TORONTO – In the wake of sexual assault allegations against Jian Ghomeshi and his subsequent criminal trials and peace bond, the CBC has firmly avowed that they absolutely will not even consider hiring Ghomeshi back for at least another 4-6 weeks.
“We take this whole series of events very seriously and we recognize that there is an enormous amount of anger and ill-will towards Mr. Ghomesi at this time,” stated Tanya Moleno, Director of Human Resources for the CBC. “It is out of profound respect for the victims of Mr. Ghomeshi’s actions that we solemnly swear that we will wait no less than four and as many as six weeks before warmly welcoming Ghomeshi back into the fold.”
“Plus when he is inevitably rehired Mr. Ghomeshi will be on a strict probation period where he can’t assault anyone and won’t get dental for 3 months.”
This announcement is a brave one for the CBC, which likely faced significant pressure to re-embrace its former golden goose given that he is now not guilty of sexual assault in the most technical legal sense. However, the national broadcaster appears to have been shockingly unmoved by Ghomeshi’s remorseful silence throughout his criminal trial and his sincere and heartfelt court-mandated apology – enough to refuse to even dream of allowing him to re-enter their organization until maybe a month or so has passed.
“This was a very difficult decision for us,” stated Doug Hershey, former CBC program director, “As those who are familiar with our radio and television broadcasts know, we fundamentally believe in eighth or ninth chances, even where quality is found seriously wanting. And while we extend this benefit of the doubt to all our employees – so long as they are profitable, hip, male on-air personalities – we couldn’t bring ourselves to do that right away this time.”
“We just need 28 days to allow for the healing to begin. The integrity of the public broadcaster is simply too important,” he added.
Rather than simply pay lip service to their disapproval, the CBC has put their taxpayer money where their mouth is in dealing with the situation so nobly. They sent the message that this kind of despicable behavior warrants a nominal cooling off period before the likely re-establishment the status quo.
“We spent many, many minutes investigating the internal allegations against Ghomeshi and satisfied ourselves at that time that the multiple examples of sexually predatory behaviour uncovered were within reasonable workplace limits,” Moleno said. “But we also know how to mete out punishment where it is warranted.”
Directing a portion of her message to Ghomeshi, Moleno concluded: “Jian, you have violated our trust, the public’s trust, and you have conducted yourself in an abhorrent manner. You are absolutely unwelcome back into our hallowed halls before mid-July, or possibly late-June if some other scandal distracts people a bit in the meantime! Your office will be kept the way you left it.”
