The founder of American Apparel, Dov Charney, is being accused of vile language and acts by a former employee.
In the civil sexual harassment case, which begins in Los Angeles tomorrow, ex-American Apparel employee Mary Nelson charges that Charney once had a meeting with her wearing only a strategically placed sock, invited her to perform lewd acts with him, and then fired her when he learned she planned to meet with a lawyer. Already, Charney has admitted during a deposition to walking around his office wearing only American Apparel-made underwear, sleeping with employees, and referring to women in derogatory terms. Talk about a class act!
Chantelle
S***r
Satellite
nice... very nice...
1yuck
2Never again! I will never buy AA anymore
3i thought his behavior was well-known. i remember watching a special about this years ago. ok maybe 1 yr ago lol. but yeah the guy is psycho but come on, his ads tell all. if you go on the aa website, it's like soft porn
4What a scumbag!
5eww
6omgoodness this changes my whole perspective on tri-blend.
7and this is why I don't buy American Apparel
8his behavior is generally pretty well-known breakbrooklyn. there have been features written about his sleeze for years. Jane had a great article in 2004 that was even cited in an analytical piece in Businessweek in 2005 where he tried to engage the journalist in consentual lewd acts.
it is a hard one though. as an employee you know what you are getting into with him because his behavior is racy all the time. I couldn't work for him. yet he treats his factory workers very well from a corporate stance with a livable wage and other aspects that make him seem like he wouldn't be a sleeze. and the AA site is total soft porn and you can't open it at many businesses or public wi-fi stations.
9I've never bought anything at AA... Looks like I won't start, either!
10I saw the special on AA as well. they pass themselves off as sweatshop free but run their company with captains that bully their employees into not unionizing. he likes those young ones who don't speak much English so he can fully take advantage.
11HORRIBLE!
12scumbag, gross
13There are two sides to every story. As far as this lawsuit goes, seems like it's someone who is trying to take advantage of a company who got big really fast. It happens.
As far as the union stuff goes, I've read a lot about this story, being the child of mexican immigrants (with a mother who happened to work in the textile industry), I think it's important to know where your clothes come from. Apparently the union drive that happened at american apparel was run by UNITE which has a really shady past. The sewers at the company were given false information and not told about the outrageous fees that they would have to pay to be part of the union. And if you take a look at that ad that American Apparel has been running, seems like they're doing more for the voiceless than any other company in this country right now.
14yeah, i saw that special and thought he is a sick bastard. then i looked at the website and it proved it. he looks like a pedophile. totally creeps me out.
15I read the Jane article and while I would never work for a guy like that it seemed that most of the people there knew what to expect. I guess it all depends on what you are willing to put up with. Personally for a guy like this I think that the best way to get to him would be to yank off his sock and show everyone what a tiny wee wee he has
16I'm with breakbrooklyn. This isn't the first time that I'm hearing about this guys behavior...and his "kiddie porn" ads, tell it all!!!
17I'd heard some random stuff....but this settles it I'm definitely not shopping at American Apparel! Even if th suit is slightly bogus, AA just seems too shady to support!
18You're right girls — this isn't new news. But it's going to trial tomorrow so hopefully it'll be resolved and he'll pay for his nastiness.
19Agreed, Fab.
He seems totally full of himself, a classless jerk, and he is one of the fugliest men I have ever
seen.
20I saw a thing about him on 60 Minutes a year ago or more, and they were talking about his lawsuit. I didn't realize he hadn't been tried yet. Looking at this guy makes me ill
what a douchebag!
21I didn't know about this. Thank you for posting it Fab. I use to buy AA clothes but never again now.
22Who walks around the office in their underwear!!! WHO!? Even if you sell the underwear...YOU JUST DON'T!
Ugh, I own a couple of tshirts from AA, but I think their items are waaaayyy overpriced. Total trend company.
23TOTAL scum.
24Am I the only one completely not surprised? I wouldn't wear their stuff just based on their creepy teen porn ad campaigns. No thanks. Now I am def not buying this losers cheap clothes. I'm stick with my James Pearse & J Crew t's Thank you very much.
25omg thank you. whenever people ,make comments on the website about the innapropriate images everyone just goes, 'its a womens body, whats so discusting' i dont think woments bodys are gross, i just dont need to see them naked when i'm buying clothes. jeez.
26i wondered about all the stuff in the stores and magazines today. i hadn't been in in forever, and just needed a relatively inexpensive duffle bag.
27but this is just as bad as other fashion dillemas, if not worse.
i'd like to avoid aa.
i mean, i'm still going to wear the t-shirts i have from there, all of which are band t-shirts (all bands seem to print women's shirts on their brand).
but man, i'm not paying high prices for nothing.
surprise, surprise..NOT!
he's so gross..
28honestly, just because you know a work environment is hostile does not mean that you are to blame for the inappropriate behavior.
i'm not sure why some posters are basically placing blame on the victims when its the douchebag BOSS who is the one perpetrating these lewd acts. let's get rid of the "blame the victim" mentality please!
btw, i've always wanted to buy AA stuff, but not anymore. never mind!
29eeewww!
30Nicachica - totally agree with you. If you join a company and unacceptable behavior is the norm there, that does NOT make it OKAY. It's illegal. And if it's the person at the top that's doing the sexual harassment, that's the ultimate position of power in a company and not everyone is strong enough to challenge that person. It takes a lot of guts to come forward to have someone be accountable for their bad behavior. And most people are not willing to take the financial burden of bringing that person to court. It must have been a rather intimidating environment if no one came forward before and this alleged behavior was well known. I feel sorry for all the people (men and women) that had to deal with that.
31I'm not at all shocked. Just by looking at their website and the models' demeanor in the photos, it seemed like there was something going on behind the scenes in a sexual nature. Not shocked.
32he LOOKS like a sleeze...it sucks that the whole company's image is ruined by one guy...all the other people who put their hard work into the clothing (designs, production, promotion, editorials, models, etc) are being affected too. =/
I still love me some AA, but this nasty douchebag deserves to wear his "strategically placed sock" behind bars with some nice roomates nick-named BIG DOG, GOLIATH, and MORTIKAI.
LMAO
33what the Hell is wrong with people! Iknow she was traumatized. If that was Matt Damon maybe she wouldn't have contacted a lawyer...lol.
34Nasty man he is, however I will continue to wear and buy the clothes....
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