Disgraced CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi has penned a contrite personal essay in the prestigious New York Review of Books, bemoaning that he’s “become a hashtag” and confessing to being “emotionally thoughtless” to women he dated. It’s the first time Ghomsehi has spoken out on the aftermath of sexual assault accusations against him that first surfaced in 2014 and the piece is already drawing swift criticism online.“There are lots of guys more hated than me now. But I was the guy everyone hated first,” he writes in “Reflections from a Hashtag,” which was posted Friday, adding that a female friend quipped to him he “should get some kind of public recognition as a #MeToo pioneer.”The former CBC radio host was acquitted of sexually assaulting three women in March 2016, following a high-profile criminal trial. A lengthy Star investigation eventually outlined allegations from 15 women.In the essay, Ghomeshi writes nearly 3,500 words about his life’s implosion, and how the outcome of his trial left his accusers and many observers deeply unhappy. “There was a sentiment among them that, regardless of any legal exoneration, I was almost certainly a world-class prick, probably a sexual bully, and that I needed to be held to account beyond simply losing my career and reputation,” he writes.Before MeToo became a hashtag and global movement, Ghomeshi’s trial ignited a national conversation on sexual assault the way its handled by the justice system.CBC fired Ghomeshi from his hosting role on the arts and entertainment program Q in fall 2014 after executives saw a video showing bruising on a woman who had dated him. Ghomeshi responded in a Facebook message insisting everything had been consensual.In May 2016, a further charge of sexual assault against him was withdrawn after Ghomeshi apologized to former CBC colleague Kathryn Borel for “sexually inappropriate behaviour” in ...
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