Its OK to forgive him.
And its ok to say, “That’s not the man I knew.”
Both of those things are fine. But as an employer, you cannot keep the person on the books. They have to go. Your liability and exposure (no pun intended) is simply too great.
Well, it depends how much money the employee pulls in for the network -- and also, is the serious allegation something that is generally believed. The articles state that it was common knowledge that he'd had consensual relationships over the years, but that this alleged one was non-consensual. It's a good bet that if the consensual ones are common knowledge, there won't be much doubt that he crossed that line, and that it would be common knowledge as well, even if NBC tried to keep on the lid.