Charlie Rose settles sexual harassment lawsuit with three former employees
Charlie Rose has reached a settlement with three former CBS employees who sued him for sexual harassment in 2018.
The plaintiffs, Katherine Brooks Harris, Chelsea Wei and Sydney McNeal, alleged that Rose touched them on their thighs, kissed their cheeks and made numerous inappropriate sexual comments.
Rose was fired as co-host of “CBS This Morning” in November 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, when the Washington Post reported on allegations of harassment by eight women. Bloomberg TV and PBS also canceled his long-running interview program “Charlie Rose,” produced by Rose’s company.
Rose publicly apologized for his “inappropriate behavior” and said he had behaved “insensitively.”
The Post followed up in May 2018, citing 27 complaints dating back to the 1980s. The three plaintiffs were included in that report and filed suit shortly thereafter.
They settled with CBS in December 2018, but the case against Rose has dragged on in the New York Supreme Court for more than six years. In 2019, a judge dismissed a retaliation claim, ruling that there was no evidence the women had been singled out for retaliatory treatment when they were fired after Rose’s show was canceled. But the judge found sufficient basis for the sexual discrimination claim to allow it to proceed.
Rose’s attorneys characterized the claims in a recent court filing as “low-level contact” and argued that the plaintiffs filed a complaint under New York City’s gender discrimination law because they met the threshold for “severe and widespread ” sexual harassment under state or federal law could not achieve. federal law.
The parties filed a joint stipulation to drop the case on Sunday, and the judge announced on Tuesday that pending claims would be dropped. Terms were not disclosed.
Rose, now 82, has been posting new interviews via Zoom on his website and on YouTube since 2022, including recent ones with Bob Costas and Michael Lewis.
Rose’s former makeup artist, Gina Riggi, also sued him in September 2019. That case remains pending.
