“CBS This Morning” co-host and longtime PBS star Charlie Rose has been accused by eight women of making unwanted sexual advances toward them and admitted to some of the misconduct in a statement, according to the Washington Post. Both PBS and CBS suspended him.
Rose’s alleged misconduct includes making lewd phone calls, walking around naked and groping the womens breasts, buttocks or genital areas, according to the Post. Rose’s accusers were employees or “aspired to work for Rose at The Charlie Rose show’ on PBS from the late 1990s to as recently as 2011.”
“CBS This Morning” has been growing rapidly since it launched in 2012, but still struggles to match the viewership of rivals “Today” and “Good Morning America,” while Rose’s show on PBS has aired regularly since 1991. Rose’s PBS show is filmed at the Bloomberg LP headquarters, making three major media organizations tied up in the latest harassment scandal.
“PBS was shocked to learn today of these deeply disturbing allegations. We are immediately suspending distribution of ‘Charlie Rose,’” PBS said in a statement.
CBS also suspended Rose but did not respond to request for additional comment.
“We are deeply disturbed to learn of these allegations and are immediately suspending the show from airing on Bloomberg TV,” the network said in a statement.
Rose’s accusers were between 21 and 37 years old at the time of the alleged encounters and the Post noted that there are “striking commonalities” in the accounts of the women. His alleged behavior typically included offering jobs to females and then using his power to put them in uncomfortable positions of a sexual nature. He allegedly would offer women a six-figure position that disappeared once they rejected his advances.
“For all of the women, reporters interviewed friends, colleagues or family members who said the women had confided in them about aspects of the incidents. Three of the eight spoke on the record. Five of the women spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of Rose’s stature in the industry, his power over their careers or what they described as his volatile temper,” the Post said in a statement about the bombshell.
“I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate.”
None of the women who made accusations against Rose to The Post worked for PBS or CBS.
He has expressed remorse for some of the allegations.
“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.”
Rose continued: “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.”
Powerful and influential men have been facing allegations of sexual misconduct on a regular basis since disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was outed as a sexual predator with a pair of bombshell reports in The New York Times and New Yorker earlier this year. High-profile media members such as Glenn Thrush and Mark Halperin have joined celebrities such as Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K. and a handful of politicians accused of sexual misconduct in recent weeks.
Ironically, Rose once appeared as himself on an episode of the Netflix series “House of Cards,” which has been rocked by the accusations against Spacey.
According to the report by Post contributor Irin Carmon and investigative reporter Amy Brittain, one accuser, Reah Bravo, was an intern and then associate producer for Rose’s PBS show beginning in 2007. In various interviews, she detailed unwanted sexual advances from Rose.
“It has taken 10 years and a fierce moment of cultural reckoning for me to understand these moments for what they were,” she told The Post. “He was a sexual predator, and I was his victim.”
Another accuser, Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, was Rose’s former assistant and detailed “at least a dozen instances where Rose walked nude in front of her while she worked in one of his New York City homes.” She claims the CBS and PBS star also “repeatedly called” her “at night or early in the morning to describe his fantasies of her swimming naked.”
Megan Creydt worked as a coordinator on the show from 2005 to 2006 and was a colleague of Godfrey-Ryan. She told the Post that Rose “put his hand on my mid-thigh” and understands that other claims are more serious but she was willing to speak to the paper to “support other women who were coming forward.”
The 75-year-old is considered a broadcasting legend and has interviewed everyone from Steve Jobs to Barack Obama. Time magazine named Rose one of its 100 most influential people in 2014 and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg once described him as “one of the most important and influential people in journalism.”
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