reported his performance as an in-kind contribution,” Clinton wrote of Lauer. “I can’t say I didn’t fantasize about shaking some sense into Lauer while I was out there.”

Since last November, Clinton and her supporters have frequently cited the media’s coverage of her presidential campaign as one of the factors that led to her general-election loss to Trump.

In recent weeks, liberal commentators and analysts have reignited their critiques of the press’s treatment of Clinton, citing the ouster of MSNBC contributor Mark Halperin, the suspension of New York Times reporter and former POLITICO employee Glenn Thrush, and reports of misconduct by other journalists as a reckoning for their reporting of the 2016 race.

“Glenn Thrush and Mark Halperin bore huge responsibility for the way we saw/discussed Hillary Clinton,” cultural critic Soraya Nadia McDonald wrote on Twitter. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to consider how their attitudes toward women affected that.”

A wave of sexual misconduct allegations have rocked the media and political spheres in recent months, ensnaring major news outlets and politicians in controversy.

After NBC's termination of Lauer, Variety reported on three women who said he had subjected them to sexual harassment during their time at the network.

The report was the culmination of a two-month investigation in which the publication interviewed dozens of his current and former colleagues.