Ousted CBS This Morning Anchor Charlie Rose Settles Sexual Harassment Suit with 3 Ex-Employees

Liza Esquibias
·3-min read

The case was settled six years after Rose's ex-staffers Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing "Chelsea" Wei sued him for sexual harassment

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic Charlie Rose attends New York Magazine's 50th Anniversary Celebration at Katz's Delicatessen on Oct. 24, 2017 in New York City.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Charlie Rose attends New York Magazine's 50th Anniversary Celebration at Katz's Delicatessen on Oct. 24, 2017 in New York City.

Charlie Rose has settled his sexual harassment lawsuit.

On Sunday, Nov. 24, Rose’s ex-staffers Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing "Chelsea" Wei filed a stipulation of discontinuance of the lawsuit they filed six years ago, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. A judge signed off on the request a day later, declaring that “the motions are resolved, and the action is disposed.”

The women sued CBS News and Rose in 2018, claiming he subjected them to “repeated, ongoing and unlawful physical and verbal sexual harassment,” including sexual touching, sexual comments and sexual advances. CBS settled their suit that same year, but the women went on to pursue the case against Rose, now 82, despite his attempt to have it dismissed in August 2018.

“Tacitly recognizing the weakness of their factual allegations, Plaintiffs seek to bolster their threadbare and conclusory claims by exploiting the #MeToo Movement and bootstrapping the accusations of sexual harassment made by third parties against Rose in articles published by The Washington Post,” his filing read. “Plaintiffs are not alleged to have had any knowledge of a single one of those accusations set forth in the articles. These hearsay accusations do not and cannot supply the missing link to the legally deficient claims.”

A judge later denied the motion for dismissal.

Related: Charlie Rose Conducts First Interview Over 4 Years After CBS Firing, Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Jemal Countess/Getty  Charlie Rose

Jemal Countess/Getty

Charlie Rose

The lawsuit was filed shortly after the Washington Post published a piece in November 2017 sharing the stories of 27 additional women who accused the longtime journalist of sexual misconduct. The alleged incidents date back to 1976, and were allegedly reported to the network as early as 1986.

Rose, who was later fired by CBS and had his long-running interview show on PBS canceled, responded to the report via email to the Post at the time, saying, “Your story is unfair and inaccurate.”

In 2019, a fourth woman, Gina Riggi, filed her own sexual harassment lawsuit alleging that Rose was verbally abusive and frequently made derogatory comments about her weight. That case is still ongoing, and Rose has denied the claims.

Related: Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell Slam Co-Anchor Charlie Rose Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations

CBS via Getty Charlie Rose

CBS via Getty

Charlie Rose

During a deposition in November 2019, Rose did admit to flirting with the sexual harassment accusers, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. He was asked if he physically touched his former CBS This Morning co-anchors, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, and replied: "All of us would in one way or the other touch each other, on the arm, hug each other."

He added that hugs and kisses on the cheek occurred when the colleagues “were greeting each other, saying hello or if we were saying goodbye,” but also stated that there may have been “some special circumstances” when he also kissed female employees on the lips, per the deposition.

When asked if he engaged in flirtatious behavior with King and O’Donnell, he said, “Yes.”

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He also said he hugged and kissed two of the former employees, Brooks Harris and McNeal, and flirted with Wei using "conversations about China."

When questioned about whether he thought this behavior was inappropriate, Rose said, "No one seemed to object."

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