Gayle King Nearly Canceled Her ‘Late Show’ Appearance After Charlie Rose Scandal

Gayle King was almost a no show to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert following the suspension of Charlie Rose from CBS This Morning.

“I came this close to canceling,” she said to Stephen. “We booked this weeks ago because I was here to talk about Oprah’s favorite things, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.”

She continued: “To be honest with you, it isn’t easy. It’s still very painful, it’s still very hurtful. Charlie and I — we worked together, have been friends. But when you think about the anguish of those women, despite the friendship, you still have to report the news.”

“It’s interesting, when you were doing the monologue about other people, I’m like, ‘Ah!’” she continued. “And then it was Charlie, and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s a friend, I don’t like that, that’s difficult,’ and then I thought about what these women are going through and I don’t like that either.”