Co-Anchors 'Reeling' From Charlie Rose Accusations

'I am not OK,' Gayle King says on 'CBS This Morning'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 21, 2017 8:51 AM CST

CBS This Morning aired as scheduled Tuesday with one less anchor chair. But though Charlie Rose was absent, suspended Monday following sexual harassment allegations from eight women, his co-anchors, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, made the scandal the program's top story. "I really am reeling … I am not OK," King said, per the Washington Post, which published the allegations. King said the Post's report "was deeply disturbing, troubling, and painful for me to read," as she "enjoyed a friendship and partnership" with Rose. Echoing a statement from Sarah Silverman regarding Louis CK, she added, "What do you say when someone that you deeply care about has done something that's so horrible?"

O'Donnell, who sometimes looked close to tears, was equally direct in addressing the allegations of unwanted advances, groping, lewd phone calls and other misconduct by the 75-year-old television host and interviewer. "This is a moment that demands a frank and honest assessment about where we stand and more generally the safety of women," she said. "There is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It is systematic and pervasive," she added. "This has to end." In his apology Monday, Rose acknowledged that he "behaved insensitively at times." But "I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings," he said. The Post has since revisited a 2015 commencement speech in which Rose touted the importance of integrity and "doing the right thing." (More Charlie Rose stories.)

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