As for the phonecall, all I can do is speculate, and if it came from Dov Charney, it is possible that it said something obscene and dangerous-sounding. I have had him threaten me with “cutting off my penis and fucking my wife” (and I am a woman!) for failing to re-schedule one of his appointments. What can I say? He can say bizzare stuff when you push a button. I find it hillarious, but that’s because I know him; other’s might find it uncomfortable.

What the hell?

Though I think that their censure of my comments on their blog undermines their credibility as journalists. At least a tad.

I work on the media team at American Apparel, and Clamor it dragging it’s feet on approving my comment with a simplified and abbreviated explanation of factual errors in their “expose.” We sent an expanded version to Clamor editors on Thursay, but they haven’t done anything about it yet, and their blog readers wanted to see what the hooply was about, so I tried to post this (fragment — for whole thread go here)

Union Drive:

Clamor’s assertion that that American Apparel “denied the union access or neutrality at the factory” is false. In fact, Dov Charney refused to impose the unionization, but he told UNITE representatives that he would not stand in the way of holding elections on the issue. He invited UNITE to pick a date on which to hold elections, and to choose whatever third-party monior UNITE wanted to monitor the elections. UNITE chose not to hold elections.
National Labor Relations Board found no wrongdoing by Dov Charney or American Apparel’s management in the matter of the unfair labor practices claim filed by UNITE against American Apparel.

Sexual Harrasment Allegations:

Clamor talks about the sexual harassment lawsuits that have been filed against Dov Charney, but ignores the fact that two of those lawsuits have been dismissed by the plaintiffs with prejudice and without any finding of liability by Charney or anyone else at American Apparel. In addition, none of the lawsuits allege that Charney engaged in a sexual relationship or that he inappropriately fondled any of the plaintiffs involved.

Other:

The statetement that American Apparel possesses a textile factory “straight out of the ’40s” is false. The building where most manufacturing happens was built in 1920, and was adapted by American Apparel to house a very up-to-date garment factory.

Clamor improperly attributes to Charney the statement that most domesticated violence is initiated by women.

Clamor reported that American Apparel only used the term “Sweatshop Free” after Sweat X opened. This is false.

The statement that “Cynthia Semon of the media-relations desk at American Apparel was contacted for this article and initially replied, but was unresponsive to questions poses” is flatly untrue. One of the writers sent Cynthia two e-mails. She responded to the first one with her own full contact information and a request that the writer provide full contact information for himself. The writer replied with his first name only, and when Cynthia failed to see anyone by that name mentioned on Clamor’s website she assumed the e-mail was a prank and took no further action. Clamor made no further effort to contact Cynthia, or any other American Apparel employee who deals with media.