Eight women have accused the high-profile talk show host Charlie Rose of sexual harassment and misconduct, the Washington Post reported Monday.Rose, who anchors his own eponymous show on PBS as well as “CBS This Morning,” allegedly engaged in episodes of sexual misconduct spanning years. Some women described him walking around naked in their presence; others said Rose groped them, touching their upper thigh or buttocks.“It has taken 10 years and a fierce moment of cultural reckoning for me to understand these moments for what they were,” Reah Bravo, who worked at PBS starting in 2007, told the Post. “He was a sexual predator, and I was his victim.”Yvette Vega, Rose’s executive producer for more than 20 years, heard about at least one incident of alleged harassment, and now says she regrets not having done more.“I should have stood up for them,”Vega told the Post. “I failed. It is crushing. I deeply regret not helping them.”Rose, 75, responded to the Post’s story saying he was “greatly embarrassed” by the accusations, but said he does not believe they were entirely accurate.
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“It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed,” Rose stated. “I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.”Within hours of the story’s publication, both PBS and CBS suspended Rose’s broadcast pending an investigation, as did Bloomberg TV, which airs the show.
Rose has been on the air for more than more than two decades, winning some of journalism’s highest honors, including the Peabody award.