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American Apparel Releases Graphic Evidence of Dov Charney's Alleged Misconduct

Photo: Getty Images

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In an effort to stop Dov Charney's constant barrage of lawsuits, American Apparel recently released all the evidence the company had on its former founder to prove that Charney was fired for good cause. The allegations, listed out on Gawker, show sexually explicit texts and messages that Charney sent to employees, including: "I like the idea of pulling your hair and fucking the shit out of you as I ride your body like you were a perfect blond pony," and "Your ass in that photo is the perfect cum target!"

The filing states that videos and photographs depicting "all manner of sexual behavior with numerous models and employees" had been saved on an American Apparel-owned computer, and at least one of the sexual encounters had happened in Charney's office at American Apparel.

A former store manager said that Charney had let loose on him after finding out about the store's poor performance, saying "You should have been fucking fired months ago... You're a fucking Jew! You should know, you are a fucking long haired wanna be Jew. Get your fucking shit together fag." He then grabbed the store manager's throat and tried to choke him, according to the report.

Charney also allegedly directed racist remarks toward American Apparel's accounting staff, even going so far as to start a meeting by saying "you're all fucking me" and telling Filipino employees that they were "Filipino pigs... with your faces in the trough." In another instance, Charney allegedly directed a furious tirade at an employee and threw a full bottle of Ibuprofen at the person, hitting them in the face.

American Apparel chairwoman Colleen Brown stated in the filing that Charney's misconduct cost the company almost $10 million in litigation fees by September 2014.

In a statement to the LA Times, Charney's attorney, Keith Fink, said that American Apparel knows that many of the allegations stated in the filing are false. "The answer is simple: these events either didn't happen, were irrelevant (e.g. such as the blog which the company approved based on the First Amendment) or were of a personal nature (such as an amorous message only discovered when the company broke into Mr. Charney's e-mail)," Fink said in the statement.