CBS News fires Charlie Rose following sexual misconduct allegations

NOW: CBS News fires Charlie Rose following sexual misconduct allegations
NEXT:

NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News has fired Charlie Rose after several women accused the veteran newsman of sexual misconduct.

Rose has been one of three hosts of "CBS This Morning" since 2012 and is also a contributor to "60 Minutes." PBS and Bloomberg also suspended airings of Rose's nightly interview show after the Washington Post published an article Monday about women who said he groped them and walked around naked in front of them.

CBS News President David Rhodes said there is nothing more important than assuring a safe, professional workplace. CBS had already suspended him. See Rhodes' full statement below:

“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.

I've often heard that things used to be different. And no one may be able to correct the past. But what may once have been accepted should not ever have been acceptable.

CBS News has reported on extraordinary revelations at other media companies this year and last. Our credibility in that reporting requires credibility managing basic standards of behavior. That is why we have taken these actions.

Let's please remember our obligations to each other as colleagues. We will have human resources support today and every day, and we are organizing more personal and direct training which you will hear about from senior management shortly.

I'm deeply disappointed and angry that people were victimized-and that even people not connected with these events could see their hard work undermined. If all of us commit to the best behavior and the best work - that is what we can be known for.”

Rose's co-hosts on the morning show, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, were sharply critical of their colleague on Tuesday. King said the allegations did not fit the Rose she knew, but that "I'm clearly on the side of the women who have been very hurt and damaged by this."

 -----

(CBS NEWS) -- "CBS This Morning" co-hosts Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell addressed sexual misconduct allegations against co-host Charlie Rose on Tuesday's broadcast. CBS News has suspended Rose in light of the accusations, and both PBS and Bloomberg have suspended his program.

The Washington Post report published Monday includes claims by eight women who worked for or aspired to work for his PBS program. He stands accused of acts including unwanted sexual advances, groping and exposing himself.

Below are O'Donnell and King's responses: 


Norah O'Donnell
"This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand and more generally the safety of women. Let me be very clear: there is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It is systematic and pervasive and I've been doing a lot of listening and I'm going to continue to do that. This I know is true: women cannot achieve equality in the workplace or in society until there is a reckoning and a taking of responsibility. I am really proud to work at CBS News. There are so many incredible people here, especially on this show – all of you here. This will be investigated. This has to end. This behavior is wrong. Period," O'Donnell said.

Gayle King
"I really am still reeling. I got an hour and 42 minutes of sleep last night. Both my son and my daughter called me, Oprah called me and said, 'Are you OK?' I am not OK. After reading that article in the Post, it was deeply disturbing, troubling and painful for me to read. That said, I think we have to make this matter to women – the women who have spoken up, the women who have not spoken up because they're afraid. I'm hoping that now they will take the step to speak out, too. This becomes a moment of truth. You know, I've enjoyed a friendship and a partnership with Charlie for the past five years. I've held him in such high regard and I'm really struggling because how do you – what do you say when someone that you deeply care about has done something that is so horrible? How do you wrap your brain around that? I'm really grappling with that. That said, Charlie does not get a pass here. He doesn't get a pass from anyone in this room. We are all deeply affected. We are all rocked by this. And I want to echo what Norah said, I really applaud the women that speak up despite the friendship. He doesn't get a pass because I can't stop thinking about the anguish of these women. What happened to their dignity, what happened to their bodies, what happened maybe even to their careers. I can't stop thinking about that and the pain they are going through. I also find that you can hold two ideas in your head at the same time, you can grapple with things. And I'm, to be very honest with you, I'm still trying to process all of this. 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," King said.

King and O'Donnell both said they hadn't spoken to Rose since the allegations were made. King went on to say that she does intend to speak to him on Tuesday.

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

-----

NEW YORK (AP) — Charlie Rose is the latest public figure to be felled by sexual misconduct allegations, with PBS halting distribution of his nightly interview show and CBS News suspending him following a Washington Post report with the accusations of eight women.

The women, who all worked for Rose or tried to work for him, accused the veteran newsman of groping them, walking naked in front of them and telling one that he dreamed about her swimming nude, the Post reported Monday.

Rose, 75, said in a statement that he was "deeply embarrassed" and apologized for his behavior.

It is unclear how "CBS This Morning" will address Rose's suspension Tuesday. Rose has co-hosted the critically-acclaimed morning news program with Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell. It has been gaining the past few years on its better-known rivals. Rose also conducts interviews for "60 Minutes."

Three women went on the record in the Post's deeply-reported story. Reah Bravo, a former associate producer for Rose's PBS show who began working for him in 2007, told the newspaper: "He was a sexual predator, and I was his victim." She said Rose groped her on multiple occasions and once, during a business trip to Indiana, called her to his hotel room where he emerged from a shower naked.

Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, one of Rose's former assistants, was 21 when she said Rose repeatedly called her to describe his fantasies of her swimming naked at the pool at his Long Island home while he watched from his bedroom. She said she was fired when Rose learned she had spoken to a mutual friend about his behavior.

Megan Creydt, who worked as a coordinator on Rose's PBS show in 2005 and 2006, told the newspaper that she was sitting in the passenger seat as Rose drove in Manhattan one day when he put his hand on her thigh. Five women interviewed by the Post described similar grabs to their legs in what many interpreted as an attempt to see their reactions.

Rose said that he has 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."

Rose's interview show is seen in 94 percent of the country on PBS stations. It is rebroadcast on Bloomberg's cable network, which also announced Monday it was suspending the show. He interviews a wide circle of people in the media, politics and entertainment — this month including Harvard President Drew Faust, rapper Macklemore and the Post's Robert Costa, who talked about that paper's sexual harassment investigation of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

"PBS was shocked to learn today of these deeply disturbing allegations," the public broadcasting service said in a statement. "We are immediately suspending distribution of 'Charlie Rose.'"

Despite his age and heart troubles in the past, Rose had been one of the busiest figures in television.

Two hours after the Post story went online, one of its authors, Amy Brittain, tweeted that "sadly, my inbox is already flooded with women who have had similar, disturbing encounters with Charlie Rose."

Rose owned his interview show, even though PBS distributed it, and that raised questions of what recourse women who had complaints about his behavior could do. The Post quoted Yvette Vega, his longtime executive producer, as saying she failed and deeply regretted not helping women who complained about his behavior.

But it apparently was a poorly-kept secret in the industry. Two former employees interviewed by the Post said young women hired by the show were known as "Charlie's Angels." A Post contributing writer who worked on the story said she was reporting on some of the allegations while working at another news organization in 2010 but could not confirm them.

Stories of sexual misconduct have been coming in a flood since The New York Times first reported on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's behavior in early October. Even on Monday, the Times suspended White House reporter Glenn Thrush while it looked into a story about him making drunken, unwanted advances on women. In the news business alone, NBC political reporter Mark Halperin and top National Public Radio news executive Michael Oreskes have lost their jobs.

Interviewed last April outside a Time magazine gala, Rose was asked by The Associated Press about Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who lost his job when it was revealed his network had paid millions of dollars to settle claims women had made against him.

"All of the cases that raise the issue of sexual harassment, which is a terrible thing, (and) has probably been not exposed enough," Rose said. "Not enough in the sense of the attention in the past, so that people were afraid to come forward. I think people are coming forward now."

Share this article: