3 women sue Charlie Rose
Sexual harassment suit accuses former CBS News anchor and the network.
Lawsuit alleging sexual harassment accuses the former CBS News anchor and the network.
Three women who worked for former CBS News anchor Charlie Rose have filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him and the network.
The suit filed Friday in New York State Supreme Court follows a detailed report by the Washington Post in which 27 women, including 13 at CBS, claimed they were sexually harassed by Rose over his 40-year career in television news. Rose, 76, who was co-anchor of “CBS This Morning” for nearly six years, was fired in November after a Post report said eight women who worked on his talk show “Charlie Rose” on PBS allege he harassed them.
After the initial Post story came out, Rose said, “I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.” He told the Post that its most recent report on his behavior is “unfair and inaccurate.”
The suit filed by Sydney McNeal, Katherine Brooks Harris and Chelsea Wei alleges “that CBS management, numerous broadcasters and studio staff witnessed Mr. Rose’s unlawful conduct” and failed to take any action to correct it.
The three women, all in their 20s, worked at “CBS This Morning” while Rose was co-anchor there. McNeal and Harris went on to work at his talk show and lost their jobs when it was canceled in November.
A representative for CBS News said the division would “vigorously defend” itself against the allegations made against it in the lawsuit. Rose did not respond to an email request for comment.
CBS News said Thursday that it had hired an employment law firm, Proskuer Rose, to advise the company following the publication of the Post report.
The lawsuit describes various incidents in which Rose allegedly made inappropriate sexual comments to the women. The plaintiffs also allege that Rose was frequently “caressing and touching their arms, shoulders, waist and back, pulling them close to his body and kissing them on the cheek.”
Rose allegedly described his sexual conquests to McNeal and Harris and directed them to share details about their sex lives with him. He suggested to them that they become lovers.
The suit also alleges that Rose directed obscenities toward all three women when he was unhappy with their work.
The women are being represented by New Yorkbased employment lawyer Kenneth Goldberg.