- 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.
Here's the Twitter post of indignation by Jian Ghomeshi after being fired. (Rated PG-18) Note: Most of Canada loves Jian Ghomeshi. He has (had, I guess) a radio and TV show and has hour-long interviews of great depth with interesting artists - Neil Young last week, Joni Mitchell recently, etc. Anyway, this is sad.
- The ex has even tried to contact me to say that she now wishes to refute any of these categorically untrue allegations
Our former prime minister said, "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation," unless your radio is on and you are listening to the public broadcaster. Then the state will make sure that the public broadcaster practices vanilla sex (gay or straight).
I followed Moxy Fruvous on tour back in the late 1990s. Jian was the drummer. I talked with him many times in the 28 times I saw them live. Jian is brilliant, egotistical, and thinks with his dick a bit. He is polite but can ignore you. He is the only person that got an interview with Leonard Cohen in a decade. He'll also swoop into your conversation and take the girl or boy you were chatting up. So yeah, there is probably a little bit from each side on this. The CBC probably got tired of something because Jian's late-morning show was popular enough to get onto their SiriusXM feed. The man had become a staple of the intellectual meeting the culture head-on and has done CBC work for a long time. There had to be more than what we already know, but yeah.
It's getting worse. An actress has now spoken about a date she had with Ghomeshi in which he went from smooching to punching. My guess is that girls will be coming forward in droves soon.
This is a tough one for poor Jian. I can understand the CBC not wanting to associate their name with this type of behavior, even if it is between two consenting adults - but where does it end? Talk about a slippery slope. They should have kept him on the air and monitored the listener ratings and numbers. Then, if they proved that it decreased, let him go. The way that Jian is getting in front of this whole thing though, it's looking right now as if the CBC made a big mistake. Just might cost them.
UPDATE Now Dan Savage has a few things to say about this story.
That's interesting. I didn't know that.The Supreme Court has said that a person cannot consent to assault. While the cases have typically arisen in the context of bar room brawls or hockey violence, other courts have applied the same reasoning to the sexual context. So, if a sexual activity causes bodily harm, a person cannot consent to it.
Aww shit. I saw this headline, but glossed it over, because I try to avoid reading about sex scandals. I didn't realize it was Jian being dogged. That sucks. We here in Detroit love Q. It plays in the middle of the day, so it's always a good way to spend an hour whilst "working". I hope his lawsuit is successful. In the meantime, I don't know how I'm going to learn about traveling theater performed by First Nations and the like. That show was special >:(
The Financial Post says his lawsuit is hopeless. Yup, it's sad. There was always some fantastic interview or another.
I am a little obsessed by this turn of events and just read the other side from The Toronto Star. Dan Savage is right in that it is probably best not to have an opinion one way or another.
I find it hilarious that Dan Savage didn't remember being interviewed by Ghomeshi. Then again, I'm obsessed with Canada. If a Canadian considered me a go-to for interviews, I'd be preenin' an' struttin' in both official languages.
Yay, a Canuckofile! I liked Moxy Fruvous too. This is a complex story. I heard him speak live at a cs conference about the process of taking Q to larger and larger audiences and how he took advantage of new media. Meanwhile, his letter (tweet or fb or whatever it was) about his father dying was very powerful. Sounds like a good time for him to do some reflecting. I'm confident that he'll land somewhere on his feet.