Even though he was fired for his own inappropriate behavior, Matt Lauer believes he should still be paid for the rest of his $20 million a year contract. The former NBC anchor of the "Today" show had a year and a half left on his contract when he was fired. Therefore, his lawyers are trying to get him a $30 million payout.

The lawyers' efforts will not be as easy as they think because Lauer's contract might have had a moral clause that is included in the contracts of many television personalities. As of now, Lauer and his team are reviewing his contract with a fine tooth comb to determine if the claims against him would prevent the former anchor from being paid through the end of the contract he had with NBC.

The moral clause

It appears that Lauer might not be entitled to a payout in any amount because he breached his contract that did include a moral clause that should have prevented him from bringing NBC into disrepute. Since he went against the contract, his termination was justified without pay. Therefore, the network is not legally obligated to reward him for bad behavior as some people see it.

A couple of days after Lauer was fired, he met with Eddie Burke Jr., a well-known real estate, and criminal lawyer, in a parking lot in East Hampton.

Photos were taken of the two men as Lauer handed Burke an envelope. Onlookers assumed the envelope contained a copy of Lauer's last contract that was signed in 2016 to keep him at NBC through December 2018.

Incident that led to the firing

Lauer's abrupt firing came about because a complaint was filed against him last Monday night from a colleague who accused him of inappropriate behavior toward her during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

NBC News president Andrew Lack considered the evidence valid enough to fire the anchor who had been with the network for more than 20 years.

Lack also stated that this doesn't seem to be an isolated case. Since then, as many as eight women have complained about Lauer's behavior, according to reports in Variety and the New York Times.

In Matt's statement on Thursday, he said some of the information is not true or mischaracterized, but enough of it is true enough to make him embarrassed and ashamed.

It is so interesting and ironic that Lauer interviewed Bill O'Reilly for the same offense. Being the talented journalist that Lauer is, he asked O'Reilly some hard questions. Now, Lauer is in the same situation. According to reports, O'Reilly did receive $25 million after he was fired from Fox News last April. Do you think Matt Lauer will get the $30 million he thinks he is entitled to?