text: Shortly after CBC announced Ghomeshi was out the door on Sunday, Ghomeshi released news that he was launching a $50-million lawsuit claiming “breach of confidence and bad faith�? by his employer of almost 14 years. He later followed that up with a Facebook posting saying he has been the target of “harassment, vengeance and demonization.�? 
   
   CBC star Jian Ghomeshi has been fired over “information�? the public broadcaster recently received that it says “precludes�? it from continuing to employ the 47-year-old host of the popular Q radio show. 
   
   The three women interviewed by the Star allege that Ghomeshi physically attacked them on dates without consent. They allege he struck them with a closed fist or open hand; bit them; choked them until they almost passed out; covered their nose and mouth so that they had difficulty breathing; and that they were verbally abused during and after sex. 
   
   Ghomeshi’s statement said that he has been open with the CBC about the allegations. He said the CBC’s decision to fire him came after he voluntarily showed evidence late last week that everything he has done was consensual. Ghomeshi blames a woman he describes as an ex-girlfriend for spreading lies about him and orchestrating a campaign with other women to “smear�? him. 
   
   In his Facebook posting Sunday evening, Ghomeshi wrote in an emotional statement that he has “done nothing wrong.�? He said it is not unusual for him to engage in “adventurous forms of sex that included role-play, dominance and submission.�? However, he said it has always been consensual. 
   
   Over the past few months the Star has approached Ghomeshi with allegations from three young women, all about 20 years his junior, who say he was physically violent to them without their consent during sexual encounters or in the lead-up to sexual encounters. Ghomeshi, through his lawyer, has said he “does not engage in non-consensual role play or sex and any suggestion of the contrary is defamatory.�? 
   
   “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,�? Ghomeshi said in his posting. 
   
   A fourth woman, who worked at CBC, said Ghomeshi told her at work: “I want to hate f--- you.�? 
   
   “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. … But that is my private life. … And no one, and certainly no employer, should have dominion over what people do consensually in their private life. 
   
   In September, Ghomeshi told the Star that he did not understand why the newspaper was continuing to pursue allegations when “my lawyers have already told you it is untrue.�? Over dinner at a chance meeting at a public event, Ghomeshi said he is a “good person�? and described many of his recent successes, including an interview with Barbra Streisand. He said he could not answer any of the Star’s questions about his alleged abusive conduct. 
   
   Early last summer, the Star began looking into allegations by young women of sexual abuse by Ghomeshi over the past two years. The Star conducted detailed interviews with the women, talking to each woman several times. None of the women filed police complaints and none agreed to go on the record. The reasons given for not coming forward publicly include the fear that they would be sued or would be the object of Internet retaliation. (A woman who wrote an account of an encounter with a Canadian radio host believed to be Ghomeshi was subjected to vicious Internet attacks by online readers who said they were supporters of the host.) 
   
   Ghomeshi is the co-creator of Q , one of the most successful shows in CBC history. It is the corporation’s flagship radio show in Canada and is syndicated to 180 radio stations in the U.S. In his Facebook posting, Ghomeshi paid homage to his “fantastic team,�? a group of “super-talented�? journalists whom he works with to produce the show five days a week. 
   
   That all ended over the weekend, Ghomeshi said. On Friday came the news that he had been put on indeterminate leave by the CBC to deal with “personal issues.�? 
   
   Then on Sunday, two bomb shells. 
   
   First, CBC issued a statement shortly after noon saying Ghomeshi was gone. “Information came to (CBC’s) attention recently that in CBC’s judgment precludes us from continuing our relationship with Jian Ghomeshi,�? CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said in an interview. 
   
   Ghomeshi said in his Facebook posting that his CBC bosses gave him a choice to “walk away quietly�? or to be fired. He chose not to walk away and “publicly suggest that this was my decision.�? And so, Ghomeshi said, he was “stripped from my show, barred from the building and separated from my colleagues.�? 
   
   Two hours later, his lawyers announced that Monday morning, when courts open, Ghomeshi would be filing a $50-million lawsuit against the CBC, a corporation he later said on Facebook he has “doggedly defended�? for years. 
   
