The female co-hosts of “CBS This Morning” were blunt and honest Tuesday morning while reporting on the allegations against their co-host Charlie Rose, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by eight women.
“This has to end. This behavior is wrong. Period,” co-host Norah O’Donnell said during the first segment following Rose’s suspension.
The Washington Post published a scathing report on Monday evening, detailing the allegations of eight women who claimed Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them. According to the women, those advances included inappropriate phone calls, walking around naked in front of them and groping them. The alleged incidents spanned over two decades, started in the late 1990s, according to the Post.
“This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand and more generally the safety of women,” O’Donnell said. “Let me be very clear: There is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It is systematic and pervasive.”
Co-host Gayle King said she was still “reeling” from the news and got less than two hours of sleep the night before.
“Both my son and my daughter called me; Oprah called me and said ‘Are you okay?’ I am not okay,” she said. “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?”
King continued saying she was “deeply rocked” by the allegations against Rose and said her colleague “doesn’t get a pass because I can’t stop thinking about the anguish of these women.”
Both King and O’Donnell said they hadn’t spoken with Rose yet, but King said she planned to later Tuesday.
Rose was officially suspended less than two hours after the Post published its piece on Monday. In announcing his suspension, a network spokesperson called the allegations “extremely disturbing” and said CBS takes them “very seriously.”
Rose himself has since “deeply” apologized for his “inappropriate behavior” and said he is “greatly embarrassed” for behaving insensitively in the past, according to a statement he published on Twitter. He said he didn’t think all the accusations were accurate and said he thought he was “pursuing shared feelings” at the time.
My statement in full. pic.twitter.com/3kvFrqF2dT
— Charlie Rose (@charlierose) November 20, 2017
Rose wasn’t the only prominent member of the media who was outed for sexual misconduct on Monday. The New York Times has suspended one of its White House correspondents, Glenn Thrush, after Vox published a report detailing his alleged inappropriate sexual advances toward young female journalists in the past.
Watch the “CBS This Morning” segment below:
