He ain’t smelling like a rose at all.
On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that longtime television host Charlie Rose has been accused of sexual misconduct by 27 more women, and managers at CBS and PBS who were informed about his alleged inappropriate behavior through the years ignored the information.
Last November, the Post reported that eight women said Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them. But the report on Thursday went further, alleging that there were “three occasions over a period of 30 years in which CBS managers were warned of his conduct toward women at the network.”
According to the Post, a former research assistant, Joana Matthias, now 63, said that in 1976, he exposed his penis and touched her breasts when they worked in the NBC News Washington bureau. She stated, “This other personality would come through, and the groping would happen.”
The Post reported that the reports of sexual harassment to managers at CBS , where Rose was co-anchor of “CBS This Morning,” were made as far back as 1986 and as recently as April 2017. The Post wrote of an alleged incident in 1986, when Annmarie Parr, a 22-year-old news clerk, delivered a script to Rose. Parr claims that Rose had made “lewd, little comments” about her appearance before, but in this incident Rose asked her, “Annmarie, do you like sex? Do you enjoy it? How often do you like to have sex?’” Parr said she laughed nervously and exited, later reporting Rose’s comments to her boss while saying she didn’t want to be alone with Rose. Parr claims that the producer laughed and said, “Fine, you don’t have to be alone with him anymore.”
A former intern for Rose’s PBS show, Corrina Collins, said that in 2003, when she was 20, she accompanied him to California for a “60 Minutes II” assignment. She said that while on the plane, Collins said, Rose insisted she drink wine and began to “paw” her. She said she got drunk and threw up in the plane’s bathroom. Then, on the ride from the airport, Collins said, Rose squeezed her breast and insisted that they work in his hotel room, where he told her, “I want you to ride me.” She immediately left. She recalled, “It felt predatory. I had already said no, but he was going to persist.” When she returned to New York, Collins said she told Yvette Vega, the executive producer of Rose’s PBS show, who allegedly replied that Rose was harmless. Vega did not respond to a request for comment.
Rose responded to the new accusations with the simple statement, “Your story is unfair and inaccurate.”
Women who claim they were harassed by Rose at CBS News said they were afraid to inform executives because they felt the executives prioritized the careers of male stars. Sophie Gayter, 27, who worked at “60 Minutes” in 2013, told the Post that Rose groped her buttocks as they walked down an office hallway. She added, “I had been there long enough to know that it was just the way things went. People said what they wanted to you, people did what they wanted to you.”
CBS News issued a statement which said in part:
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. That said, we cannot corroborate or confirm many of the situations described.
In March, CBS News president David Rhodes said, “I was not aware of harassment by Charlie Rose at CBS.” In April, Rhodes reiterated to a forum at George Washington University, “Just to be really clear, there was not knowledge.”