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“Sexual harassment” witch-hunt claims Jeffrey Tambor, Charlie Rose as latest victims

The widening witch-hunt being carried out in the name of combating male sexual harassment is claiming new victims on a daily basis. Over the weekend, the latest prominent Hollywood figure to fall prey to the media hysteria was the talented, Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Jeffrey Tambor.

Tambor, a veteran television, film and stage performer, who has won two Emmys for his portrayal of the transgender Maura Pfefferman in the Amazon series Transparent, announced over the weekend that he would likely not return for the show’s fifth season following accusations from a former assistant and a costar of the series that he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior.

In making her accusation, costar Trace Lysette recommended that Amazon and the executive producer Jill Soloway “remove the problem and let the show go on.”

Tambor strongly denied the allegations, but, in the midst of rumors that he was already being written out of the next season, said that the set had become too “politicized” for him to continue on the show.

On Monday, the net widened. The New York Times, which early last month launched the current campaign over alleged sexual harassment with allegations against Weinstein, and has ever since been competing with the Washington Post to fuel the campaign, claimed one of its own. The Times announced it was suspending one of its most prominent Washington reporters, Glenn Thrush, following a report on the Vox website citing allegations against him by a number of female journalists and coworkers, dating from his time at Politico, prior to his moving to the Times in January.

Also on Monday, CNN published a new accusation against Democratic Senator Franken, who has already been roundly denounced by Democratic as well as Republican politicians and has agreed to submit to a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. CNN recounted the claim of a woman, then in her mid-twenties, that Franken inappropriately fondled her when the two were posing for a photo at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, when Franken was already in the Senate. The previous accusations dated from Franken’s days as a comedian.

Later on Monday, the Washington Post published an account of unwanted sexual advances allegedly made by Charlie Rose, the longtime television journalist, host of the “Charlie Rose” show on the Public Broadcasting Service and cohost of CBS News’ “This Morning” program.

Rose, 75 years old, immediately issued an apologetic statement, while denying that “all of these allegations are accurate.” Within minutes of the appearance of the Post article, PBS halted his show and CBS suspended him.

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