WATCH 'Crime Stories with Nancy Grace' On Merit Street Media! Click Here For Channel Finder

BREAKING: Charlie Rose suspended from CBS after eight women accuse him of groping, sexual harassment
by

Charlie Rose is the latest high-profile media figure to be accused of sexual misconduct in the workplace — and it may cost him two high-profile jobs.

After a Washington Post report detailing multiple incidents in which Rose allegedly exposed himself to and/or inappropriately touched young women working for him, CBS announced in a media statement that Rose had been suspended as co-host of its morning show, CBS This Morning.

PBS and Bloomberg also announced they would stop distributing the Charlie Rose show, which is produced by Rose’s own company.

Eight women, including three who went on the record, spoke to the Washington Post about various instances of sexual misconduct, including unwanted touching. The report suggests that Rose had a pattern of luring female employees, interns, and aspiring Charlie Rose employees into performing professional responsibilities at his residences in New York, where he allegedly had a habit of disrobing and/or showering when women were present. One accuser said the Rose pressed his body on top of hers when they were flying on a private plane to an assignment. Another woman who worked as his assistant said he would sometimes rage at her, viciously scolding her in front of co-workers, and later offer a too-affectionate apology.

“It would usually entail some version of him also touching me,” the woman told the Washington Post. “A hand on the upper thigh. He’d give a hug but touch the side of the breast.”

The same woman said he would call her late at night and ask her to discuss his sexual fantasies and share details of her own sex life.

Two of the accusers said they were fired after they confided to friends or co-workers and it got back to Rose. Another woman  who was applying for a position as global producer said that Rose invited her out to his home in Bellport, Long Island, in order to get a sense of how they might travel together. He had previously advised he would be working the whole time, but instead the two went to dinner on her first night there, where Rose allegedly drank a good deal of wine and got lost driving back to his house. Once there, he changed into a bathrobe the woman says he left open and attempted multiple times to put her hands down her pants, allegedly getting angry at her when she brought up the subject of abuse of power.

She was not offered the job.

Rose issued a statement apologizing for his actions, which was included in the original Washington Post report. He also tweeted the statement shortly after the report was published.

It reads, in full:

“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,” Rose said in a statement provided to The Post. “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.

I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”

 

[Feature image: Associated Press]