The Cambridge author is keeping his teaching job at MIT and his editing position at Boston Review after separate investigations found the accusations lacked “the kind of severity that animated the #MeToo movement,” as Boston Review’s top editors put it. Get The Weekender in your inbox: The Globe's top picks for what to see and do each weekend, in Boston and beyond. Diaz has said he takes responsibility for his past actions. Author Zinzi Clemmons and other female writers have recently shared stories of Diaz's behavior.
– Author Junot Diaz has given an interview following allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women. In the sit-down with the Boston Globe, the Pulitzer Prize winner denied, point blank, all accusations that he behaved inappropriately. “I was shocked,” Díaz said. “I was, like, 'Yo, this doesn’t sound like anything that’s in my life, anything that’s me.'" Per the AP, Author Zinzi Clemmons and other female writers have recently shared stories of Diaz's behavior. Clemmons said Diaz forcibly kissed her several years ago. in the Globe interview, Diaz denied the allegation outright. “I did not forcibly kiss Zinzi Clemmons. I did not kiss Zinzi Clemmons,” he said. “It didn’t happen.” Others cited instances when they felt he had verbally attacked them. Diaz has said in a statement that he takes responsibility for his past actions. However, he appeared to more recently back away from that statement, telling the Globe he wishes he "had the presence of mind to rewrite the damn thing.” In separate decisions that have left people close to Díaz outraged, Díaz is keeping his teaching and editing positions at the Massachusetts institute of Technology and Boston Review following investigations into wrongdoing at the institutions. A top editor at Boston Review said the accusations lacked "the kind of severity" that animated the #MeToo movement. Three editors subsequently announced they were resigning over the political and literary magazine's decision to retain Diaz.