Another sex + journalism story (Jian Ghomeshi vs. CBC)

[kath]

So, I know there are lots of other Canadians on the board, and there is a scandal breaking here now around a Canadian media celebrity, Jian Gohmeshi. He hosts Q, a very popular radio / TV show about music and culture.

On Oct 26, he was fired from the CBC. They are very tight-lipped on the subject; they've said "information came to our attention recently that in CBC's judgment precludes us from continuing our relationship with Jian." (via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian_Ghomeshi and http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-no-longer-with-cbc-1.2813670).

He says that he was fired because an ex-girlfriend and a journalist who doesn't like him essentially made allegations that some of the BDSM he engaged in with his ex was non-consensual, but he says that all their activity was consensual. His public statement about it is on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jianghomeshi. He's now filing a 50M dollar lawsuit against the CBC.

Here are some of the other articles about the situation:

• Toronto Star article that gives more info about some of the allegations from its interviews with women who say they have been hit / attacked physically against their will during or in the lead up to sexual encounters with Ghomeshi: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/26/cbc_fires_jian_ghomeshi_over_sex_allegations.html
  
• XOJane article that brought vitriol down on the author from supporters of the host (who was assumed to be Ghomeshi), called Keith in the article: http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/non-date
  
• Another Star article about why they didn't publish the story Ghomeshi mentions in his Facebook post (they didn't have proof): http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/10/26/why_the_star_chose_to_publish_jian_ghomeshi_allegations.html
  
• Huffington Post article about the response to Ghomeshi's firing: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/justin-beach/jian-ghomeshi-fired-cbc_b_6051938.html
  

Noe of the women the Star interviewed went to police - and cited the XOJane article and reaction to it. And, now it's unlikely that more details will be released because of the lawsuit.

There has been lots and lots of support for Ghomeshi online.

Another super interesting aspect of this is how CBC is covering it. Their coverage, from what I can tell, has been pretty non-committal. But it's super fascinating anyway! Note that this coverage wouldn't be CBC management's statement about what's going on - it's hosts of other shows saying Ghomeshi was fired and that neither Ghomeshi or CBC management accepted requests for interviews. And then interviewing PR experts.

I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on the situation? I don't want this to devolve into insanity, and there's not a lot of concrete information because of the legal situation, but it's pretty relevant to the forum so I would like to get people's perspectives.

(Personally ... there's no proof of the allegations, but if Ghomeshi is harassing people at work - which is one of the allegations in the article and the person making it said she brought it to her managers, who did nothing at the time - he should not be working there. I am very curious as to what info the CBC got that now they have fired him, if for some reason earlier it didn't warrant firing - did it finally make it up the chain of command to someone who said no? Is it the other allegations? Was there specific info that the CBC saw that they thought would hold up to scrutiny that they can't release because of privacy laws? I don't think they'd fire Jian Ghomeshi for no particular reason. He's probably their most famous staff member and his show is the most popular, flagship show that gets syndicated internationally. )

Also if you have other articles to share / opinions from different perspectives, please do! My list is certainly not an exhaustive representation of the coverage.

[fakely mctest]

Here's one about the lawsuit he's filing against the CBC: Jian Ghomeshi’s CBC lawsuit is hopeless — even if he’s telling the truth

And one about how class impacts the discussion about predators: The class war over sexual abuse accusations

This is a really good response concerning why Ghomeshi's argument that the CBC is essentially kink-shaming him is a smokescreen from a blogger who's a member of the kink community: poor persecuted pervert?

I find it really telling that he came out with his weird, TMI-y FB statement on a Sunday to get ahead of the story (with the help of a PR firm notorious as the place you go when you're in super deep shit) and in his version it's the one vindictive ex, whereas in the Star article it's four women who they talked to. What's more likely there: a cabal of vindictive women or the fact that this dude is a predator.

Best description of Navigator PR: "Navigator PR: For when you did something truly awful. Seriously, they're the dudes got Michael Bryant off after video footage of him dragging a cyclist to death came out. They're unpleasant people for unpleasant people, and hiring them is an admission that something is so terribly wrong that being associated with them is less bad."

[eselle28]

This involves a number of complicated issues, and I'm not remotely qualified to touch on the media ones. I will say that everywhere I've seen this article reported, there have been comments from people to the effect of, "Oh, yeah, that guy. Everyone in Toronto in entertainment and/or kinky circles knows he's creepy/scary/abusive." Which...well, I don't know about entertainment circles, but there's been a problem in kinky ones over the years of everyone quietly knowing that a certain person isn't safe to be around but not being able to fix the missing stair and exclude the person.

[fakely mctest]

I will say that everywhere I've seen this article reported, there have been comments from people to the effect of, "Oh, yeah, that guy. Everyone in Toronto in entertainment and/or kinky circles knows he's creepy/scary/abusive."

That's what I've heard as well. The whispernet is useful to a point, but if you missed that particular hair-braiding day or whatever or have otherwise missed the scuttlebutt then you can end up SOL. That's part of the reason predators target newcomers.

[kath]

Thanks for those links! I hadn't particularly heard about Ghomeshi as creepy / abusive before - but I don't follow him (I find listening to him talk super irritating. I normally listen to CBC, but not when Q is on. Love Moxy Fruvous though) so I wouldn't have*. I also didn't know Navigator's reputation either. Lovely.

Another interesting perspective:
https://www.facebook.com/owenpalletteternal/posts/1491910081073780

*And I'm not in Toronto's entertainment or kink circles ...

[OtherRoooToo]

Here's one about the lawsuit he's filing against the CBC: Jian Ghomeshi’s CBC lawsuit is hopeless — even if he’s telling the truth

And one about how class impacts the discussion about predators: The class war over sexual abuse accusations

This is a really good response concerning why Ghomeshi's argument that the CBC is essentially kink-shaming him is a smokescreen from a blogger who's a member of the kink community: poor persecuted pervert?

I find it really telling that he came out with his weird, TMI-y FB statement on a Sunday to get ahead of the story (with the help of a PR firm notorious as the place you go when you're in super deep shit) and in his version it's the one vindictive ex, whereas in the Star article it's four women who they talked to.  What's more likely there: a cabal of vindictive women or the fact that this dude is a predator.

Best description of Navigator PR: "Navigator PR: For when you did something truly awful. Seriously, they're the dudes got Michael Bryant off after video footage of him dragging a cyclist to death came out. They're unpleasant people for unpleasant people, and hiring them is an admission that something is so terribly wrong that being associated with them is less bad."

And the whole mess is so messy that even Navigator has now fired him, I understand.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/10/30/jian_ghomeshi_dumped_by_pr_firm_over_lies_sources_say.html

[kath]

Yep.

Now the police are also investigating. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto-police-investigating-jian-ghomeshi-allegations-1.2820337