harmless-seeming Charlie Rose joins the list of harassers

Apparently, the behind-the scenes version of diffident, innocuous-seeming TV personality Charlie Rose—he of the softball interviews—is a far cry from the on-camera version. The American public knows Rose as a calm, gentle, soothing voice, a man content with asking superficially probing questions that put no pressure on the interviewee. As it turns out, though, the Rose we don't see has been, for decades, a horny pervert with itchy fingers who is also cursed with a fiery temper. Eight women have come out against Rose, and they're telling similar stories about him: the unsolicited massages, the groping, the so-called "shower trick" in which Rose urgently beckons a woman to come into the bathroom while he's showering. This feels like a lesser version of Bill Cosby's predicament: in Cosby's case, dozens of women came out of the woodwork to tell curiously similar stories, thus reinforcing the idea that Cosby has indeed been guilty, over decades, of drugging women, raping or otherwise having his way with them, then dismissing them from his premises. Rose's eight women are only the beginning, I imagine: the above-linked article suggests that Rose's misbehavior has gone on for years and years, so there are likely to be more accusers. Many more.

I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but I had always thought of Charlie Rose as incapable of hurting a flea. I now realize that, as with many public personalities, this is merely a cultivated image. Outing Rose feels a bit like outing Fred Rogers, but as far as I know, Rogers was a decent human being despite the urban legend about him being a ruthless sniper.