Apology from Brad

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Thank you, Brad. I appreciate your apology and also your prayers. A public correction by Camille would also be appreciated. For example, taking decades-old screenshots and quotes out of context to build the case that I have been "brawling" with Leonard Cohen for years -- I began writing about Leonard Cohen in self-defense, after I left Montreal to teach in BC in 2000. A very damaging story was circulating, that I had never known Cohen but just "imagined" that I did. After putting up with it for years, in the summer of 2001 I decided to write down all my experiences with Cohen going back to 1970 -- the process took two months and 300 pages of mostly straight narration. I posted the chapters in a blog which I didnt advertise, at a site which was hard to find. Eventually it got noticed and made the rounds. I used a hit counter so I know for sure only 65 readers ever made it to the final chapter which was the one with the paragraph about Cohen's daughter reporting to his friends that he had molested her. In 2003 Cohen's lawyer asked me to delete that paragraph and I did. The rest of the blog stayed up for a few more months, and some Cohen fans were offended by it. They had formed a hagiographic image of their idol and they hated to see it undermined by some woman they never met. Much easier to label her "crazy" and "vindictive." My blogging in 2001 didnt stop the rumors of course, but at least it provided a public corrective to the false narrative of the "scorned woman." Cohen was a relentless gossip but he never actually "scorned" me. In that respect I was almost lucky. Our relationship went back to my childhood and he knew it but I had forgotten. That's probably why his daughter chose to confide in me before she had words to describe what was happening to her. This was back before women began demanding the right to accuse their abusers in public. I can assure you, a lot has changed. Virginia Giuffre's book is coming out today -- I hope you're planning to read it. Thirty years ago there was literally nowhere to turn if you suspected a child was being abused. You would be crucified for mentioning it. The amazing thing is that people will repeat toxic gossip without checking back to the source. Or they will bury it. Or blame the victim. Nobody has time to investigate every salacious story going around nor do they have access to the people involved or the facts which are often too complicated and exhausting to review. So instead they take a side, based on emotions and prejudices. Let us pray for fairness and objectivity before more lives are damaged or ruined by slander. Ann Show quoted text

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