CBC ‘clearly mishandled’ 2010 Ghomeshi complaint, exec says
Head of English programming breaks silence over scandal
The head of English programming for the CBC spoke publicly about the Jian Ghomeshi sex scandal for the first time Friday, laying out the broadcaster’s side of the story in a carefully planned pair of interviews with her own staff. Heather Conway outlined the CBC’s handling of the affair, telling chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge and As It Happenshost Carol Off about when allegations against Ghomeshicame to light, how the corporation responded and why it didn’t notify police after managers saw evidence of the ousted radio star “inflicting an injury on another human being.” Conway also said she hasn’t personally seen the text messages, images and videos that Ghomeshi brought to CBC management on Oct. 23 to bolster his claim that any “rough sex” he engaged in was consensual, and which led to Ghomeshi being fired. Conway did not hold a press conference or take questions from reporters. The Star has asked to interview the CBC at least 12 times since the scandal broke Oct. 26. Until now, the broadcaster has been largely silent on the scandal that has engulfed Ghomeshi, a radio celebrity who hosted the internationally syndicated arts and culture program Q from 2007 until he was fired Oct. 26. Most details from management regarding the situation have been from leaked internal memos to staff. In her CBC interviews Friday, Conway addressed a number of questions over how the CBC has handled the scandal. Conway told Off the CBC first became aware of allegations against Ghomeshi in April, when he approached the company’s head of radio and head of public affairs to tell them the Star was looking into accusations of non-consensual violence and abuse. Conway said Ghomeshi characterized the situation as a “former girlfriend, a relationship that had ended badly, and that it might contain embarrassing information about his sex life because he engaged in rough sex. “It was very much cast (by Ghomeshi) as a private-life, sex-life story.” In the statement of claim for Ghomeshi’s $55-million lawsuit against the broadcaster, he alleges the CBC was preparing to help him deal with the story, even preparing press releases on his behalf. Conway described this to Off as “Mr. Ghomeshi’s characterization of events.” The company launched a human resources investigation into Ghomeshi’s behaviour in June, Conway went on to tell Off, after a freelance reporter working with the Star suggested to the CBC that the allegations against the radio host were also coming from the broadcaster’s workplace. The head of CBC human resources and the overseer of radio programming interviewed staff on Ghomeshi’s show and “did a deep dive” into his HR file, Conway said. The investigation turned up nothing, she said. “I don’t have any complaints. I don’t have any record of sexual harassment or sexual violence,” Conway told Mansbridge. It wasn’t until Ghomeshi produced “graphic evidence” in October that the CBC realized this wasn’t a matter of an employee’s private sex life, Conway said. Without specifying, she said the evidence showed a woman being injured. “At that point it moved out of the realm of sex entirely and into an issue of violence against women,” she told Mansbridge. But the CBC did not contact the po- lice. When Off asked why, Conway said: “I think it’s important to make the distinction that . . . this is evidence from a year-long relationship that involved the rough sex that’s referred to.”
Conway said Ghomeshi and his lawyers showed the material as proof of consent, and that although the CBC didn’t report the perceived violence to police, it was enough to warrant firing him. “My expectations of the behaviour of the people at the CBC and people who represent it is much higher than the low bar of legal consent.”
Conway also addressed a former Q employee’s allegations, published in the Star, detailing how Ghomeshi groped her and said he wanted to “hate f---” her. The woman said she reported the incidents to her union representative in 2010, and met with a producer of the show, but that nothing came of her complaint.
On Friday, Conway said the CBC had “clearly mishandled” that complaint, of which there is no record. Conway said she hopes a third-party investigatorcan “get to the bottom of it and that she’ll come back with a recommendation of how we should deal with the repercussions of that complaint.”
Off also asked Conway about a workplace-culture document produced by Q staff two years ago, detailing a “toxic” environment at the show under Ghomeshi’s controlling leadership. Conway said she saw it for the first time on Thursday.
“We had a place in this otherwise decent environment that was clearly dysfunctional. I have no reason to say it wasn’t toxic,” she said. “You know, you have to intervene, you have to stop it, and clearly some efforts were made to do that, but obviously we have to do better.” With files from Jacques Gallant and Jackie Hong
“Well, hi there.”
Canadians haven’t heard from disgraced CBC radio star Jian Ghomeshi since he posted a brief message on his Facebook page last week saying he would meet allegations against him “directly,” but there was a time when they would hear his voice daily, opening his hit show Q with the same three words each morning.
Ghomeshi was, in fact, quite chatty and forthcoming prior to his firing from the CBC on Oct. 26 — not just on Q, which he hosted since 2007, but also in media interviews, speeches and his bestselling memoir, 1982.
Passages and excerpts from these materials provide insight into Ghomeshi’s approach to a number of subjects that have been widely discussed since he was fired.
Below, Jian Ghomeshi in his own words. Sex, erotica, sexual assault
“Let me be the first to say that my tastes in the bedroom may not be palatable to some folks. They may be strange, enticing, weird, normal, or outright offensive to others. We all have our secret life.” — Facebook, Oct. 26, 2014
“Although empowered, consensual, adventurous sex is fine.” — In conversation on Q with author and journalist Caitlin Moran, Sept. 23, 2014
“The term most often used to describe that complex of attitudes and behaviour is rape culture. The term has become common in feminist discourse and popular media, but not everyone agrees it is helpful or accurate. The notion of rape culture has been criticized in the pages of national newspapers and even by some advocates for victims of sexual assault. So we’ve decided to convene a Q debate. Do we really live in a socalled rape culture? Is that term accurate or is it alarmist?” — Q, March 2014
“Without porn, how were we supposed to learn how sex was done? Of course, pornography was often sexist, exploitative, patriarchal, and full of the wrong messages about human relationships and intimacy. But even so, it could have served as a handy tool for seeing how this foreplay and intercourse thing happened.” — Ghomeshi’s memoir 1982
“I started reading it a couple of days ago, and finished it the same night. I called it a page turner. You’re in the story immediately.” — In conversation on Q with Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James, May 9, 2012
“Kim Inglewood and I had stripped naked at her house (in Grade 8), and I had pursued a forensic fascination with her chest. I stared at her breasts with a mixture of excitement and curiosity and then tried to caress them in a seductive way that would turn her on. I had no idea what I was doing. I remember looking up to see a befuddled expression on Kim Inglewood’s face as she stared at me staring at her naked breasts. I had done my best with my caresses. I’m not sure she really enjoyed it.” — 1982
“Bestselling author Anne Rice joins me for a feature interview today about the reissuing of her Beauty-trilogy of erotic fiction. These books make the 50 Shades series look like Heidi.” — Facebook, July 24, 2012
“Now you can watch extreme hardcore porn even when you don’t mean to.” — 1982 Women and the dating scene
“Women still represent a staggering 70 per cent of the world’s poor, still earn only 10 per cent of the world’s income, and own only 1 per cent of world’s property. Let’s continue to change this planet, please.” — Facebook, March 8, 2014
“The only reason I have that reputation (as a ladies’ man) is because I have often been single over the years, so I don’t show up with the same person at every event for 20 years straight.” — The Grid, Sept. 19, 2012
“I’m a very passionate person. So I do look for sparks.” — More Magazine, summer 2010
“(I like) somebody who laughs at all my jokes. Somebody who challenges me intellectually and is quick and witty. Somebody that I think is really, really attractive. I’m a little quirky.” — Hello! Canada, Feb. 4, 2010
“What does it mean (to be a ladies’ man)? I think it probably means that I’m tragically single and have been for the past three to four years, so it’s easier to define me. That, and the fact that I love flirting.” — Marlo Magazine, October 2003
“I go to a lot of events and get photographed with a lot of women. People will see that and draw conclusions, but that doesn’t mean I’m dating these people.” — Toronto Life, February 2014
“(I feel) different around them (Iranian women); I don’t know the protocol and am deathly afraid that I’ll make a mistake.” — Toronto Star, Sept. 13, 1998
“The reason people like what we (band Moxy Früvous) do is that there are so few young people doing political satire. When we played Voice of Women we were symbols of young progressive males. That gives them hope for the future.” — The Varsity, University of Toronto, Oct. 5, 1992, as told to Naomi Klein
“I want kids, but I am so afraid that I will be too old to take them to things and be involved. I am still looking for the right person.” — Toronto Star, Nov. 2, 2014, as told to Kevin Donovan at a dinner last September. What to look for in a woman
“1. Good communication. When a woman is gregarious and talking with other men, celebrating her attractiveness to others, but still sending subtle signals that she’s with me . . . that’s sexy.
