Sabrina Rubin Erdely is an American former journalist and magazine reporter, who in 2014 authored an article in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' describing the alleged rape of a
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...
student by several fraternity members. The story, titled "
A Rape on Campus
"A Rape on Campus" is a retracted, defamatory '' Rolling Stone'' magazine article written by Sabrina Erdely and originally published on November 19, 2014, that describes a purported group sexual assault at the University of Virginia (UVA) in ...
", was later discredited. The magazine retracted the article following a
Columbia University School of Journalism review which concluded that Erdely and ''Rolling Stone'' failed to engage in "basic, even routine journalistic practice". As a result, Erdely was named in three lawsuits with demands of more than $32 million combined for damages resulting from the publication of the story.
A graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
, Erdely has written about rape and bullying. Prior to the ''Rolling Stone'' article, her work appeared in ''
GQ'', ''Self'', ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...
'', ''
Mother Jones'', ''
Glamour
Glamour may refer to:
Arts
Film
* ''Glamour'' (1931 film), a British film
* ''Glamour'' (1934 film), an American film
* ''Glamour'' (2000 film), a Hungarian film
Writing
* ''Glamour'' (magazine), a magazine for women
* ''The Glamour ...
'', ''
Men's Health
''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst Communications, Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands.
Started as a men's health maga ...
'' and ''
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
''.
In November 2016, a federal court jury found Erdely was liable for
defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...
with
actual malice in a lawsuit brought by University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo, and Erdely was found personally responsible for $2 million in damages.
Education and early life
Erdely was born in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. She graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
in 1994.
According to Erdely, she was initially a
pre-med
Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...
student but became an English major while working on the staff of ''34th Street,'' the magazine insert for the ''
Daily Pennsylvanian
''The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc.'' is the independent student media organization of the University of Pennsylvania. The DP, Inc. publishes The Daily Pennsylvanian newspaper, 34th Street Magazine, and Under the Button, as well as five newslette ...
,'' the campus newspaper. During her tenure at ''34th Street'', her colleague
Stephen Glass "threw a righteous fit" after she and a colleague "concocted a funny and obviously made-up travel story" for the magazine. Later, in an article she wrote for the University of Pennsylvania alumni magazine, she called Glass a "sociopathic creep" because, she said, he fabricated stories published as factual journalism in ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
''.
Career
Early career
After leaving Penn, Erdely went to work for ''Philadelphia'' before pursuing a career as a freelance magazine writer.
Magazine writing
Erdely's 1996 story for ''Philadelphia,'' concerning a woman who alleged she had been raped by her gynecologist, was nominated for a
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
. A 2012 story for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
,'' alleging bullying of gay students in Minnesota, was similarly nominated and received a
GLAAD Media Award
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT) community and the issues that affect their l ...
for Outstanding Magazine Article.
In 2003 Erdely wrote a feature article in
GQ about famous con man
Steve Comisar
Steven Robert Comisar (born December 30, 1961) is an American convicted con man and extortionist. Comisar was in federal prison and was released April 27, 2018.
Career
Comisar grew up in Beverly Hills, California. As a young man he sold a ...
.
[The Creep With the Golden Tongue](_blank)
by Sabrina R Erdely, '' GQ'', August 2003, 126-32, 155-156. Erdely's 2013 ''Rolling Stone'' article, "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer," chronicled the alleged drugging and rape of a
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
female
petty officer
A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotation OR-5 or OR-6. In many nations, they are typically equal to a sergeant in comparison to other military branches. Often they may be superio ...
by three
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...
soldiers.
''Rolling Stone'' article: "The Catholic Church's Secret Sex-Crime Files"
In 2011, Erdely reported a story for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' about
child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia. (The church had been under investigation in numerous cities since ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''s exposé in 2002 of church protection of predatory priests.) Erdely's article described a
fifth grade
Fifth grade (called Grade 5 in some regions) is a year of education in many nations, and some other regions call it Year 5. In the United States, the fifth grade is the fifth and last year of elementary school in most schools. In other schools, it ...
altar boy referred to by the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
"Billy Doe" whom "brutal attacks turned ... into a sullen, drug-addicted loner," alleging a "high-level conspiracy." Billy Doe was an adult when he made his accusations, resulting in criminal charges leading to the jailing of three church employees. Doe also filed a major civil suit against the church.
Ralph Cipriano wrote in ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' that "Erdely didn't know or bother to find out ... that Billy had already told his story to the archdiocese, police, and a grand jury, and would subsequently retell it to two different juries in two criminal cases. And every time he told his story, the details kept changing."
In the first iteration of the rape Billy Doe claimed to have endured, he was knocked unconscious, stripped, tied to a church altar with sashes, and anally raped on the altar for five hours. Subsequent iterations of the rape recounted by Doe were less dramatic; a final version omitted the five-hour altar anal rape. Instead, Billy Doe explained, he had been coerced into engaging in
mutual masturbation.
