# Jian Ghomeshi, host of Q on CBC, fired.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 27, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645 "2014-10-27T13:31:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 17
### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/321 "2015-03-12T15:24:12Z")
Kevin Smith guest-hosted for a day. You can [listen here](http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/kevin-smith-guest-hosts-sports-panel-life-directed-degrassi-1.2973141) (click where it says “Listen to full episode.”)
I liked his enthusiasm.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/322 "2015-03-12T20:07:25Z")
> [@EmilyG](#):
>
> I liked his enthusiasm.
His love for Degrassi was eye opening.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/323 "2015-03-12T22:41:32Z")
Well at least someone other than Jeremy Clarkson got the job.
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### Author:  [@callander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/callander)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/324 "2015-05-13T04:42:25Z")
The Crown has drooped two of the eight charges, leaving five and the one for chocking.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/325 "2015-05-15T15:52:00Z")
Is he working anywhere in radio or in anything else related to entertainment?
I wonder how his money is holding out. With nowhere near as much coming in and a lot going out in legal fees [unless Canadian lawyers happen to be a lot cheaper than U.S. ones] he’ll probably be broke pretty soon.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/326 "2016-03-24T16:58:56Z")
Rewaking this old thread for an update:
> **[Canadian Judge Finds Radio Star Jian Ghomeshi Not Guilty Of Sexual Assault](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/canadian-judge-finds-radio-star-jian-ghomeshi-not-guilty-of-sexual-assault_n_56f40b6ae4b0c3ef52182b01)**
>
> Three women told the court that Ghomeshi hit them, pulled their hair, or choked them during intimacy.
> [@](#):
>
> TORONTO, March 24 (Reuters) - An Ontario judge on Thursday found former Canadian radio host Jian Ghomeshi not guilty on four sexual assault charges and one count of choking in a high-profile case that stoked a public discussion on celebrity and consent.
The article said that the judge stated there were too many inconsistencies in the testimonies.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/327 "2016-03-24T18:41:26Z")
I don’t know what to say. Part of me is very surprised by the verdict and part of me is not.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/328 "2016-03-24T20:11:37Z")
In surprised that a judge could do this without presenting the evidence to a jury.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/329 "2016-03-24T20:17:51Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> In surprised that a judge could do this without presenting the evidence to a jury.
Canada, judge-alone trials are not uncommon. The defendant gets to choose, and has a right to a jury trial (at their election) if the potential punishment is 5 years or more.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/330 "2016-03-24T20:44:41Z")
A link to the reasons (warning, PDF)
[http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi7jN-Il9rLAhVCuoMKHfcPDMkQqQIIHjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ontariocourts.ca%2Fen%2F24Mar16.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGiOoyR2Igc1TRx4zxrSaPQ71py0A](http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi7jN-Il9rLAhVCuoMKHfcPDMkQqQIIHjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ontariocourts.ca%2Fen%2F24Mar16.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGiOoyR2Igc1TRx4zxrSaPQ71py0A)
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/331 "2016-03-24T20:55:22Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> Canada, judge-alone trials are not uncommon. The defendant gets to choose, and has a right to a jury trial (at their election) if the potential punishment is 5 years or more.
Pretty sure the U.S. is similar - it’s the defendant’s decision.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/332 "2016-03-24T23:02:17Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Pretty sure the U.S. is similar - it’s the defendant’s decision.
I think both sides have to agree here in most cases. The State also has a right to a jury.
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/333 "2016-03-24T23:23:07Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> I think both sides have to agree here in most cases. The State also has a right to a jury.
That’s not my understanding, it’s the defendant who waives his right to a jury.
> **[What Is the Bench Trial Process?](https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/legal-advice/criminal-defense/criminal-defense-case/what-the-bench-trial-process)**
>
> In a criminal proceeding in state court, a defendant may face a jury trial or a bench trial. Learn how these trials differ and who the factfinder will be.
> [@](#):
>
> Even when the defendant is entitled to a jury trial, the defendant can choose instead to have a bench trial. The following are some advantages to a bench trial, from the defendant’s perspective.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/334 "2016-03-24T23:41:25Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> That’s not my understanding, it’s the defendant who waives his right to a jury.