   His law firm, Dentons LLP, stated the lawsuit will claim general and punitive damages for breach of confidence and bad faith. The firm’s statement also noted Ghomeshi will “commence a grievance for reinstatement under his collective agreement.�? 
   
   Sources say top CBC brass spent the weekend in closed-door meetings at their Front St. head office. Ghomeshi is a huge part of the CBC brand, and a fear that the brand would be tarnished is causing the CBC to try to “get out ahead of the story�? by taking action before damaging reports in the media surfaced, sources say. 
   
   In his Facebook posting Sunday, Ghomeshi blames an ex girlfriend — whom he does not name — for spreading lies after he broke off the relationship early this year. He said he and the woman “began engaging in adventurous forms of sex that included role-play, dominance and submission.�? They used “safe words�? and “regularly checked in with each other about our comfort levels,�? he said. 
   
   Ghomeshi also said he and the women jokingly talked about how their relationship was a mild form of Fifty Shades of Grey or a story from Lynn Coady’s Giller Prize-winning book. 
   
   The Star had several detailed interviews with each of the three women, who said they experienced violence from Ghomeshi without consent, and with the former CBC employee, who complained of verbal and physical harassment in the workplace. 
   
   The women now accusing Jian Ghomeshi of violence began as his fans. Two had very similar early experiences with him. After Ghomeshi met them at public events, which he had promoted on CBC Radio, he contacted them through Facebook and asked them on dates. They eagerly accepted. 
   
   Each woman said she remembers Ghomeshi being initially sweet and flattering, then later suggesting or hinting at violent sex acts. When they failed to respond or expressed displeasure, they recalled Ghomeshi dismissing his remarks as “just fantasies,�? reassuring them he wouldn’t ask them to do anything they weren’t comfortable with. The women deny that “safe words�? were employed in the relationship. 
   
   In one woman’s case, she visited Ghomeshi at his Toronto home and alleges as soon as she walked into his house he suddenly struck her hard with his open hand, then continued to hit her and choked her. The woman alleges Ghomeshi repeatedly beat her about the head and choked her. 
   
   The Star’s interviews of the women were lengthy. The women, all educated and employed, said Ghomeshi’s actions shocked them. 
   
   Another woman, who described a similar alleged attack, said that in the lead-up to their date Ghomeshi “warned me he would be aggressive.�? 
   
   “I thought this meant he would want to pull my hair and have rough sex. He reassured me that I wouldn’t be forced. (Later) he attacked me. Choked me. Hit me like I didn’t know men hit women. I submitted.�? 
   
   None of the women has contacted police. When asked why by the Star, the women cited several reasons including fears that a police report would expose their names and worries that their consent or acceptance of fantasy role-play discussions in text or other messages with Ghomeshi would be used against them as evidence of consent to actual violence. 
   
   Only one of the alleged victims worked at the CBC. She never dated Ghomeshi. She alleges he approached her from behind and cupped her rear end in the Q studio, and that he quietly told her at a story meeting that he wanted to “hate f---�? her. 
   
   The woman said she complained about Ghomeshi’s behaviour to her union representative, who took the complaint to a Q producer. As the woman recalls, the producer asked her “what she could do to make this a less toxic workplace�? for herself. No further action was taken by the CBC, and the woman left the broadcaster shortly thereafter. 
   
   The Star presented allegations gleaned from its interviews to the CBC. Spokesman Chuck Thompson said he could not respond to any of the allegations, citing both privacy rules related to the employer-employee relationship and Ghomeshi’s intention to file a lawsuit. 
   
   Each of the women accusing Ghomeshi cite the case of Carla Ciccone as a reason why they desire anonymity. Last year Ciccone wrote an article for the website XOJane about a “bad date�? with an unidentified, very popular Canadian radio host whom readers speculated to be Ghomeshi. 
   
   In the days that followed, Ciccone received hundreds of abusive messages and threats. An online video calling her a “scumbag of the Internet�? has been viewed over 397,000 times. Ciccone’s claims about the behaviour during her “bad date�? were far less severe than the allegations of abuse from the women now accusing Ghomeshi, who fear the online backlash could be significantly worse for them if their names were made public. 
   