Cipriano criticized Erdely for failing to include information on Billy Doe's background that could have impugned his credibility; he had, for instance, been arrested six times, once while trafficking 56 bags of
heroin. Doe's lawyer Slade McLaughlin, and
David Clohessy, head of
SNAP, have noted in response that substance abuse is a common reaction to childhood sexual abuse.
When Erdely was covering the Billy Doe story, her husband was a criminal prosecutor for the
District Attorney of Philadelphia
The office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia is the largest prosecutor's office in the state of Pennsylvania and oversees a jurisdiction that includes more than 1.5 million citizens of both the city and county of Philadelphia. The current ...
, which was overseeing the case. ''Rolling Stone'' editors said that it was not a conflict of interest because he was not personally involved in the prosecution.
William Anthony Donohue at the
Catholic League denounced "malicious distortions of the kind found in Erdely's diatribe."
The conviction of one church employee has since been overturned, and a new trial ordered for the one remaining (the third church employee died in prison while appealing his conviction).
''Rolling Stone'' article: "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer"
"The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer" was published in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' on February 14, 2013. The article denounced the military's handling of sexual assault cases, primarily through the story of Rebecca Blumer, a Navy petty officer (E-5) who claimed to have been slipped a date-rape drug and then sexually assaulted by three Army soldiers.
''Rolling Stone'' article: "A Rape on Campus"
Erdely's article for ''Rolling Stone'', titled "A Rape on Campus", was published in the December 2014 issue of that magazine. It alleged that seven members of
Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia gang-raped a student at that fraternity house on September 28, 2012.
Separate inquiries by both Phi Kappa Psi and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' revealed major errors and discrepancies in the report. Erdely's story was subject to intense media criticism and questions as to its truthfulness. ''The Washington Post'' and ''
Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Puli ...
'' both issued calls for magazine staff involved in the report to be fired.
Natasha Vargas-Cooper
Natasha Vargas-Cooper is an American journalist and author. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, GQ, Spin, The Atlantic Monthly, the New Statesman, Good magazine, Bookforum, BlackBook, New ...
, a columnist at ''
The Intercept
''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing news website founded by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and funded by billionaire eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar. Its current editor is Betsy Reed. The publication initially repor ...
'', said that Erdely's story showed "a horrendous, hidden bias," while an editorial in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' charged that "Ms. Erdely did not construct a story based on facts, but went looking for facts to fit her theory." As criticism of the story mounted, Erdely disappeared from public view, with various media outlets describing her as "
MIA" and "off the grid." ''Rolling Stone'' subsequently issued three apologies for the story. On December 10, 2014, ''The Washington Post'' published an updated account of its inquiry into the ''Rolling Stone'' article. Summarizing that report, ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'' noted that it "strongly implies, without outright saying so, that the gang rape at the center of Sabrina Rubin Erdely's article might be fabricated."
Scott Goodman, a lawyer, speculated that legal action against the magazine by persons accused of the rape may result. ''Rolling Stone'' publisher
Jann S. Wenner
Jann Simon Wenner ( ; born January 7, 1946) is an American magazine magnate who is a co-founder of the popular culture magazine ''Rolling Stone'', and former owner of '' Men's Journal'' magazine. He participated in the Free Speech Movement while ...
asked the dean of the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
to audit the editorial processes leading up to the publication of the controversial story.
On January 12, 2015, the University of Virginia reinstated the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity after the police investigation concluded that no incident had occurred at the fraternity. According to
Charlottesville
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...
police captain Gary Pleasants, Charlottesville police "found no basis to believe that an incident occurred at that fraternity, so there's no reason to keep them suspended." The police investigation into the allegations made by Erdely was concluded (though not closed) on March 23, 2015; no evidence was found to support Erdely's claims, with Charlottesville police stating that they had "no basis to conclude that anything happened in
hefraternity house, or any fraternity house, for that matter" and that there "is no substantive basis to support the account alleged in the ''Rolling Stone'' article."
On April 5, 2015, ''Rolling Stone'' retracted the article. Erdely publicly apologized for the article on April 5, 2015, though her apology did not include any mention of the fraternity, or the members of the fraternity who were accused. The ''
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
'' called the apology "a grudging act of contrition."
Both a spokesman for publisher Wenner and Will Dana, managing editor, said that Erdely would continue to write articles for ''Rolling Stone''.
On May 12, 2015, the associate dean of students at the University of Virginia, Nicole Eramo, who oversaw sexual violence cases at the time of the article's publication, filed a lawsuit against both ''Rolling Stone'' and Erdely, seeking $7.5 million in damages based upon her claim that the article contained "highly defamatory and false statements", which she alleged, led to the destruction of Eramo's credibility, permanently damaging her reputation, and causing her emotional distress.