In some jurisdictions and for at least some categories of offense, the prosecution also has a right to a jury trial. There is no constitutional right to a bench trial, so the state doesn’t have to give you one just because you want it. [For example:](http://www.co.monroe.mi.us/government/departments_offices/prosecuting_attorney/steps_in_a_prosecution.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Both the defendant and the Prosecutor (representing the People of the State of Michigan) have the right to a trial by a jury. Sometimes, both sides agree to let a Judge listen to the evidence and decide the case without a jury; this is called a “bench trial.”
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/335 "2016-03-24T23:52:39Z")
I guess I should have known that it probably varied by state.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/336 "2016-03-25T00:08:22Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> I don’t know what to say. Part of me is very surprised by the verdict and part of me is not.
I would have been delighted if he had gone to jail, but from what I read about the evidence I’m not surprised that the judge found there was reasonable doubt.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/337 "2016-03-28T18:50:32Z")
Is this the end of it or does he have more charges to face?
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/338 "2016-03-28T19:01:32Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Is this the end of it or does he have more charges to face?
There is a second set of charges from what I have read.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/339 "2016-03-29T20:22:21Z")
[QUOTE=LinusK]
Ghomeshi’s Case
* * *
For those who don’t know, Jian Ghomeshi is - or was - a celebrity television and radio personality in Canada. Recently, he went to trial on four counts of sexual assault based on accusations of three different women.
He was acquitted.
The verdict was “met with dismay by many.” This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like. “From the beginning, I believe women,” said Sandy Miranda. “I’m no legal expert, but… as we saw, the justice system is broken.”
“I’d fail the Ghomeshi courtroom test too,” wrote Lauren Pelley, for the Toronto Star.
The verdict would have a “chilling effect,” wrote Anne Kingston.
Catherine Porter writes, Ghomeshi trial proves one thing: we need a different system
Quote:
Does anyone think she was not assaulted?
So here we are, in the slush, wondering why anyone bothered at all and whether, as a society, we really think sexual assault is a problem that requires addressing. Or not.
“It’s the same bulls— we were talking about in 1982,” said Anna Willats, a professor with George Brown College’s assaulted women and children counsellor/advocacy program, who was protesting outside with some of her students. “Nobody can be a perfect witness.”
NOW Toronto wrote, “It’s the Crown’s job to educate the judge, and they failed in the Ghomeshi case. Time to mobilize like we did 50 years ago to train people in power to believe women.”
In his opinion, the judge said the women had lied.
In trial, the first woman testified she was so traumatized by Ghomeshi’s assault, she couldn’t listen to his radio show, or see him on TV. But in emails, produced at trial, she said his show was “great,” and asked him to review a video she had made. She asked him to contact her. When he didn’t, she sent him a picture of herself in a string bikini.
The second woman said, both in sworn statements to police, and in media appearances, that she avoided Ghomeshi after the assaults. At trial, however, she admitted sending an email in which she said she wanted to “play” with him, and hoped to have “a chance encounter in a broom closet.” When his response was noncommittal, she said she’d “beat the crap” out of him if they didn’t spend time together. She sent him flowers, and said she wanted to “fuck [his] brains out”.
The third woman said that, after the assault, she was afraid of Ghomeshi, and “always kept her distance.” At trial she admitted that after the alleged assault, she took him to her home, where they slept together and they “messed around.” Six months later she emailed him and asked if he “still wanted to have a drink sometime?"
So who to believe?
Is the media right? Is this a failure of the Canadian judicial system?
Or is the judge right?
[/QUOTE]
Quoted from [this new thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=788705) by **LinusK** , because these issues are not yet being addressed here, and readers are being directed here.
If **LinusK** ’s summary is correct, then I too have to think that the women are over-stating the trauma that they suffered, which casts doubt on whether they were actually assaulted or whether they were just disappointed in the eventual outcome of their relationships (or something in between, which can be a large gray area).
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jian-ghomeshi-host-of-q-on-cbc-fired/702645/340 "2016-03-29T20:27:06Z")
Stuff like this is why I think plenty of women are messed up thinking wise.
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