Where is Sabrina Rubin Erdely?
Posted on December 30th, 2014 in Uncategorized | 50 Comments »
It has now been a month since she made any public statement regarding her Rolling Stone fiasco—and her last statements on the story were defending it and angrily charging doubters of missing its larger import.
How, I keep thinking, does any self-respecting human being do this? How do you put your name on something, promote it, revel in the positive attention it’s getting…and then just run and hide when it turns out that you were wrong?
This is not exactly a profile in courage we’re talking about.
Getting the story so completely wrong in the first place was a disastrous mistake, but I don’t think that it alone should or would have ended Erdely’s career. None of us would want to live in a world without second chances.
I do think that her behavior since then should have that consequence. There is no place in journalism for someone who points a finger of accusation—at men, at administrators, at an institution—and then runs away when she is found to be wrong. The real question is not where is Sabrina Rubin Erdely. It’s, where is her honor?
50 Responses
12/30/2014 6:03 pm
I’m sure her lawyer and RS’s lawyers have advised her to keep her mouth shut. There really isn’t anything she can say that wouldn’t dig the whole deeper.
12/30/2014 7:40 pm
Jackie didn’t just catfish her 1st-year friends, she also catfished Sabrina (and Rolling Stone editors) during both the investigative and fact-checking parts of this hoax.
Rolling Stone and Will Dana admitted as much in their first correction to the story, but they were accused of blaming Jackie so they changed their statement. Now, they are gun-shy about explaining what happened because they will again be criticized for blaming Jackie. So they have outsourced their “Jackie Problem” to CJR, who will not be criticized for putting the blame on Jackie, since they are outsiders.
Sabrina needs to speak up, lawyers be damned, though I do not expect it. We will probably hear something from CJR within 2-3 weeks.
12/30/2014 8:52 pm
Don’t forget that Sabrina’s husband is also an attorney, both of them have been completely silent on Twitter since the beginning of December. You can expect that to change eventually.
What we need now, in addition to the Columbia Journalism School report, is the determination of the police, DA’s and investigators in Virginia. Once that is done, we can say more.
12/30/2014 9:26 pm
Unfortunately I’m not sure Sabrina thinks she did anything wrong given this isn’t the first time she’s told a story like this.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rape-of-petty-officer-blumer-20130214
And by “like this” I mean telling a story of a rape through the voice of the victim, including quotes and actions, without ever apparently interviewing any of the people whose actions or words appear in the article.
She clearly believes the point is the point and doesn’t care if the facts of the story support it.
12/30/2014 9:59 pm
We also need a thorough investigation of her other stories. Also the professors at Penn who taught both her and Stephen Glass.
12/30/2014 10:07 pm
Where is her honor?
I would submit she was lacking in such a quality to begin with.
12/31/2014 1:39 am
I agree with Anonymous 9:59 pm.
Ms. Erdely’s website includes a selected archive of her stories - http://www.sabrinaerdely.com/archives.html
Between reading other commenters here, some searching on Google, and reading some of her stories myself, at least 4 of her other stories are strong candidates for similar problems as her “A Rape on Campus” piece for Rolling Stone. Each of the following has various elements of factual implausibility / impossibility, a disproven witness with a changing story, or an incredible - in the sense of not believable - and difficult to fact check story:
- The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer, 2013
- The Catholic Church’s Secret Sex-Crimes Files, 2011
- Shooting Up in Suburbia, 2006
- Wife, Mother, Madam, 1998
That list is not necessarily exhaustive.
12/31/2014 6:02 am
I’d hope that if she has any shred of humanity left, she spends it with a therapist who tries to save it. However, I would not be surprised if she publishes a book about it in which she celebrates herself for ‘fighting in what she believes in’.
12/31/2014 7:04 am
I totally agree with that… I think she could have survived this disaster.. but her actions (or lack of) AFTER the disaster is absolutely career-ending…
I mean… you can be nice enough to believe she was duped and she meant well (I don’t think so, but you can at least argue that)…
But after all of that, not even a single word for the falsely accused? That’s not only immoral but 100% cowardice… she is not only a bad journalist now but also a really bad human being
12/31/2014 9:24 am
As long as somebody thinks SRE can make money for them she will have a job. Witness Dan Rather: He was given a light slap on the wrist by CBS for chairing a Democrat nominating meeting after he had been previously been warned about doing things like that, and today, even after his ‘false but accurate’ hatchet job forced CBS to make him walk the plank, someone else hired him… it may not be as high profile as CBS, but he still has a soapbox.
