Charlie Rose has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed by three former employees of CBS who alleged that the host engaged in unwanted kissing and touching and also made inappropriate comments, according to reports.
The lawsuit was initially filed in New York Supreme Court in 2018 by former CBS staffers Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing “Chelsea” Wei.
The three women, who worked at “CBS This Morning” while Rose was co-anchor, alleged in their complaint that Rose made inappropriate sexual comments to them and frequently caressed and touched their arms, shoulders, waist and back.
Rose is also alleged to have pulled them close to his body and kissed them on the cheek. The lawsuit included allegations that Rose detailed his sexual conquests to McNeal and Harris and directed them to share details with him about their sex lives.
The former host is also alleged to have suggested to them that they become lovers.
An attorney for Rose declined to comment.
The three women released a statement that was signed on Sunday which read: “This case is about workplace interactions.”
“Through the process of years of litigation, the parties have come to better understand each others’ points of view,” the statement read.
“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.”
The three women said in the statement that they “do not assign any bad motive or ill intent to Charlie Rose.”
The parties came to an agreement on Sunday to settle the case “with prejudice and without costs to any party,” according to USA Today.
Terms of the settlement were not made public.
The Post has sought comment from Harris, McNeal and Wei.
In late 2017, Rose was fired by CBS and PBS dropped his long-running interview talk show after the Washington Post published a story in which eight women alleged that he sexually harassed them in incidents spanning over two decades.
In May 2018, the Washington Post ran a follow-up piece that included accusations of sexual harassment against Rose by 27 additional women.
The second Washington Post article prompted Wei, Harris and McNeal to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Rose and CBS News.
The two former staffers accused Rose of “blatant and repeated sexual harassment harassment” that was committed against “three junior female employees in their 20s.”
Court documents obtained by The Post included statements provided by Wei to a human resources officer at CBS News in November 2017 in which the former staffer said that “I experience nothing sexually inappropriate” from Rose.
Wei alleged in the meeting with HR that she did “experience verbal abuse” from Rose, who is alleged to have reprimanded her by saying: “Why can’t you just get this right.”
The court documents also included a copy of an email that Harris wrote to Rose on Jan. 3, 2018 — weeks after his termination from CBS News.
The email, whose subject line reads “checking in,” began with Harris writing: “Hi Charlie,…”
“I’m sure the past weeks have been very painful,” Harris wrote. “It seems that you acknowledge having made some unfortunate misjudgments in the past.”
“Notwithstanding, your interactions with me were always professional and respectful and that’s the only experience I have with you.”
“I don’t know if you have had time to sort our your path forward,” Harris continued.
CBS News settled with the three women in December 2018.