[Nemausus]

This is going to be huge news in Canada in the coming days.

Background for fellow RVFers who are outside Canada. Jian Ghomeshi is one of Canada's biggest media stars. His radio show, 'Q', is featured weekday mornings on Canada's Public Broadcaster (NPR-style), CBC. I'm pretty certain that it's the most listened to radio show in Canada. On Friday, people were shocked to learn that he was taking an unexpected, indefinite leave of his show. Then tonight, it was revealed that CBC had fired him and that he was counter-suing for $50 million dollars.

Twitter was filled with rumours and there were reports that he had hired to top-level PR firm. A little while ago, he dropped a bombshell post on his Facebook page.

Quote:

I’ve been fired from the CBC because of the risk of my private sex life being made public as a result of a campaign of false allegations pursued by a jilted ex girlfriend and a freelance writer.

Quote:

Forgive me if what follows may be shocking to some.

I have always been interested in a variety of activities in the bedroom but I only participate in sexual practices that are mutually agreed upon, consensual, and exciting for both partners.

About two years ago I started seeing a woman in her late 20s. Our relationship was affectionate, casual and passionate. We saw each other on and off over the period of a year and began engaging in adventurous forms of sex that included role-play, dominance and submission. We discussed our interests at length before engaging in rough sex (forms of BDSM). We talked about using safe words and regularly checked in with each other about our comfort levels. She encouraged our role-play and often was the initiator. We joked about our relations being like a mild form of Fifty Shades of Grey or a story from Lynn Coady's Giller-Prize winning book last year. I don’t wish to get into any more detail because it is truly not anyone's business what two consenting adults do. I have never discussed my private life before. Sexual preferences are a human right.

Despite a strong connection between us it became clear to me that our on-and-off dating was unlikely to grow into a larger relationship and I ended things in the beginning of this year. She was upset by this and sent me messages indicating her disappointment that I would not commit to more, and her anger that I was seeing others.

After this, in the early spring there began a campaign of harassment, vengeance and demonization against me that would lead to months of anxiety.

It came to light that a woman had begun anonymously reaching out to people that I had dated (via Facebook) to tell them she had been a victim of abusive relations with me. In other words, someone was reframing what had been an ongoing consensual relationship as something nefarious. I learned – through one of my friends who got in contact with this person – that someone had rifled through my phone on one occasion and taken down the names of any woman I had seemed to have been dating in recent years. This person had begun methodically contacting them to try to build a story against me. Increasingly, female friends and ex-girlfriends of mine told me about these attempts to smear me.

The writer tried to peddle the story and, at one point, a major Canadian media publication did due diligence but never printed a story. One assumes they recognized these attempts to recast my sexual behaviour were fabrications. Still, the spectre of mud being flung onto the Internet where online outrage can demonize someone before facts can refute false allegations has been what I've had to live with.

It will be very interesting to see how the media handles one of their own in this story.

I'm also interested to see how Jian himself changes (if at all) going forward. His show 'Q' was mostly centred around the arts and what he stuck to that, it was good. But he often waded into cultural discussions as well. He recently talked Gamergate, completely glossing over its origins, allowing feminists a platform to talk about how bad they have it. As host and the driving force behind the show, Jian often used his influence to white-knight and side with feminists

He's pretty effeminate, to say the least. Many people assumed he was gay, because of the way he carries himself. I was never sure what to think.



Quick Edit: Currently, this is the top story on both of Canada's National Newspapers websites.