“2. Taking initiative. Saying, ‘Oh whatever,’ when we’re planning what to do, where to go or what to eat is not attractive.
“3. Doesn’t get too dressed up, unless the event is explicitly formal. But I always prefer someone who cares about her appearance and looks great but hasn’t spent three hours pulling it together.
“4. Never get too drunk. And yet consuming is good. I like someone who eats and drinks and doesn’t just order a salad.
“5. Oh, at the top of the list should actually be, to be honest and real. It’s a cliché, but it’s true and it’s a turnon.” — As told to Marlo Magazine, October 2003 Love, or lack thereof
“Happy Valentine’s Day, dear beautiful humans. I’m sending you all chocolate covered pistachios! Well . . . I mean . . . only metaphorically . . . because if I really sent you choco covered pistachios you might not see the shells under the chocolate covering and then you would bite into them and then you would hurt your teeth and then it would cause a scene and then . . . well, anyway. S--t. Modern love is not easy. But Happy V’s Day! x.” — Facebook, Feb. 14, 2012
“I am grateful to have had this beautiful man (my father) in my life into my 40s. In the end, I suppose he has taught me what love really is. Because I love him so much that I will never let him go.” — Facebook, Oct. 5, 2014 Big Ears Teddy
“Big Ears has played a really important role in my life, because I have a general anxiety disorder.” — July 5, 2014 at the Stratford Festival, quoted in the Stratford Beacon Herald
“To my fluffy, dutiful travelling companion, Big Ears.” — 1982, acknowledgments Fans
“All my fans make me sick/All my fans are very thick/I like to beat them with a f---g big stick.” — Improvisational song from 1996 when still a member of the band Moxy Früvous
“(Fans) are so below us . . . They’re really ignorant . . . You know when you sort of, uh, you know when you sort of walk . . . you know when you accidentally stepped on a bug, like you didn’t actually mean to kill it, but you don’t feel bad? I feel kind of that way sometimes when I snub some fans. I’m saying this with a smile, but I am serious.” — Impromptu interview ahead of Moxy Früvous show in Buffalo in1996 Rejection and a high school crush
“Wendy and I started slow dancing. I soon had my arms around her waist and was pulling her closer to me. I’d been silly to think Wendy might consider me too young and not good enough for her. This was all happening as it should. “I was ready to take the initiative. This was the guy that Wendy had been waiting to see. I had become the stronger version of me that she had desired. The new confidence I felt inspired physical action. I pulled Wendy closer to me and looked straight down into her eyes. The look on Wendy’s face was curious. It seemed to suggest some confusion or hesitance or excitement. I couldn’t tell which, but I sensed it was excitement. It must have been excitement. I pushed my lips into Wendy’s and gave her a long kiss. I could feel her kissing me back . . . “‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Wendy. I’ve been wanting this for a long time.’. . . The dance was officially over. Wendy shifted away from me slightly, but I kept my arm around her. She didn’t move it.” — 1982 According to the book, Wendy left Ghomeshi alone after the school dance, saying she was just going to grab her coat. She never returned.
