Star says Ghomeshi showed CBC graphic sex videos

Jian Ghomeshi showed CBC brass graphic videos of sexual encounters, which included beatings and bondage, as proof that his violent encounters with women were consensual, sources have told the Toronto Star. Before being fired by the broadcaster last weekend, Ghomeshi had become aware that allegations against him were about to surface, and had brought in the videos as evidence that, as a source told the Star, "how bruising could happen and it could still be consensual."

Ghomeshi features in the videos, which featured "scenarios where Jian Ghomeshi asks, for example, a woman to do something and she does it," the source told the Star. In his initial public statement after being fired by the network Sunday, the host said he "voluntarily showed evidence that everything I have done has been consensual. I did this in good faith and because I know, as I have always known, that I have nothing to hide. This when the CBC decided to fire me."

The attempt, of course, backfired. In a new internal memo to employees leaked online Friday afternoon, the CBC confirmed that at a Thursday, October 23 meeting with Ghomeshi, they saw "graphic evidence that Jian had caused physical injury to a woman" and found it to be "fundamentally unacceptable for any employee." He was officially terminated three days later. The memo also confirms that Ghomeshi first notified them of a possible Toronto Star investigation into his conduct this spring. Read the full memo here.