Jian Ghomeshi says he will face sex assault allegations 'directly'

It appears the strategy was to get out in front of the story. The thinking being that if Jian Ghomeshi went public early, he could control the narrative.

That’s what public relations and crisis management experts have said about the once-popular CBC radio hosts’ October 26 Facebook post – which warned his adoring fan base that they’d hear some pretty intense things about his personal life in the coming days and that they shouldn’t believe the worst of them.

“Let me be the first to say that my tastes in the bedroom may not be palatable to some folks,” Ghomeshi wrote in the post in regards to what he described was the rough sex he enjoyed having with women.

“They may be strange, enticing, weird, normal, or outright offensive to others. We all have our secret life. But that is my private life. That is my personal life. And no one, and certainly no employer, should have dominion over what people do consensually in their private life.

The statement was released after he had been fired from CBC and removed as the host of the culture radio show “Q,” but before four women told the Toronto Star he had been sexually and physically abusive with them, and not in a consensual way.

That number is now up to eight, after four more women came forward with their own accounts, including actress Lucy DeCoutere.

Ghomeshi’s early apparent attempt to set the narrative for one of the largest scandals in Canadian media history has all but faded now.

As more alleged victims step forward, some braving the dangers that come with allowing their names to be published, and more details about those encounters come to light, his previous stance of claimed innocence will not hold much longer.

It appears that whatever Ghomeshi does from here, however, will be done in silence.

Ghomeshi released a brief statement on Thursday to that effect:

Ghomeshi faces some serious allegations that go far beyond his previous claim that he engaged in BDSM and rough consensual sex, which was now being reframed by a jilted lover set on embarrassing him.

The latest Toronto Star expose details the stories of eight women, all but one too afraid of repercussions to have their names published, detailing similar stories of uninvited sexual aggression, harassment, choking, hair pulling and closed-hand punching.

Most were fans or CBC employees, some complained of Ghomeshi inappropriately mixing his industry influence with his sexual advances. All reported being attacked in a way to which they did not consent.

The graphic details are available here.

One of the women also agreed to speak with CBC’s As it Happens. The audio of the interview is available here.

What followed has been an outpouring of other stories, including a first-person account from a woman in the media being warned to be cautious around Ghomeshi and online sleuths pointing to previous hints of concern, including a now-inactive Twitter account, named after a teddy bear Ghomeshi allegedly brought into his affairs, that details accusations as early as April.

Not that April is any great length of time in the chronology now being pieced together. The Star’s account suggests allegations date back to 2002. All of this, these allegations and accounts, comprise what Ghomeshi vowed on Thursday to meet “directly.”

More likely than not, that vow refers to the $55 million wrongful termination lawsuit he has launched against the CBC, though there is some doubt that his claim has any merit at all.

Howard Levitt, a senior partner with Levitt & Grosman LLP, wrote in the Financial Post this week that while the civil case will be quickly dismissed, it could be a “PR masterstroke.”

"Unlike with his more moderate Facebook posting, Ghomeshi cannot be sued for whatever he decides to state in his claim, however libellous it is," Levitt writes. "Indeed, the claim (which is currently getting thousands of readers online) pretty viciously disparages the CBC’s management."

But there are other reasons to launch a lawsuit. The $55 million threat could be enough to keep anonymous accusers from going public – though it clearly didn’t have that effect on DeCoutere.

Levitt ends his column by suggesting the strategy is intended to protect Ghomeshi’s “reputation and re-employability” rather than re-instatement at CBC.

One way or another, that door is closed. A massive billboard of Ghomeshi hanging from the exterior of CBC headquarters in downtown Toronto has been removed, an interim host on the program “Q” has promised listeners that they would move on without the former host and co-creator, and NPR/PRI (which syndicates the program in the U.S.) has said they will work with CBC in whatever way they move forward with the show.

As for his standing in the Canadian arts scene, Ghomeshi has already been removed as the host of the Giller Prizes on Nov. 10, and replaced by Rick Mercer. Meantime, a cadre of Canadian musicians have rallied together to condemn Ghomeshi. The group, including members of F*cked Up and The Constantines, as well as Owen Pallett and dozens of others, has posted a petition online offering a “counterbalance of public support” against Ghomeshi’s public platform.

The letter reads:

Ghomeshi’s future is far from certain; the skeletons that appear to have built up over the past decade may still be spilling out of the closet.

He says he will face those allegations directly. That may be because there is nowhere else to go.