12/31/2014 1:29 pm
I’m a constitutional lawyer, so I thought I would weigh in here. Erdely has almost certainly lawyered up, and if I were her lawyer, I would tell her to say nothing. She could be sued in several potential jurisdictions for libel, the most likely plaintiffs being the fraternity, Nicole Eramo, and possibly her three former friends. Since none of these persons or organizations are public figures, the standard that would likely apply is whether she was negligent in researching the story. Any attempt she made to defend herself could easily backfire, especially if it takes the form of ‘sure I maybe cut a few corners (i.e. was negligent and therefore liable) but I did it in the name of a good cause’.
Even more important, though, is that Rolling Stone wants her to shut up. It actually published the article and is therefore just as liable as Erdely, and has very deep pockets. If Erdely admits negligence or corner cutting, it hurts Rolling Stone directly. In fact, one possible outcome of this whole affair is for Erdely to cut a deal with the plaintiffs. In return for their not suing her, she testifies about how lax the fact-checking on her own article was, thus throwing RS under the bus to save her own skin. It would certainly be a drastic move, but people faced with million-dollar libel judgments sometimes do drastic things…
12/31/2014 1:54 pm
I think what Andrew H. says is exactly right. Erdely will eventually defend her honor (I believed Jackie and I was far from the only one, I had no way of knowing she would hoax me and catfish me, I trusted RS to make sure the facts were right, etc.) but she’s not going to give it away for free on Twitter.
If she’s going to throw the deep-pocket magazine under the bus, she will want to get a release in exchange for it. It may be maddening to the general public, but lawyers have to look at the big picture — having a blog post questioning her honor is nowhere near as bad as big dollar judgments for multiple plaintiffs.
12/31/2014 4:01 pm
@ Andrew H and Sacramento
In fact, one possible outcome of this whole affair is for Erdely to cut a deal with the plaintiffs. In return for their not suing her, she testifies about how lax the fact-checking on her own article was, thus throwing RS under the bus to save her own skin. It would certainly be a drastic move, but people faced with million-dollar libel judgments sometimes do drastic things…
No one is going to sue Erdely or Rolling Stone, especially not the University of Virginia and the fraternity. UVa and the fraternity must think the better path is to try to “move on” and keep these allegations and this controversy out of the public mind. Will pledging next semester go better by putting this behind them or by keeping simmering this rape story? Jann Wenner’s chutzpah in the fallout of this debacle (see his recent statement suggests he is feeling little pressure at all from his victims.
I hope I am wrong about the university’s strategy. Far more damage has been done to the university’s reputation than the administrators fathom. Even relatively well informed people with ties to the school are only dimly aware of the resolution of the rape story. Imagine the impression the general public have. The university needs a big headline win in a libel lawsuit or settlement to have any kind of shot at significantly clearing their name.
12/31/2014 9:14 pm
You would think that SRE would at least issue a statement saying she has been advised by her lawyers to not comment. No comment at all just causes more tongues to wag.
I only know one UVA grad, that I’m aware of, who I see on an infrequent basis. I was on the lookout for him because I wanted to discuss the story falling apart, but was surprised when I saw him recently that he was only vaguely aware that the story was being questioned. He and his wife were well aware of the original article, however. In fact, I was the bearer of this news to him, which he was grateful to hear. This was after the catfishing details had emerged and the story had basically totally fallen apart. I was very surprised that he wasn’t more aware. It seems that the people most invested in following this story are PC warriors like Anna Merlan and anti-PC conservatives like Steve Sailer and me. So I believe Anon above may be right. Serious damage has been done to UVA becasuse a lot more people are aware of the original story than the later developments.
12/31/2014 9:27 pm
@Anon 4:01 pm - per Eugene Volokh (link below), UVa as an institution does not have a libel claim because a government institution (in contrast to an individual government official) cannot win a defamation claim. Quoting Volokh:
“New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) famously held that government officials can prevail in defamation lawsuits only if they can show that the defendant knew the statement was false, or was reckless about the possibility of falsehood — but it also, less famously, held that government entities can’t sue for defamation, period, regardless of the defendant’s mental state.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/12/07/no-uva-has-no-libel-claim-against-rolling-stone/
1/1/2024 4:12 am
>>> Serious damage has been done to UVA becasuse
….because the UVA Admin is a bunch of cowardly, scaredy-cat nincompoops who didn’t understand the first principles of “grabbing the narrative”. But not surprising; women always get a “pussy pass”, so they never really learn to be strong.
We knew how much damage has been done to the military by feminizing it; now we know what happens when you let a woman grab the steering-wheel at a major university.
1/1/2024 9:55 am
“How do you put your name on something, promote it, revel in the positive attention it’s getting…and then just run and hide when it turns out that you were wrong?”
richard, are you familiar with the concept of the red pill?
