Veteran news anchor Tom Brokaw denied an accusation of sexual harassment in a early-morning email to colleagues Friday.
In the email obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Brokaw defended his legacy and spoke of how blindsided he felt by the accusation.
"I am facing a long list of grievances from a former colleague who left NBC News angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom. She has unleashed a torrent of unsubstantiated criticism and attacks on me," Brokaw wrote.
The start of his email was much more dramatic.
"It is 4:00 am on the first day of my new life as an accused predator in the universe of American journalism," he began.
Brokaw wrote that he was "ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety as an avatar of male misogyny, taken to the guillotine and stripped of any honor and achievement I had earned in more than a half century of journalism and citizenship."
Brokaw said that the accuser, Linda Vester, often sought him out on informal meetings, including the one she described in her New York hotel room.
He says that he did go to her room but should not have and did not verbally or physically attack her in any way.
Brokaw wrote that he was "stunned by the free ride given to a woman with a grudge against NBC News, no distinctive credentials or issue passions while at Fox."
"I am proud of who I am as a husband, father, grandfather, journalist and citizen. Vester, the Washington Post and Variety cannot diminish that. But in this one woman piece of sensational claims they are trying," finished his email.
Vester, who was a war correspondent for NBC News during the 90's, came forward with her story in a video interview with Variety.
In a series of interviews with Variety conducted over several months, Vester alleged that Brokaw physically tried to force her to kiss him on two separate occasions, groped her in a NBC conference room and showed up at her hotel room uninvited. Two friends who Vester told at the time corroborated her story with Variety, and she shared her journal entries from the time period. Brokaw, who has been married to Meredith Auld since 1962, has never before been publicly accused of sexual harassment.