CNN
by Emanuella Grinberg
Canadian radio host Jian Ghomeshi has interviewed some of pop culture’s biggest names, from Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell and Dan Rather to Lena Dunham and Zach Galifianakis, and that’s just in the past few months.
His CBC Radio show, “Q with Jian Ghomeshi,” is one of the most popular in the network’s history, making him a bona fide celebrity in a country that takes pride in its public radio. It aired on more than 180 public radio stations in the United States, prompting the Washington Post to call it “the most popular new arts and culture radio show in America” in 2013.
Still, the 47-year-old was far from a household name in the United States when he posted a lengthy screed on his Facebook page Sunday accusing the CBC of firing him for his “private sex life.” He said the dismissal came after he shared details of his sex life with his former employers to head off a smear campaign by “jilted” exes accusing him of nonconsensual kinky activity.
The combination of Canadian celebrity, an iconic Canadian institution and allegations from anonymous women produced what one columnist called “a Canadian sex scandal the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades.” The size of Ghomeshi’s star and the seriousness of the allegations makes this bigger than your run of the mill celebrity sex scandal, with implications beyond Canada.
Two major issues reside at the heart of the scandal: a $55 million lawsuit against the CBC in which Ghomeshi alleges that he was fired for his sexual proclivities, and anonymous allegations reported by the Toronto Star from three women accusing Ghomeshi of sexual violence and nonconsensual BDSM activity. The CBC released a statement saying the decision was “not made without serious deliberation and careful consideration” and declined to comment further.
Ghomeshi denies the allegations and says any sexual activity between him and the women, kinky or not, was consensual.
“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,” he said in his Facebook post. “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.”
By bringing BDSM into the mix through his Facebook post, Ghomeshi ignited conversation in legal circles and the kink community over whether the “kinky defense” will prevail in his lawsuit and the court of public opinion.
The scandal is of particular interest to the kink community, who say it raises two common topics of concern in their world: discrimination over sexual activity, and the gray area between consensual activity and assault in BDSM.
Others worry about the potential for the “kinky defense” to be misappropriated and used as a shield for rape and assault.
“It hits on a lot of important aspects that BDSM faces,” said Susan Wright, spokeswoman for National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, an advocacy group that promotes tolerance of sexual minorities. “Rarely do you have an instance where so many things come together. …