Charlie Rose Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Overview

Charlie Rose Sexual Misconduct Allegations refer to allegations of sexual misconduct made by more than 30 women toward former talkshow host Charlie Rose. Rose has both apologized for the allegations and also described the reports as "unfair and inaccurate."

Background

On November 20th, 2017, The Washington Post^[1] reported that eight women had come forward accusing American talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose of making unwanted sexual advances on them while they were employees or applying to work for him during the late 1990s to 2011. These women accused him of lewd phone calls, showing them his nude body and/or groping their breasts, buttocks and genital areas.

That evening, Rose tweeted a statement apologizing for his "inappropriate behavior" but that he did "not believe that all of these allegations are accurate" (shown below).

Developments

Response from Networks

The following day, Rose was fired from CBS and his PBS television show was canceled.^[6] An internal email from CBS News president David Rhodes said that he was fired because "of extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior said to have revolved around his PBS program."

PBS released a statement about the firing. It said:

"In light of yesterday’s revelations, PBS has terminated its relationship with Charlie Rose and canceled distribution of his programs,” the nonprofit broadcaster said in its statement. “PBS expects all the producers we work with to provide a workplace where people feel safe and are treated with dignity and respect."

On Rose's former show CBS This Morning, Rose's former co-host mad a statement. She said, "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." The official Twitter account for the show tweeted a video of the statement (shown below).

“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." -- @NorahODonnell pic.twitter.com/9P69QN7spu

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) November 21, 2017

MeToo Redemption Television Series

On April 25th, 2018, writer and women's advocate Tina Brown confirmed to the New York Post^[2] that an unnamed producer is shopping a television show hosted by "Charlie Rose in which he interviews men high-profile men who had their careers upended by the #MeToo movement, including Louis C.K., Matt Lauer and more.

Many reacted negatively to the news. On Twitter, many discussed how they found it offensive that the perpetrators, not the victims, be given a television show to discuss how they feel. Twitter^[3] user @RVAwonk tweeted, "What about the show where we hear from all the women whose careers were derailed by Charlie Rose & men like him? …and the women who didn't pursue the careers they wanted to because of men like Charlie Rose? …and the women whose lives were destroyed by men like Charlie Rose?" The post (shown below, left) received more than 2,300 retweets and 5,700 likes in 24 hours.

Throughout the day, more people posted their disapproval of the idea. Twitter^[4] published a Moments page based on the reaction to the television series.

That day, Redditor^[5] OVEIDPTVZSEU posted about the television show in the /r/television subreddit. Within 24 hours, the post received more than 770 points (89% upvoted) and 210 comments.

2018 Allegations

On May 3rd, 2018, The Washington Post^[7] reported that an additional 27 women were accusing Charlie Rose of sexual harassment. Of these women, 14 women worked for CBS News and 13 worked elsewhere. The report was based on interviews with 107 current and former CBS employees and two dozen others who worked for Rose.

The earliest allegation dates back to 1976 when Rose, allegedly, showed his penis to former research assistant Joana Matthias.

An allegation from 2013 made by Sophie Gayter, a former 60 Minutes employee said that Rose groped her in the halls. She said, "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."

Of this second group of allegations, CBS News issued a statement:

"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. We continue to look for ways to improve our workplace and this period of reflection and action has been important to all of us. We are not done with this process."

The man who hired rose, and the former chairman of CBS News Jeff Fager wrote to the Washington Post, "I was never informed that Charlie behaved badly with women. I hired him because he was one of the best interviewers in the country. Period. If I knew there was this darker side he never would have been hired."

Online Reaction

Over the course of six months, Twitter published several Moments pages about the allegations, including about the response to CBS Norah O'Donell's statement, CBS's and PBS's firing of Rose and the latest allegations.^{[8][9][10][11]}

One of Rose's accusers Sophie Gayter, tweeted,^[12] "I am proud to be standing and speaking out with the other women in this story, breaking through the wall of silence that has existed in our profession for decades and at CBS in particular. This story, as you can imagine, is just the tip of the iceberg." The post (shown below) received more than 260 retweets and 1,000 likes in 24 hours.

The news of both group of allegations made the front page of several subreddits. On November 20th, 2017, Redditor ^[13] Epistemify posted the report in the /r/television subreddit. The post received more than 16,000 points (87% upvoted) and 2,700 comments in five months. That day, Redditor^[14] Amcal posted about in the /r/news subreddit, where it received more than 7,900 points (89% upvoted) and 1,400 comments in five months.

Search Interest

External References