Charlie Rose Settles Sexual Harassment Suit on Eve of Trial

Charlie Rose has settled a lawsuit from three former CBS employees who accused the former anchor of repeated sexual harassment.

Lawyers for the accusers and Rose moved to dismiss the case on the eve of the trial. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.

In a statement signed by the accusers provided, by a lawyer for Rose, they said the case was about “workplace interactions.” They added, “Through the process of years of litigation, the parties have come to better understand each other’s points of view. On reflection, and after having the benefit of discovery, we realize that different people could interpret the conduct in different ways, and therefore we have resolved the claims. We do not assign any bad motive or ill intent to Charlie Rose.”

Rose, who co-anchored CBS This Morning, was fired in 2017 on the heels of a Washington Post report that claimed more than two dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct from 1986 to 2017. A trio of women — Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Chelsea Wei — subsequently filed a lawsuit in New York state court alleging “blatant and repeated sexual harassment” and unlawful retaliation. CBS quickly settled the case.

According to the complaint, Harris worked as a broadcast associate for CBS This Morning before taking a job as an associate producer for Rose from 2016 to 2017; McNeal worked as Rose’s executive assistant in 2017; Wei worked as a news associate, executive assistant and anchor assistant from 2015 to 2018. They alleged Rose repeatedly caressed them — at times touching their shoulders, arms or legs — and made unwanted sexual advances.

Rose maintained that his conduct constituted “routine workplace interactions and banter.” In a filing earlier this month, his lawyer Kenneth Goldberg said that he intended to contest the accusers’ credibility at trial. He pointed to internal company records indicating that Wei advised a CBS human resources officer that she experienced nothing “sexually inappropriate” while working for Rose and that Harris wrote to Rose that her interactions with him were “always professional and respectful,” though she noted to her therapist that the harassment was “very subtle.” He also cited a document showing that McNeal confided in her therapist at the time that she had “0 personal experience” of sexual harassment.

Earlier in the case, the women argued that workplace sexual harassment covers “less-well verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature — even isolated, gender-based comments and conduct.” In an affidavit testifying about her experience with Rose, Harris said that she would regularly be summoned to his corporate offices.

“He would sit on the bench outside the broadcast studio and would require me to sit next to him,” she stated. “On at least one occasion, I was wearing a skirt and, as I sat down, Rose intentionally placed his hand on the bench so that my buttocks landed on his hand and he kept his hand under me. On at least one other occasion, I was wearing a skirt and, after I sat down on the bench, Rose sat down and intentionally slid his hand under my buttocks.”

The court barred the women in 2019 from pursuing claims of retaliation but allowed the discrimination claim to proceed. With the settlement, the two sides avert a trial that was scheduled to start this week.

“This proceeding is discontinued with prejudice,” meaning the lawsuit can’t be refiled, stated a court document filed on Nov. 24.

A lawyer for the women didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Rose now maintains a YouTube channel in which he interviews guests, who’ve included Francis Ford Coppola and James Earl Jones.