   After the Star initially sought comment from Ghomeshi in the summer (after interviewing the women), Ghomeshi’s lawyer, Neil Rabinovitch, wrote to the Star saying that he had reviewed “emails and text messages�? between Ghomeshi and the women Rabinovitch believed were the Star’s sources. The lawyer said in a letter he believed this information would “discredit the individuals we believe to be your sources.�? 
   
   Rabinovitch said he was unable to disclose the emails and text messages because it “violates the privacy of all involved.�? 
   
   Ghomeshi is using the same law firm and has also hired crisis communication consultants Navigator. 
   
   In his Facebook posting, Ghomeshi stated there have been no complaints about him to the CBC human resources department, nor have there been any “formal allegations�? or “formal complaints�? about his behaviour. 
   
   Ghomeshi was to host the Giller Prize awards ceremony Nov. 10 but the Giller organizers said Sunday he would not longer be the host. 
   
   Jesse Brown can be reached at jesse@jessebrown.ca 
   
   Kevin Donovan can be reached at 416-312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca or follow at @_kevindonovan ||||| I met a man I'll call Keith at an outdoor concert in Toronto last year. I was sitting with a group of people, Jake Gyllenhaal among them (sorry for the name drop, but he factors into the story later), and Keith* walked up to introduce himself to us. I knew of Keith because he has a successful radio show in Canada. A lot of Canadians love him for his views, interviews, and radio voice. 
   
   As Keith schmoozed with the people around me, I enjoyed the concert and also tried to make Jake fall for me using telepathic love vibes. Just kidding. There were no love vibes, and the only feeling Jake had was annoyance after Keith arrived. 
   
   He kept trying to talk to Jake, who wasn’t feeling his “I really want to get you on my show and maybe into your pants” vibe, so Keith soon turned his attention to me. 
   
   “Sorry, how do you pronounce your name again?” he said. 
   
   “Um, Carla,” I replied. 
   
   “Oh, I thought it was more complicated, like Carafalooota,” he said. I laughed. A few minutes later, the concert was over, and my party and I left.The next day, I sent Keith a public Twitter message saying it was nice to meet him. It was. I, like many Canadians, was a fan of his show. Actually, truth be told, I’ve never listened to his show, but still, I appreciated him as a talented radio personality. 
   
   Keith wrote me a private message soon after saying he read some of my work online and really liked my writing. He also asked me if I’d like to join him to see Metric play the next night at the Opera House. I’d always wanted to see Metric live, and I thought I might be able to make Keith my best gay friend in Toronto. I was still a newbie and needed friends. I also figured that the friendship might lead to exciting Toronto career opportunities down the line. He did say he liked my writing. 
   
   The next night, I met him at a wine bar for a quick drink before the show. When I walked in, I was greeted by both the overwhelming stench of his cologne and the sinking feeling that Keith was not, as I had assumed, gay. This wasn’t a friend date; it was a date, date –- at least to him.He looked at me the way a creepy older man looks at a young, silly girl he’s going to buy a drink he’s planning to slip a roofie into. I didn’t know what to do. He was 15 years older than me, but what’s more, I found him totally unattractive and didn’t want to be on a date with him.But I couldn’t just leave. 
   
   “So, you’re friends with Jake Gyllenhaal?” he asked. 
   
   “No. I met him yesterday and we talked about baseball for five minutes,” I said. 
   
   “Oh. He seems like a jerk, eh?” he said. 
   
   “I thought he was nice,” I said. 
   
   Nervous and trying to avoid eye contact with him, I proceeded to talk about nothing in particular for the next 20 minutes with such speed, he might have thought I had just done an eight ball in the bathroom. 
   
   He checked his phone approximately 35 times and mentioned the memoir he was writing about 10 times. Apparently, he was in a band when he was younger, or something. I wasn’t really paying attention. 
   
   Before my drink was finished, Keith rushed me out of the bar to get to the concert down the street. 
   
   In front of the small venue, he introduced me to a bunch of people he thought I would know. 
   
