When American Apparel’s board of directors announced on Wednesday that CEO and slimeball Dov Charney had finally been fired, many people were left wondering what took them so long. Today’s New York Post doesn’t answer that question, but the paper does claim to know which specific episode of Charney’s “alleged misconduct” led to his ouster.
According to the Post, American Apparel’s decision to part ways with its founder was related to Irene Morales, a former employee who said that Charney sexually assaulted her, “held [her] prisoner” in his apartment for hours, and “subjected [her] to extreme psychological abuse and torment” for several months when she was 18 years old. In 2012, a judge dismissed Morales’s $260 million lawsuit against the company and the case was sent to arbitration. The Post reports that recent discussions about settling with her for a sum “in the low six-digits” were what pushed the board over the edge:
Specifically, the board this week accused Charney of allowing an employee at the Los Angeles clothing chain to post nude photos of Morales on a blog that was purportedly authored by Morales, insiders said.
The board’s concern, according to sources, is that the blog not only harassed and defamed Morales, but also ran afoul of certain California laws that forbid falsely impersonating others online, as alleged in a suit at the time by Morales’s lawyer Eric Baum.
By knowingly allowing the blog to be posted, the board charged that Charney exposed the company to liability, according to sources close to the situation.
When reached for comment, American Apparel co-chairman Allen Mayer declined to say whether Charney’s termination had anything to do with concerns about his treatment of Morales. However, he did say that the board had recently become aware of new information about Charney. “We have heard for years allegations and rumors in newspaper stories that were not sufficient to take action,” Mayer said. “But what came to our attention was not allegations and rumors but established fact.”
It’s also possible that they were bothered by the video of Charney dancing around naked in front of two female employees that surfaced on Friday. Or one of the many, many sexual-harassment and assault accusations leveled against him over the years — or some other disgusting incident we have yet to learn about. Unfortunately, because Charney was allowed to remain in power for as long as he did, the possibilities are endless.
