It was inevitable. Just six months after the first articles about Harvey Weinstein’s abusive behaviour were published and the world split open with women’s stories about sexual harassment and assault, it is apparently time for us to start contemplating how male perpetrators can be redeemed. According to former Vanity Fair editor and legendary journalist Tina Brown, a TV show is in the works in which disgraced US news anchor Charlie Rose will interview other men whose careers were felled by #MeToo scandals.

Brown confirmed on 25 April that she was approached to produce the ‘atonement series’, telling Page Six that she declined to take part. Earlier this week, she was quoted as saying that the men slated to appear in the show included comedian Louis CK and broadcaster Matt Lauer, as well as other men accused of sexual misconduct.

Interestingly, Rose, CK and Lauer have all admitted to sexual harassment, issuing slippery statements in which they expressed heavily caveated remorse. When five women alleged that CK had masturbated – or tried to – in front of them, he confirmed that their stories were true, but added: “At the time, I said to myself that what I did was OK because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first”.

Lauer has disputed some of the allegations of harassment that led to him being fired from NBC’s Today show, while acknowledging “there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed”. No fewer than eight women accused Rose of trying to expose himself in their presence, groping them and/or making lewd phone calls; he’s said that while he now understands he “behaved inappropriately”, he “always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings”.

“A TV show about the #MeToo men? Spare me the redemption narrative”