Charlie Rose in October 2017 in New York.(Photo: Andy Kropa / Invision / AP)

NEW YORK – Charlie Rose says three women working with him are trying to exploit the #MeToo movement to take "routine workplace jokes and jokes" and turn them into sexual harassment.

Rose, 76, a well-known former CBS and PBS journalist, filed a petition Thursday to dismiss a civil suit filed by former employees. He joins the co-defendant CBS, who is also seeking to have the case validated by the New York state court.

Rose was fired by CBS and PBS last year for sexual misconduct after several women made public and anonymous protests late last year to accuse her of inappropriate sexual behavior at work and at his home.

Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing Wei, described as three young employees in their twenties, filed suit in May against Rose, his production company and CBS, accusing former co-host of "This Morning" and "60 Minutes" contributor of "blatant and repeated sexual harassment", including sexual comments and unwanted touching.

Wei said that Rose called her "China Doll" and that he had "insisted on kissing her" as well as two other women before going on vacation, said the female suit.

After Rose's dismissal, Wei stated that she was demoted and became ill because of CBS's "illegal behavior".

The women's suit landed a day after a Washington Post story chronicled sexual harassment charges against Rose by 27 women. These charges follow an article in November 2017 in which eight women said Rose sexually harassed them during incidents that occurred more than two decades ago.

Rose, in court documents, described the examples of women as meaningless in terms of creating harassment cases under the New York Civil Rights Act.

In her motion to dismiss, Rose submitted that Harris, McNeal and Wei did not make a "valid claim" to show that Rose discriminated on the basis of sex.

"Acknowledging tacitly the weakness of their factual allegations, the plaintiffs seek to reinforce their obscure and conclusive claims by exploiting the #MeToo movement and denouncing third-party claims of sexual harassment against Rose in articles published by the Washington Post." .

It may be that there are three more months before a hearing and more time before there is a decision.

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