Beginning on October 17, 2016, a 10-member federal court jury heard testimony from 12 witnesses and saw 11 hours of video statements and more than 180 exhibits of evidence over 16 days during the trial for defamation brought by Eramo. On November 4, 2016, the jury concluded that Erdely was responsible for defamation with actual malice. The jury's finding means that it concluded Erdely knew statements about Eramo in the article were false—or had reason to doubt them and failed to investigate further—but published them anyway.
On July 29, 2015, a separate lawsuit was filed by three members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity against ''Rolling Stone'',
Wenner Media
Jann Simon Wenner ( ; born January 7, 1946) is an American magazine magnate who is a co-founder of the popular culture magazine ''Rolling Stone'', and former owner of ''Men's Journal'' magazine. He participated in the Free Speech Movement while ...
, and Erdely for defamation and infliction of emotional distress caused by Erdely's story. This lawsuit was subsequently dismissed by a federal judge on June 29, 2016, because the three plaintiffs were neither explicitly nor implicitly identified in the original article. On September 19, 2017, that decision was reversed by a three judge panel of the
United States Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit which found that "Plaintiffs Elias and Fowler have plausibly alleged that the purportedly defamatory statements in the Article only were 'of and concerning' them individually. We also hold that Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the Article was 'of and concerning' them under a theory of small group defamation."
Erdely's ''Rolling Stone'' story "A Rape on Campus" was named by ''Columbia Journalism Review'' as "the Worst Journalism of 2014"
and as "Error of the Year" by the
Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...
.
Later career
As of 2021, Erdely writes for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and co-hosts the Jewish Philly podcast. She previously taught writing courses at
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...
and the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
. She also serves as director of content for CTRL+M Health, a headache
app
App, Apps or APP may refer to:
Computing
* Application software
* Mobile app, software designed to run on smartphones and other mobile devices
* Web application or web app, software designed to run inside a web browser
* Adjusted Peak Performan ...
.
Film projects
In 2013 a film, titled ''The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League'' and based on Erdely's story of the same name for ''Rolling Stone,'' published in early 2010, was in development with
Rob Epstein as director. The idea for the film had been pitched in March 2010 by screenwriter
Lorene Scafaria
Lorene Scafaria (born 1978) is an American filmmaker, playwright, musician, and former actress. She wrote and directed the films ''Seeking a Friend for the End of the World'' (2012), ''The Meddler'' (2015), and '' Hustlers'' (2019), in addition ...
, with
Amanda Seyfried proposed for the title role of
Esther Reed. However, in January 2014, an ''
LA Weekly
''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose pare ...
'' cover story described cocaine-dealing allegations and prison time done by Remington Chase and Stepan Martirosyan, who were involved in financing the film.
In 2013, it was announced that
Craig Brewer would adapt Erdely's story "Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills" into a motion picture.
Personal life
As of April 2015, Erdely lives in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
with her husband (an attorney) and two children, a daughter and a son. She is Jewish and a member of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel.
In popular culture
Erdely's defamatory "
A Rape on Campus
"A Rape on Campus" is a retracted, defamatory '' Rolling Stone'' magazine article written by Sabrina Erdely and originally published on November 19, 2014, that describes a purported group sexual assault at the University of Virginia (UVA) in ...
" article and its aftermath was the inspiration for a season 16 episode of
''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''. Episode 18 of the show, titled "Devastating Story", was broadcast in April 2015 and featured the case of a college student, who falsely claimed to have been gang raped in a fraternity house.
In May of 2022, an
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...
play adapted from Erdely's "A Rape on Campus" article controversy and resulting legal battles titled ''Retraction'' premiered in New York City at
Theatre Row.
[Ryan, Jed. RETRACTION By David Gutierrez on NYC’s Theatre Row: A Review. Lavender After Dark, 11 May 2022, https://lavenderafterdark.com/2022/05/11/retraction-by-david-gutierrez-on-nycs-theatre-row-a-review/. Accessed 13 Jul 2022]
See also
*
Jayson Blair
*
Stephen Glass, American journalist of The New Republic, who published fabricated articles
*
Janet Cooke
Janet Leslie Cooke (born July 23, 1954) is an American former journalist. She received a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for an article written for '' The Washington Post''. The story was later discovered to have been fabricated and Cooke returned the Pul ...
, author of fabricated Pulitzer Prize winning article
*
Fake news
Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in realit ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erdely, Sabrina
1970s births
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American women writers
American investigative journalists
American women journalists
False allegations of sex crimes
GQ (magazine)
Hoaxers
Jewish American writers
Jewish women writers
Journalistic scandals
Journalists from Pennsylvania
Living people
Men's Health (magazine)
Mother Jones (magazine) people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Rolling Stone people
Temple University faculty
The New Yorker people
University of Pennsylvania alumni
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Writers from New York (state)
Writers from Philadelphia
Year of birth missing (living people)