Named Among 'S---ty Media Men,' Writer Hits Back

The women who anonymously contributed to a list of men in media accused of sexual misconduct could have their identities revealed if writer Stephen Elliott gets his way. He's one of 74 males included in the Google spreadsheet "S---ty Media Men" that circulated last October, and he filed a lawsuit Wednesday against its creator, Moira Donegan, alleging libel and emotional distress. He's seeking at least $1.5 million in damages and wants to sue anonymous contributors, too, reports The Cut. The lawsuit, describing Elliott's plan to subpoena Google metadata in order to obtain information that could identify contributors, refers to allegations of rape, coercion, and "unsolicited invitations to his apartment" as "wholly unsubstantiated" and "intentionally misleading," per the New York Times.

Elliott denied the allegations in an essay late last month. "I don't like intercourse, I don't like penetrating people with objects, and I don't like receiving oral sex," he wrote, adding the allegations made him return to drugs. They "derailed my life," he said, though he acknowledged the spreadsheet was closed after 12 hours and included a disclaimer: "This document is only a collection of misconduct allegations and rumors. Take everything with a grain of salt." ("Nobody did," he wrote.) A former coworker responded to that essay on Twitter, claiming she once "hid under a table" as Elliott "hounded" her to visit his hotel room. "Later you grabbed me under the guise of taking money from mug sales out of my back pocket," she wrote. (Donegan recently spoke out about Jian Ghomeshi's return to the spotlight.)