Charlie Rose, former CBS This Morning co-anchor and PBS interviewer, has accused of sexual harassment by 27 more women, bringing the total number of women with allegations against Rose up to 35.
The Washington Post published a new investigation on Thursday into how CBS News is handling the situation, and found that of the 27 women with accusations against Rose, 14 of them are CBS News employees, while 13 worked with Rose elsewhere. Furthermore, at least three of Rose’s managers were warned of his behavior over a period of 30 years, as early as 1986 and as recently as April 2017. Rose was fired from CBS in November 2017; his PBS series was cancelled at the same time.
Rose responded to the Post’s report on Thursday with a short e-mail that read: “Your story is unfair and inaccurate.”
The initial report, also published by the Post, detailed Rose’s inappropriate behavior with female co-workers at his eponymous PBS show. Eight different women accused Rose of “making lewd phone calls, walking around naked in their presence, and groping their breasts, buttocks, or genital areas.”
The more recent report contains similar allegations. A former research assistant of Rose claims he exposed his penis and touched her breasts in the NBC Washington bureau back in 1976. The first time a manager was told of Rose’s behavior was in 1986, when a 22-year-old news clerk delivered a script to Rose. That day, Rose asked if she liked to have sex, if she enjoyed it, and how often she likes to do it. When she told a producer, they laughed.
Another woman, who was one of Rose’s interns in 2003 and 20 years old at the time, took a flight with Rose for 60 Minutes II assignment. She says Rose insisted she drink wine on the flight and later “paw[ed]” her. He later squeezed her breast during the car ride from the airport.
The full Post report includes more details and more troubling allegations.
CBS News maintains it has no Human Resources complaints about Rose. A statement issued to the Post on Wednesday said the following:
“Since we terminated Charlie Rose, we’ve worked to strengthen existing systems to ensure a safe environment where everyone can do their best work. Some of the actions we have taken have been reported publicly, some have not. We offer employees discretion and fairness, and we take swift action when we learn of unacceptable behavior.
Soon after Rose was initially accused of sexual harassment, two universities formally stripped him of journalism awards that had been granted in the past.