“I just want to protect her privacy (by not revealing Wendy’s identity). I don’t want her to be bothered just because I decided to write a book that she is basically the star of.” — The Grid, Sept. 19, 2012 On York University, where he is alleged to have groped a male student and where a former female student said women in residence were told to watch for him
“(My experience was) really positive. For me, there’s an old adage, ‘Don’t let school get in the way of your education.’ I think I learned a lot about myself and the world by being very active in the political and cultural scene at York. There’s nowhere, and here I’ll sound like I’m about a hundred years old, where you can replicate the intellectual stimulation of a university campus. You never get that again. The truth of the matter is that there’s not one day that goes by where I don’t use what I learned at York, I swear.” — The Strand, University of Toronto, April 2007
“It was at York that I really became a critically thinking person, a critical mind. The most important part of being an active person in the media is asking questions and being critical, and I really learned that at York. The old adage ‘Don’t let school get in the way of your education’ is something that I actually believe . . . People need to feel that and exploit it while they’re there. Do in university what you’re passionate about.” — The Cord, Wilfrid Laurier University, October 2006
“I was passionate about everything at York. I still am. I continue to try and create social change for the better.” — No Boundaries, summer 2003 On his Cabbagetown home, where some of the alleged incidents with women are said to have occurred
“I love it for where I am at now, but when I have a family, I’d want us to put our stamp on it as ‘our space.’ ” —Toronto Star, May 1, 2010
“(The neighbourhood) has an amazing collision of new and old. Its world-class diversity turns me on.” — Toronto Star, May 1, 2010
“I have a very fast-paced, busy life, so my whole home is based on being something of a sanctuary where I can go and relax.” — Toronto Star, July 21, 2007 Anxiety and insecurities
“I’ve worked through a lot. Feeling like an outsider because of my Iranian background, trust issues. A lot of not feeling good enough.” — Toronto Life, February 2014
“No level of success or talent or validation from the world can undermine this checking in with one’s own insecurities and fear and neurosis.” — July 5, 2014 at the Stratford Festival, quoted in the Stratford Beacon Herald
“I didn’t realize how much I was exploring my vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities that are still remarkably consistent with who I am today. I haven’t developed that mythical thick skin people in the public eye are supposed to have. I’m still remarkably susceptible to people’s opinions.” — Toronto Star, Sept. 15, 2012, talking about his book 1982
“I get to interview so many of the top echelon of the great people in the world, and some of my heroes and learn that they are as neurotic and full of anxiety as I am . . . Though I am probably worse.” — The New York Times, July 20, 2012
“I definitely wanted to tell stories that make me laugh, and be honest, and reflect how pathetic I am.” The Torontoist, Oct. 5, 2012, talking about his book 1982 “I am fat.” —Toronto Star, Nov. 2, 2014, as told to Kevin Donovan at a dinner last September. On Sheila Copps, who initially defended Ghomeshi on Twitter
“I mean, to me it’s just reality. If Sheila Copps is going to say something as dumb as ‘reggae comes from South Africa,’ I’m going to call her on it.” — The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo), June 5, 2003, talking about mocking Copps on his old CBC television show Play Et cetera
“Cool guys don’t smile.” — Toronto Star, May 17, 2009
“I have a cheesy side.” — Toronto Life, April 2007
“Hey all — ‘jian’s mix’ pistachio granola is now in shops!! Stop laughing. It’s tasty! And all of my share of proceeds go to the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) — a really great non-profit that I’ve long worked with.” — Facebook, May 29, 2012
“People connect with people who sound like them. Not to be too Machiavellian.” — Toronto Life, February 2014
“It sounds tragically earnest, but I believe in the coast-to-coast-to-coast. I want to be part of building the Canadian story.” — Toronto Star, May 17, 2009