BY: BIG EARS TEDDY
Friends, fans, Canadians, I, like many of you, was deeply disturbed by allegations made earlier this week against my friend, roommate, and boss Jian Ghomeshi. I, like many of you, read the recent newspaper articles and listened to the graphic interview detailing violent abuse allegedly committed by my friend against nine women. And I have to admit, this news makes it hard for me to continue believing in Jian. And hey, he’s the only one who believes in me—but to all appearances I’m some kind of sentient toy, so go figure.
And this week, whenever I’ve tried to enjoy an old interview of Jian’s or throw on one of his songs, and I can’t get words like “closed-fist” and “asphyxiate” out of my head, I close my eyes (figuratively—I don’t have any physical power of movement), take a deep breath, and remember the words that will allow me to give him the benefit of the doubt: I didn’t see any of it.
The reality is, every snarky “tweet” and “facebook post” (I’m putting those in quotation marks because I’m still not sure what the internet is) putting down my friend is based on nothing but unproven allegations—and we’re jumping to a lot of conclusions because of it. Let me take a minute to remind you that it’s “innocent until proven guilty,” people, not “innocent until nine adults and several reputable news organizations come forward with compelling evidence that you’re guilty.”
The one fact I do know is that when Jian would have a woman over, he’d grab my ears—which by the way aren’t even that big, but nicknames stick, don’t they—pick me up, and turn me to face the wall. And sure, sometimes it would sound like his guests seem confused about why they were there. Sometimes it sounded like he might have been creepy or overly aggressive. Sometimes it sounded like the date was being choked to the point of not breathing, or being struck with a closed fist. But at the end of the day, I didn’t see what happened, and neither did you. So let’s not start dialing up the drama just yet, shall we?
Plus, women get upset about lots of things besides being violently assaulted. The woman interviewed on The Current yesterday would have us believe that the sounds I heard of a body hitting the ground and a woman sobbing in terror happened because Jian repeatedly punched her in the head. But in reality, it’s equally possible that he just politely advised her that he did not want to see her anymore.
Because I really can’t know for sure what happened, I don’t have to stop liking Jian. And just think, this is exactly the opportunity he’s giving you! Did you get to read that Facebook post from earlier this week explaining how his old girlfriend has been persuading women he knows to lie about him to the media? (I’m asking because I didn’t because I can’t move my head.) That explanation alone is more than enough to keep you from having to face the possibility that sometimes people you like do terrible things.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back home. I’m house-sitting for Jian for as long as he’s out of the country.
