Late-night hosts on Tuesday addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against both Charlie Rose, who has since been fired from CBS, and Roy Moore, who Donald Trump, after weeks of avoiding the topic, defended in comments to reporters.
“Every day there is another shocking revelation of sexual misconduct,” Stephen Colbert began. “If allegations of harassment were weather, this is hurricane season right now. And some towering figures have been blown over recently.”
“Yesterday, it was Charlie Rose,” he explained. “Eight women have accused Charlie Rose of sexually harassing them with nudity, groping and lewd calls. His show was dropped by PBS and CBS fired him. The allegations are disturbing and strange.”
“On the milder side of the spectrum, Rose frequently gave unsolicited shoulder rubs to several young female associates, behavior referred to among employees as ‘the crusty paw’,” Colbert continued. “You may make three wishes upon the accursed paw, all of which are to not get a back rub for Charlie Rose.”
The host then moved on to the latest allegations against political figures such as Al Franken and John Conyers: “If all the sexual assault allegations coming out of the entertainment or the news industry have got you down, you can always take a break and distract yourself with the sexual assault allegations coming out of Washington.”
Colbert explained that Conyers, in 2015, reportedly reached a settlement with a woman who would “not succumb to his sexual advances”.
Colbert quipped: “Quick tip, fellas. If your sexual advances require that a woman succumb, don’t do it.”
Seth Meyers discussed Trump’s defense of Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate accused of pursuing and harassing at least nine women while they were teenagers.
“For almost two weeks, Trump has faced repeated questions about his position on Roy Moore, and for two weeks Trump has done everything he could to avoid answering them,” Seth Meyers said. “Since the news about Moore first broke, we’ve been waiting to find out if Trump could summon at least a shred of decency and disavow a man accused of preying on teenage girls.
“Today, we do found that the old saying is true,” the host said. “Sexual predators of a feather flock together.”
“In fairness to Trump, who are you going to believe?,” Meyers asked. “Nine women who don’t know each other and whose stories have been corroborated by dozens of independent sources, or a guy who looks like the Marlboro Man’s deadbeat dad?”
Meyers showed video of Trump defending Moore, telling reporters “he totally denies it” and that “we don’t need a liberal Democrat” in the Senate seat.
“One of the most revealing parts came when Trump denounced Moore’s Democratic rival Doug Jones, a lifelong prosecutor who convicted the KKK members responsible for the Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls, as soft on crime,” Meyers explained. “Soft on crime? You’re siding with an accused child molester over a guy who prosecuted the KKK.”
“Trump, of course, is not alone in backing Moore,” Meyers continued. “White House counsel Kellyanne Conway urged Alabamans to vote for Moore to help pass GOP tax cuts. And an adviser to a pro-Trump Super Pac, Katie Walsh, a former White House official, made a similar argument.”
In audio of her defense of Moore, Walsh notes that Moore should step aside from the ticket, but that Republicans also need his vote to pass tax reform.
“So their position is literally Roy Moore should step aside, but if he doesn’t, you should vote for him,” Meyers said. “That’s going to make the pro-Moore TV ads very awkward.”