Allegations of sexual harassment waged against famed journalist Charlie Rose are this morning’s top story, and the CBS This Morning crew who works every day with Rose laid the news right atop the glass table they’ve sat together at for the last five years.
“This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand, and more generally, the safety of women. Let me be very clear: There is no excuse for this alleged behavior,” Norah O’Donnell told viewers. “Women cannot achieve equality in the workplace or in society until there is a reckoning and a taking of responsibility.”
Gayle King echoed similar sentiments, saying: “I really am reeling. I got one hour and 42 minutes of sleep last night. Both my son and my daughter called me; Oprah called me and said, ‘Are you okay?’ I am not okay.”
She continued: “I’m really struggling . . . What do you say, when someone that you deeply care about has done something that’s so horrible? How do you wrap your brain around that?”
Rose was suspended within 90 minutes of a Washington Post exposé that detailed the accounts of eight women who say the newsman groped them, walked around naked in front of them, or described lewd fantasies of his that involved them.
“It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior,” Rose said in a statement to the Post. “I am greatly embarrassed. 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.”
Take a look at how CBS This Morning handled the news.
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