OPINION:
Charlie Rose, the staid 75-year-old CBS News voice and presence with a “This Morning” and “60 Minutes” history, was just suspended over allegations from eight women that he sexually harassed them — including walking naked before them absent their permission.
He’s the latest in what’s become a very long list of badly behaving men.
According to The Washington Post, eight women say Rose groped them, made lewd comments to them and even walked about without clothes on in their presence, all at times while they worked for him or aspired to work for him, between the 1990s and 2011.
Rose was suspended by CBS News, and officials kicked off an investigation.
Rose, meanwhile, sent out a mea culpa.
“In my 45 years in journalism, I have prided myself on being an advocate for the careers of the women with whom I have worked,” he said, People reported. “Nevertheless, in the past few days, claims have been made about my behavior toward some former female colleagues. It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior.”
I should say so. Walking about naked in front of workplace colleagues is never a good idea.
“I am greatly embarrassed,” Rose went on. “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. I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will, too.”
He then added that he, along with others, no doubt, have come to a place of “newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”
These women aren’t anonymous accusers.
Kyle Godfrey-Ryan said that Rose walked in front of her naked at least a dozen times in the mid-2000s, while she worked for him at his New York City home. She said Rose also fired her after she told a friend about his behavior, and he learned of it. And here’s the even more outrageous-sounding part: Godfrey-Ryan said she told executive producer Yvette Vega about the sexual misconduct. And Vega simply said, “That’s just Charlie being Charlie.”
Vega told The Washington Post she now regrets not standing up to Rose on behalf of all the women who complained.
But no doubt that’s been the excuse that’s let a large percentage of these sexual harassers get by with their sexual harassment — that’s just “fill-in-the-blank” being “fill-in-the-blank.” In other words, get over it. Guys will be guys.
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