Three CBS employees now say that disgraced former PBS host Charlie Rose harassed them while Rose worked on stories for “CBS This Morning.”
Rose was fired from CBS yesterday, with CBS President David Rhodes citing “extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior,” but it wasn’t clear from Rhodes’ statement whether he was referring to the accusations leveled against Rhodes in a Washington Post piece about his time at PBS or whether CBS had discovered new allegations.
Wednesday morning, CBS itself revealed that three women told their correspondent, Bianna Golodryga, that they’d experienced “unwanted encounters” with Rose. One woman claimed Rose “groped her rear,” according to CBS, and the other “says he grabbed her inappropriately and whispered a sexual innuendo in her ear,” CBS reports.
CBS did not offer any further comment on the new incidents. CBS says their HR departments do not have any complaints on file from the new accusers.
Rose initially apologized for his behavior, couching his apology in proto-feminist language and claiming that his former colleagues’ revelations had inspired him to think anew about how he treated women in the workplace, as though his behavior — which included parading around naked in front of women during business meetings at his home — was not, on its face, bizarre and harassing.
Monday afternoon, the entertainment news site TMZ caught up with Rose and asked Rose what his response was to the women accusing him of wrongdoing.
“It’s not wrongdoings,” he responded.