1/1/2024 10:31 am
The scope of Rubin’s risk is large. Any member of the frat could come after her if they were (for example) dumped from a job based upon her broad characterizations of rape-as-fraternity-ritual.
The number of potential plaintiffs is so large that she will not be safe for two or three years. And (like the Cosby accusers) if ONE plaintiff entertains a suit, the others could come out of the woodwork to pile on.
As a Rolling Stone/Rubin/insurance company attorney I would be focused on keeping things extremely quiet and (worst case) buying off potential complainants with confidential settlements.
1/2/2024 12:21 am
Anon 401 p.m. and Filmer 9:14 are right that most people don’t realize how thoroughly the story has been debunked. But as strange as it may seem the University is not trying to enlighten them. Teresa Sullivan, as far as I know, is pushing ahead with her collective punishment of the fraternities, and others are supporting her and helping create the impression that there are only some minor problems with Jackie’s story. UVA’s Department of Sociology, for example, just put out “Statement on Sexual Violence,” signed by 17 of its 21 faculty members, which refers only briefly to “the recent statement from Rolling Stone questioning the details of its published story,” as if nothing else had happened in the past few weeks. (The statement can be found on the Department’s web page.)
1/4/2024 11:47 am
I think the fact that she is in hiding speaks for itself. Rather than “man up” and apologize or make a half-hearted apology, she goes into hiding. Goes to show you the character of this pseudo-journalist. PS..thanks for keeping the light shining on this “rape culture” epidemic.
1/4/2024 6:39 pm
Richard, this is a bit of topic, but I’d be interested in your two cents worth because it deals with naming a victim or an alleged victim of sexual abuse/assault.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is today on their all-news channel reporting on the possible involvement of Prince Andrew in the legal troubles of Jeffrey Epstein. As part of that coverage, they are beating their breast and saying they don’t name victims, but they are reporting several British tabloids have named the victim and are showing onscreen the cover of one of them.
This is 1) Incredibly hypocritical, 2) morally bankrupt, and 3) unbelievably cowardly. They don’t have the balls to name the victim themselves, but they have provided a paint-by-numbers road map to finding her identity. It’s all of a piece of the majority of journalists being both uber-liberal and thinking the rules don’t apply to themselves.
My own bias on this is that it’s legitimate to debate whether or not to name victims or alleged victims, although I favor withholding that information.
I also think that it’s immoral to use public funds for government owned and/or controlled media outlets… employees at other media organizations are having their own tax dollars used to compete against them and possibly put them on the unemployment line.
1/5/2024 3:35 am
Interested Observer, the alleged “victim’s” father has been giving interviews to the British press. Using his own given name, and his 30-year-old daughter’s given name. The two of them seem uninterested in privacy.
(Quote)
Mr Roberts told the Sun: “Virginia told me a few years back that she met Prince Andrew when she went to London.
“She also said while they were there she met the Queen.
“She was so excited about meeting the Queen.”
(End quote)
Also, the alleged “victim” has not asked that charges be laid against the Duke. There is no “rape” trial going on. He is not a party in the Florida court case – in which victims of Epstein are suing the US authorities for failing to consult them over a plea deal offered to him. He, along with a prominent and highly respected US lawyer, are simply having their names thrown out there in a civil suit against the U.S. government.
“The accusations - which also include claims that he took part in an orgy with other underage girls - are contained in a motion filed in a Florida court which allege that Jeffrey Epstein, an American investment banker, loaned her to rich and powerful friends.”
I don’t see why this woman should be granted anonymity, but then again I do admit a bias towards openness and transparency in our justice system. I come from a country with secret courts and hidden processes, I don’t think that that sort of thing leads anywhere good.
1/5/2024 3:59 am
InterestedObserver- no, liars who level false accusations and file fraudulent lawsuits for personal gain (in the form of monetary compensation and/or media coverage) should not have their identities protected. They should be outed, prosecuted to the full extent of the law and made an example of to the public.
1/5/2024 8:54 am
Tran Nguyen and Carrie - My point is not whether or not this particular individual deserves or even wants privacy. It’s that we have (in this case a government) media outlet loudly proclaiming to protect someone’s identity and then providing it through the back door.
There doesn’t seem to much doubt that Jeffrey Epstein got off about as lightly as he could have, and no doubt as a direct result of his political donations. Given that he is a pedophile, and I believe a registered sex offender, you have to think he is still benefiting from his ‘protected’ status because of his seeming ability to travel to other countries without restriction… if you or I were convicted of DUI, we would be barred from traveling pretty much anywhere.
1/6/2024 2:54 pm
If there’s anything worse than a fraud, it’s a cowardly fraud. Not sure what else can be said.
1/10/2024 11:55 am
Rumor is that Sabrina Rubin Erdely is currently at the bottom of a pit in some guy’s cellar. The guy keeps telling her: “it rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.”