   “You’re meeting the who’s who of Canadian indie rock!” he whispered into my ear enthusiastically. I had no idea who they were, but most of them had cool beards. The way he introduced me, however, was disconcerting. I was being “presented,” in the same way Tom Cruise used to present Katie Holmes on red carpets. I did not like it. 
   
   I wanted to let him know I wasn’t into him, but he seemed like a harmless dork, and I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his bearded friends. 
   
   As I talked to one of them, I’d look up every now and then to catch a glimpse of Keith staring at me intently with a strange smile on his face. He was giving me the heebie jeebies and, again, I wanted to leave. 
   
   But Metric. It’ll be fine once we’re inside, I thought, we’re just watching a concert. 
   
   There was no assigned seating, and we were standing on the balcony. As soon as the lights went down, and the first notes started playing, I felt a sweaty hand travel across the back of my dress and grab my ass. 
   
   That hand was Keith’s. 
   
   Shocked, I looked up at him like “WHAT?!” He looked back at me with sex eyes and smiled. Disgusted, I asked him to stop, and stepped away from him and his hand. 
   
   I figured he’d get the point since I moved, but instead, he followed me. I watched the concert intently, but he soon grabbed my hand to hold it. 
   
   His friends were right behind us, and they all smiled when I looked back. Despite my extreme discomfort, I felt I couldn’t tell Keith off, so I discreetly pulled my hand away, crossed my arms over my stomach and stared straight ahead. 
   
   When he started rubbing my back, I again told him to stop, and when he put his hand over my shoulders, I said I was hot and lifted it off. 
   
   “Oh yeah, you’re hot,” he replied. 
   
   Dying inside, I felt sad that not only had I lost interest in watching Metric, but they were also starting to sound like tainted torture music. 
   
   I was planning my exit strategy when Keith grabbed the strap my large purse and took it off my shoulder. 
   
   “What are you doing?” I said. 
   
   “Shhh,” he replied, placing my purse on the ground and slipping his arm around my waist to pull me closer. 
   
   “What the fuck?!” I said. “You don’t put a woman’s purse on the dirty ground.” Apparently, I have more respect for a leather purse from my mom than for my own body. Not really -- but this was my breaking point. 
   
   “But it’s in the way,” he said. He seemed intrigued, and challenged, by my passionate reaction. 
   
   “I’ll be back.” I couldn’t take it anymore. Keith had gone from harmless dork to repulsive sexual predator. 
   
   I ran down the stairs and called my sister from the bathroom. “What do I do?” I was concerned that he would somehow ruin my fledgling career in Canadian media forever if I bailed on him, as stupid as that sounds. 
   
   “Get outta there,” my sister said. I wanted to. Desperately. Running down the stairs had given me a taste of the freedom that could so easily be mine if I just ran outside and never looked back. But I didn’t want to be rude, and I thought it best to leave on good terms. 
   
   (This is the part where I really want to go back in time and shake myself.) 
   
   I did what any good, failed Catholic girl plagued by a crippling sense of guilt would do: I lied. 
   
   “I have to go, I have a terrible headache -- a migraine. I also have to work very early. Sorry,” I said, looking towards the EXIT sign with a renewed hopefulness that I hadn't felt in hours. 
   
   “Oh no. I’ll drive you,” he said. 
   
   “NO! I mean, no. I don’t want to ruin the show for you. I’ll get a cab.” 
   
   “I can’t let you take a cab if you have a migraine,” he said, leading me down the stairs with a “concerned” creepy hand on the small of my back. 
   
   I insisted on taking a cab until I realized that he was walking me to his car, which was right outside. 
   
   All but defeated, I got into his car, pissed off that I was doing so, and stared out the window listlessly. 
   
   Even though I had a terrible fake migraine, he insisted on talking to me. 
   
   “Do you recognize the colors of my car?” he said. 
   
   “They are black and red. Like Spider-Man?” I said. 
   
   “Ha! No. That’s silly. They’re the colors of my show,” he laughed. 
   
   “But your show is on the radio, and I don't listen to it,” I confessed. I was DONE. 
   
   “Did I tell you I’m writing a book?” he asked. 
   
