CBS has fired news anchor Charlie Rose following a Washington Post report in which eight women accused him of sexual harassment. CBS, along with PBS and Bloomberg, had already suspended Rose, host of CBS This Morning, in light of the allegations. But on Tuesday, a memo was circulated to CBS News staffers announcing that Rose had been fired.
“A short time ago we terminated Charlie Rose’s employment with CBS News, effective immediately,” wrote CBS News President David Rhodes. “This followed the revelation yesterday of extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior said to have revolved around his PBS program.”
He continued: “Despite Charlie’s important journalistic contribution to our news division, there is absolutely nothing more important, in this or any organization, than ensuring a safe, professional workplace—a supportive environment where people feel they can do their best work. We need to be such a place.”
Rose began working for CBS in 1984 as the host of Nightwatch for six years. He’s been a correspondent on 60 Minutes and involved in various other CBS News shows.
The allegations against Rose range from the 1990s to 2011, and include lewd phone calls, walking naked in front of women, and groping or touching them inappropriately. Rose has apologized for “inappropriate behavior,” though he also said in the same statement that he does not “believe that all of these allegations are accurate.” He also said that he was “greatly embarrassed” and “behaved insensitively at times.”
When a TMZ reporter recently asked Rose about the “people accusing you of wrongdoings,” the famous anchor replied, “It’s not ‘wrongdoings.’”
