I have been watching Conservative presidential hopeful Herman Cain twisting in the wind over sexual harassment charges with more sympathy than most, having been the victim of such allegations myself.
Tiffany Asberry was a former employee at Corinthian Media, Inc., and my assistant from October 2006 thru June 2007. She was fired for not showing up to work and then sued me for sexual harassment and discrimination to the tune of $10 Million. She also sued two other employees and the company for a total of $40 Million. Tiffany Asberry had a new job within four weeks.
Unfortunately for Tiffany Asberry, Corinthian Media, Inc is owned by an obstinate man, who doesn't like paying blackmail. Instead. against the advise of his own attorneys who recommended he settle, the company spent several hundred thousand dollars to defend against the accusations.
In May of 2011 we all went to trial and spent a week defending ourselves. At the end it took the jury an hour, most of it spent having lunch, to find us not guilty on every charge.
The thing is, all it takes is the accusation and you are guilty until proven innocent. I have never sexually harassed any one in my life but because Tiffany Asberry chose to accuse me, I spent 5 years with a $10M warrant on my head and my reputation under attack.
I mention this because Tiffany Asberry had pretty good taste in music and it got me to wondering, what does that signify? Before she abandoned her job, we shared an office and listened to Hot 97 all day.She was also a wealth of information about Reggae music and could discuss Dance Hall stars such as Buju Banton and Reggaeton stars like Don Omar.The only thing I like more than discussing music is learning about music I have yet to hear. So what does a knowledge of world music prove? What doees the ability to think about sound teach the people you meet about the person you are? Not much.
Herman Cain listened to Gospel music and country, that doesn't mean he isn't innocent of sexual harassment and, similarly, nothing proves he is guilty either. Music is unimportant.
The reason for music being unimportant is because the music we listen to is as much a matter of tradition, environment and age, as it is the ability to listen and appreciate sound. Not only do we listen to what we have been exposed to at an early age but we are also stuck in a musical timeframe and we refuse to get over it. When we graduate from college, our learning is often complete. We're done. It is the same with music. It isn't an on going story. There is zero quality of mind involved, no attempt to increase your musical palate. It doesn't prove character because it isn't about character. Just a sluggish continuity.
Tiffany Asberry made a false accusation and sued me for $10 Million. In this bizarro world where you are guilty till proven innocent and the simple charge is enough to bring you into disrespect, if Corinthian Media, Inc hadn't refused to settle and I ran for political office, these lies about me would STILL HAVE TO BE EXPLAINED, The question would be the same for me as for Herman Cain, if I was innocent, why did I settle?
Tiffany Asberrys' listening to Biggie Smalls doesn't change the enormous damage I narrowly averted, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. We live in a nasty world with nasty people. Some nice people write about bad music, some nasty people listen to good music..