Eight women accused CBS News’ Charlie Rose of sexual misconduct and now the long-time journalist has been axed from the network.
CBS News President David Rhodes told his employees on Tuesday:
A short time ago we terminated Charlie Rose’s employment with CBS News, effective immediately. This followed the revelation yesterday of extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior said to have revolved around his PBS program. Despite Charlie’s important journalistic contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace — a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work. We need to be such a place.
Rose was a co-anchor on CBS This Morning, with Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell. He also hosted his own PBS program called Charlie Rose, where the accusations center. While CBS pulled the trigger, Rose remains only suspended at PBS and Bloomberg TV with no updates to that status as of this writing.
NBC News details some of the allegations:
The claims made against Rose, 75, in The [Washington] Post's report included groping female acquaintances and walking around naked in their presence. The women were either employees at the "Charlie Rose" show or aspired to work for the show in allegations spanning from the late 1990s to 2011, according to the newspaper. Three women were on the record and five were anonymous.
Two of the women The Post interviewed, Kyle Godfrey-Ryan and Megan Creydt, confirmed their accounts to NBC News on Monday night.
The New York Daily News has even more details.
His co-host King is shocked by what she has heard: “I'm still trying to sort it out because this is not the man I know, but I'm also clearly on the side of the women who have been very hurt and very damaged by this."
We’re wondering if King remembers this little moment where the real Rose came to the surface for half a second:
Then there’s this promo for Rose’s interview with Samantha Bee and her TBS show Full Frontal in which the host is cloned into several creepy Roses who gets hands-on with Bee — now a totally different experience to watch in today's context:
NBC’s Megyn Kelly also found herself recontextualizing a prior moment she had with Rose, whom she considers a friend, in which she felt he hijacked her book event and “cross-examine[d]” her on the sexual harassment allegations against Roger Ailes. Again, context is king, and hindsight is 20-20:
Rose has since responded to the allegations in a statement:
“In my 45 years in journalism, I have prided myself on being an advocate for the careers of the women with whom I have worked. Nevertheless, in the past few days, claims have been made about my behavior toward some former female colleagues.
"It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken."
