Charlie Rose, CBS News Sued by Three Women: ‘Mr. Rose Repeatedly Sexually Touched Plaintiffs’
Charlie Rose and CBS News are facing new fallout after the Washington Post revealed 27 new accounts of sexual misconduct against the former network star.
On Friday, three women — Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing “Chelsea”Wei — filed suit against both Rose and CBS News in New York, saying that Rose subjected them to “repeated, ongoing and unlawful physical and verbal sexual harassment.”
“During Plaintiffs’ employment, Mr. Rose subjected Plaintiffs to repeated, ongoing and unlawful physical and verbal sexual harassment, including without limitation: (a) sexual touching; (b) sexual comments; and (c) sexual advances,” the suit reads.
The complaint also lists a lengthy series of examples of Rose’s alleged behavior toward the three women.
“Mr. Rose repeatedly sexually touched Plaintiffs, including without limitation caressing and touching their arms, shoulders, waist and back, pulling them close to his body, and kissing them on the cheek,” reads one example from the suit.
“Mr. Rose repeatedly boasted of his sexual conquests, telling Plaintiffs words to the effect of ‘you should have seen the women that I was with when I was younger,'” says another.
Reps for Rose and CBS did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.
This week, the Washington Post published their long-awaited bombshell on Rose’s past and how his employers handled the red flags surrounding him. The Post reporting — explicitly cited in the suit — made use of more than 100 interviews, saying Rose’s bosses at CBS routinely minimized his transgressions.
In on case from 2003, Rose pressured Corrina Collins, a then 20-yea-old intern with “60 Minutes II” into drinking so much wine on a work trip that she became drunk and threw up in an airplane bathroom, the Post reported. Rose later groped her in a car ride from the airport after they landed.
“I want you to ride me,” she remembered him saying.
“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,” said CBS after the Post story dropped.
“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.”
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