Et tu, Charlie?

CBS SUSPENDS HIM FROM MORNING PROGRAMME, PBS SAYS IT WILL NO LONGER DISTRIBUTE HIS LONG-RUNNING NIGHTLY INTERVIEW SHOW

Eight women say US television heavyweight sexually harassed them — with nudity, groping and lewd calls |

After allegations surfaced on Monday that the longtime television host Charlie Rose made crude sexual advances toward multiple women who worked on his show over a dozen years, CBS suspended him from its morning programme and PBS announced that it would no longer distribute his long-running nightly interview show.

Eight women, including three who talked on the record, told

The Washington Post that he made lewd phone calls to them, walked around naked in front of them or groped them. In addition, two women told

The New York Times that he made unwanted advances toward them, trying to kiss them without their permission. The women spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared Rose’s power over their careers and what some described as his volatile temper.

In a statement, Rose said he did not believe all the allegations were accurate but also apologised.

“It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologise for my inappropriate behaviour. I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that,” he said. “I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realise I was mistaken.”

Assault attempt

In the most serious case, one woman who had applied for a job said that Rose invited her to his estate in Bellport, New York, about 100 kilometres from New York City, in June 2010.

That night, he said he needed to change after getting his pants wet in the pool. He returned wearing a white bathrobe left open in front. Rose wore nothing underneath, the woman told The

Post, and eventually tried to assault her.

The woman, speaking on condition of anonymity because she found the experience so traumatic, also described the incident to The Times.

She called it “the most humiliating experience of my life.”

In the Post article, Reah Bravo, who started working on Rose’s show in 2007, said he made unwanted sexual advances while she worked at his Bellport estate and while she travelled with him.

Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, one of Rose’s assistants in the mid2000s, recalled at least a dozen instances in which Rose walked nude in front of her while she worked in one of his New York City homes. She also said he repeatedly called her to describe his fantasies of her swimming naked in the Bellport pool as he watched. “It feels branded into me, the details of it,” GodfreyRyan told The Post.

Megan Creydt, who worked as a coordinator on the show from 2005 to 2006, also told The Post that Rose put his hand on her mid-thigh.

Rose has been a ubiquitous force on television for decades, launching his interview show

Charlie Rose in 1991. Shortly after the news broke Monday, all three media companies associated with Rose announced disciplinary action.

Representatives from CBS said Rose was “suspended immediately while we look into this matter.” Bloomberg TV and PBS both said they would suspend the distribution or airing of “Charlie Rose.”