Charlie Rose. Photo courtesy of The Daily Beast.
Summary: The Washington Post recently reported that CBS News knew of Charlie Rose’s misconduct since 1986.
Broadcast journalist Charlie Rose was one of the men fired during the #MeToo movement, but a new report from the Washington Post reveals that he may have done much more than what he was originally terminated for.
The former PBS host allegedly harassed dozens of women during his career, and the Washington Post said that his managers knew of his misconduct but did nothing to stop the behavior. Rose was fired from two networks last November after eight women said that he had harassed them while he was working on his PBS show “Charlie Rose.”
But the Post said that more women have come forward since. “An additional 27 women – 14 CBS News employees and 13 who worked with him elsewhere – said Rose sexually harassed them. Concerns about Rose’s behavior were flagged to managers at the network as early as 1986 and as recently as April 2017, when Rose was co-anchor of “CBS This Morning,” according to multiple people with firsthand knowledge of the conversations,” the Washington Post said.
Rose was the host of “Charlie Rose” on PBS and a co-anchor on “CBS This Morning” before he was fired last year. He was an esteemed figure in journalism, but the #MeToo movement exposed that he had allegedly made lewd phone calls to colleagues, walked around naked, and groped women’s breasts and genitals.
CBS has denied ever knowing about Rose’s alleged bad behavior until last year, but the new Washington Post report has pointed to the contrary. According to CNN, CBS has been on its toes in the past few months as they were aware that the publication was probing the issue.
In response to the new allegations, Rose said, “Your story is unfair and inaccurate.” This is a turnaround from his previous sentiment. Last year, he issued a heartfelt apology when the Washington Post published their original reporting.
“It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior,” Rose said. “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.”
Rose was just one of the men outed during the #MeToo movement, an anti-sexual harassment campaign that was started by Tamara Burke but went viral after Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was taken down in October of 2017. After Weinstein was exposed to have harassed dozens of women spanning three decades, other prominent men in all industries were also accused, many of them ended up resigning or quitting their jobs.
These men included Rose, Senator Al Franken, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, producer Brett Ratner, and Amazon Studios President Roy Price.