Coworkers of disgraced journalist Charlie Rose, including Gayle King, called him “Charlie F—in’ Rose” he admitted during a November deposition in the case brought by former employees accusing him of sexual harassment.
“Did you have the nickname in the studio, Charlie f—‘n Rose?” asked Kenneth Goldberg, a lawyer for plaintiffs Sydney McNeal, Katherine Harris and Chelsea Wei, during the Nov. 14 deposition, according to a transcript.
“I’ve heard that, yes,” Rose said.
He also admitted that “CBS This Morning” star Gayle King — with whom he co-hosted the show before his ouster — called him the epithet too.
“How about Norah O’Donnell, did she use that term with you?” Goldberg asked Rose of the “CBS Evening News” anchor.
“I could imagine she did, but I don’t remember specifically,” Rose responded according to the transcript.
The new court papers, filed late Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, also reveal that Rose — following his lawyer’s advice — dodged dozens of questions put to him by Golberg during the deposition.
Goldberg has now asked a judge to force Rose to answer the queries and allow him to take the news man’s testimony again.
“Mr. Rose, did you ever have a romantic relationship with any woman that worked for you at the Bloomberg building,” Goldberg asked, according to the deposition transcript.
Rose’s lawyer, Jonathan Bach, objected to the question — stopping his client from answering because the inquiry, Bach said, “is plainly improper and simply seeks to prejudice and humiliate Mr. Rose.”
But Rose did admit that he had romantic relationships with his female employees, according to the transcript.
“With whom did you have a romantic relationship?” Goldberg asked prompting Bach to object again and stop Rose from answering.
Bach also stopped Rose from answering questions about whether he thought the news reports of his conduct were true and if any allegations against him were true.
Bach wouldn’t even allow Rose to say if he knew three women whose allegations against him were from the 1970s, according to the transcript. Bach also stopped Rose from identifying the position that one woman held at the show — and from answering whether he thought another female employee was attractive.
Goldberg argued in the new court papers that these questions and many others go to Rose’s credibility and motive and are necessary “because Rose has publicly alleged, as a defense, his treatment of women in the workplace during his entire 45-year career in journalism, and that his conduct toward Plaintiffs was not based upon gender and was just a ‘joke’,” the court papers say.
In the deposition, Rose reflected on the changes that have come in the wake of the #MeToo movement referring to a tweet he made when the allegations against him first surfaced in which he admitted to “inappropriate behavior.”
Rose explained what he meant by the tweet at the time: “We have now come to understand and appreciate and had by then that romantic relationships or intimacies were not appropriate in the workplace because, you know, because there was power and balance, and you were in some cases the boss and you had a relationship that was defined within the workplace,” the transcript read.
In the deposition Rose also admitted to regularly hugging and kissing the cheeks of female employees when saying hello and goodbye. He claimed to have done this with male employees as well, but when Goldberg pressed him to name some men he’d done this with he said “I would have to go through a list of employees and think about it,” according to the transcript.
“Are there any male employees that you whispered in their ear happy birthday?” Goldberg asked to which Rose responded, “No.”
Rose once whispered “Happy birthday, dear” in her ear “in a sexual manner,” Wei claimed in the lawsuit.
In 2018, McNeal, Harris and Wei — who all worked for Rose as assistants and associates from 2016 through 2017 — filed suit against the 78-year-old broadcaster claiming he touched them, flirted with them and also berated them at times.
Rose was fired by CBS News and PBS — where he hosted the “Charlie Rose” show — in November 2017 after eight woman came forward with sexual harassment allegations.
In September, Rose’s former makeup artist, Gina Riggi sued him claiming he abused her for years mocking her weight, once twisting her arm and swatting her away when she tried to get him ready to go on air.
Bach declined to comment.
Reps at CBS News did not immediately return requests seeking comment from King and O’Donnell.