   “Multiple times,” I said. “You can stop here.” 
   
   We were a block from my apartment and there was no way he was going to know my address. 
   
   “I’ll walk you to the door,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt. 
   
   “No, you won’t,” I said. “Thank you for the concert and the ride. Have a good night.” 
   
   He leaned in and I avoided his lips by giving him a half-hearted hug, but he still managed to peck the side of my pursed mouth as I was turning to get out of the car. I urgently yanked on the door handle until the door sprang open, and scurried out. 
   
   Once I reached my front door, I started crying in shame. A thick layer of self-loathing had settled over my once-optimistic heart. Why had I handled the night that way? Why didn’t I tell him he was acting like as asshole and I only agreed to meet him because I, like the rest of Canada, thought he was gay? Why am I so passive in awkward situations? WHY? WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY? 
   
   I had a hot shower to remove his gross cologne stench, which had stuck to me like an airborne virus. 
   
   The next morning, I awoke to a text from him. 
   
   “If you’re late for work, blame it on me ;)” 
   
   I didn't reply to Keith’s text, thinking that he would take the hint; but based on past experience I should have known Keith does not a hint take. 
   
   As his messages became more and more pathetic, (e.g., “Did we break up already?”), I eventually confessed the truth and told him that I was sorry but I thought it was a friend date, not a real date, and I wasn’t interested. 
   
   To this, he replied: “Eeep! Totes diff. vibe from yest.” (He actually texted those words. Like that. To a girl he was interested in.) 
   
   Over the next two weeks, his texts begged me to give him another chance. He even went so far as to promise that he looks better with TV makeup on, like that would make a difference. 
   
   I felt sorry for him. Clearly being a C-list Canadian celebrity hadn’t afforded him any “game.” 
   
   He finally stopped texting, but every time his name came up in conversation, or I saw his face in an ad, I cringed. 
   
   In talking to my friends Crystal and Melissa, I found out that Keith has tried his same creepy-ass moves out on many other girls. He once lured a friend of theirs into a hotel room to “watch a movie,” and tried to sleep with her once she sat on the bed. She, too, had thought him harmless and gay beforehand. 
   
   Two months later, I was walking down the street and past a man who was wearing an offensive amount of Keith’s pungent cologne. Overcome by scent-memory nausea, I vomited into a nearby trashcan. A concerned older lady came up to me. “Are you pregnant, dear?” she asked. 
   
   “Only with disgust, thank God,” I said, smiling. She smiled back, perplexed. 
   
   And that was how I expelled the gross feelings left over from the worst “date” I’ve ever gone on. 
   
   * Please note that the subject's name was changed to Keith. 
   
   Read more from Carla over on our sister site, xoVain.
target: – Early yesterday, the CBC announced that it was terminating the employment of Q radio host Jian Ghomeshi, explaining somewhat vaguely that "information came to our attention recently that ... precludes us from continuing our relationship with Jian." The details didn't remain vague for long. The 47-year-old took to Facebook last night, writing that "I was given the choice to walk away quietly and to publicly suggest that this was my decision. But ... that would be untrue." Ghomeshi's version of the truth is that an unnamed "jilted" ex has launched a smear campaign against him, centered around his bedroom activities, which he writes "may not be palatable to some folks." Ghomeshi describes "a mild form of Fifty Shades of Grey": rough sex that was consensual and involved safe words. The Toronto Star tells it quite differently: It says it has heard allegations from three women (none willing to go on the record) who describe incredibly violent and non-consensual sex. One told the Star that Ghomeshi had expressed that he would be aggressive, which she took to mean "he would want to pull my hair and have rough sex. ... [Later] he attacked me. Choked me. Hit me like I didn't know men hit women. I submitted." The women told the paper they have not gone to police, reportedly over concerns their names would leak or that sexual texts they sent Ghomeshi would be used against them; they cited the case of Carla Ciccone, who was lambasted online after publishing a story on XOJane about a date she had with a popular radio host and "repulsive sexual predator." Ghomeshi plans to file a $50 million suit against the CBC today; Q is one of the most successful shows the network has ever run.