Tom Brokaw denies making unwanted advances toward ex-NBC anchor

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Tom Brokaw denies sexual misconduct claim Former NBC News reporter Linda Vester said Tom Brokaw groped her, tried to forcibly kiss her and made inappropriate overtures attempting to have an affair, according to reports published in Variety and the Washington Post. Brokaw denies it. (April 27)

Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw is denying reports that he made unwanted advances toward a former NBC correspondent in the 1990s, the Washington Post and Variety reported Thursday.

A Post story quotes Linda Vester alleging that as an ex-NBC correspondent then in her 20s, that the legendary anchor forcibly attempted to kiss her. She didn't complain at the time, according to the Post.

Entertainment industry trade magazine Variety also reported that it had talked to Vester over several months and that she also alleges Brokaw tried to grope her in a conference room and showed up at her hotel room uninvited.

"I’m standing there, and Tom Brokaw enters through the door and grabs me from behind and proceeds to tickle me up and down my waist," Vester told the magazine. "I jumped a foot and I looked at a guy who was the senior editor of Nightly, and his jaw was hanging open. Nobody acted like anything wrong was happening, but I was humiliated."

Variety says her report is corroborated by two friends who she told at the time and journal entries.

Reached for comment by the Post, Brokaw acknowledged he indeed met with Vester twice and that the encounters were "brief, cordial and appropriate." In the statement issued by NBC, Brokaw said he made "no romantic overtures towards her, at that time or any other," the Post reported.

The Post said it also talked with a woman who was a production assistant in the 1990s who alleges that Brokaw acted inappropriately around her, but didn't elaborate about what manner. Brokaw denies that allegation as well.

More: She wanted a Hollywood career. Her agent wanted sex.

Related: Ann Curry breaks silence on Matt Lauer: 'I’m not surprised by the allegations'