Charlie Rose spotted dining in New York with Sean Penn
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sean Penn and Charlie Rose were spotted dinning out in New York City on on Wednesday night. (Reuters)
Sean Penn has lent his support to disgraced broadcaster Charlie Rose in print — and now he’s supporting Rose in person as well.
After the actor wrote a poem defending Rose against allegations of sexual misconduct, guests at one of New York’s hottest new restaurants were gobsmacked on Wednesday night when Penn and the ousted CBS host dined together — taking over a center table and engaging in a lengthy conversation.
A spy said that Rose and Penn met at Frenchette in Tribeca, where “they came in and took over the largest center banquette.” A witness added of the pair, “They were having a really animated conversation” and, “They stayed late, past 10:30.” Rose and Penn have been pals for years, we hear. Guests wished they could have listened in to the table talk.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rose was axed by “CBS This Morning” and his PBS show over sexual harassment accusations by eight women — which he’s denied. Penn poetically defended the anchor in his controversial new book, the eccentrically titled “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff.”
In an epilogue, a poem by Penn reads: “Once crucial conversations/Kept us on our toes;/Was it really in our interest/To trample Charlie Rose?” And, “What’s with this ‘Me Too’?/This infantilizing term of the day/Is this a toddler’s crusade?/Reducing rape, slut-shaming, and suffrage to reckless child’s play?”
The poem sparked debate on social media, including one woman’s quip, “Here’s a poem for Sean Penn: Shut/the/f - - -/up.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It’s not the first time Rose and Penn have gotten together and turned heads in town. Page Six reported that the pair dined at the Spotted Pig — which has been implicated in a #MeToo scandal of its own — in 2016 before they met Bradley Cooper. Former man-about-town Rose is still seen out regularly, sometimes with awkward results: Page Six reported in March that he stumbled into the screening of an animated #MeToo-themed film at an Upper East Side eatery. Reps and Frenchette didn’t comment.
This story originally appeared in the New York Post.