1/12/2023 6:48 pm
Quote: “No one is going to sue Erdely or Rolling Stone, especially not the University of Virginia and the fraternity.”
This is quite right, and RS, SRE, and all the lawyers know it. Despite a thirst for revenge among some here, SRE knows she can just lay low until it blows over, and it will. Then she’ll move on to her next victims. She’s done this before, and she’ll do it again. The penalty is nil, since the case is actually being tried in the Court of Public Opinion, and the jurors are a compliant media-largely composed of people who agree with her.
What you know as “facts” are completely irrelevant to her. She’s a warrior on a mission, and facts (as well as victims) will be damned.
1/13/2015 1:10 am
Yep. Her stated goal is “upending the patriarchy”. A gender warrior pure and simple.
1/17/2015 6:39 pm
Would be good to see Erderly issue a “How I got this wrong/I messed up” piece. I’d hope she does it this year and I do follow what was said here: “None of us would want to live in a world without second chances.”
Nope, none of us want to live in that world. Even though it is very late for Erderly to do it, I hope as a reporter with some integrity (however much is left) goes ahead and does that. I’d imagine (speculation) that if her lawyer/husband is advising her, he might say to just lay low but it’s better - for her career (her future career whatever it is, whether journalism or something else) depends on it. Some remorse would be very appropriate - she won’t ever be able to make up for the collateral damage, but an apology makes a difference - expressing that they got it wrong, followed an accusation without proof, and got lost in one version of the story without reporting the other dimensions of it - the dimensions critical to disputing that story and showing it “false”.
Rolling Stone is still trying to claim that the story lit the nation on fire and pushed sexual assault into the headlines - and it really did, capturing the nation’s attention. But in this case the ends don’t justify the means. They don’t - people were hurt here, people who didn’t do anything, who really were innocent. You don’t have to invent bad guys to tackle a large social problem, but you do have to do your homework so that you don’t undermine the people that could help. In this case, the alleged bad guys were the good guys, and the accuser sadly, is the opposite for now.
1/30/2015 12:38 pm
JMil,
I disagree with your “second chance” philosophy as far as Erdely’s journalism career goes. This was clearly journalistic malpractice and is inexcusable. If it turns out, as it now appears, that Erdely engaged in wrongdoing by omissions and actual false reporting, her second chance should probably relate to picking apples in an orchard somewhere as long as she does not need to interact with anyone or be relied upon to tell the truth. Those of you who sugarcoat how journalistically horrid her actions are simply don’t get it.
2/1/2024 8:56 am
I agree, Don. What surprises me is that the media is not engaging her. Where is that “in your face” journalism where reporters confront her as she enters or exits her home? Where are the pictures of her creeping in and out of her home while trying to remain incognito? The media would have no issue treating non-journalist this way - why does she get a free pass? The more I learn about her part in all of this, the more I say to myself, “what a repugnant little self-serving creature she is…”
2/4/2024 7:14 am
And Erdely wrote about how Glass was a coward? She was faking/inventing stories as she called out the name. How pathetic she is! When she does finally emerge from her hole in the ground to tell “her side” I’m sure there will be no shortage of hecklers shouting, “hey, coward, what do you say? How many lives you gonna ruin today!” She so enjoys the whole “protest” vibe.
2/6/2024 2:42 am
Somewhere, there’s a man riding silently in a car with glass bottles on the fingers of his right hand and is bouncing them together while loudly saying, “Ederly…. come out an playay…… Ederly………… COME OUT AND PLAAAYYYY”
2/10/2024 12:24 pm
It’s painfully obvious that RS is covering up it’s malpractice. The whole notion of outsourcing an audit of its processes to a “reputable” university is almost laughable now that we’re already more than a month past when the process was supposed to start. I’m sure RS is writing the propaganda piece to turn over to Columbia school of journalism (wink, wink, nod, nod). They’ll take a situation that demands the firing and media ostracization of Ederly and Taibbi and somehow turn them into misunderstood heroes that made a minor mistake. Wait for it and see that I’m correct.
2/11/2024 4:53 pm
Erdely is a COWARD. Not only is she a COWARD, but she is a COWARD that has done more to set back the cause of rape activists and in so doing expose the truth about the “culture of fake rape.” For that we thank you Sabrina!
2/12/2023 6:54 pm
Ederly caused us great future suffering. How will anyone believe us after this mess. That’s what really hurts. Now, when we’re victimized people will say things like, “she’s just pulling a Jackie” or “yeah, right - only in Ederly-world” This is the real damage she’s done. She should go to jail.
2/14/2015 11:52 pm
Word has it that Sabrina is now working on soft porn novels in her basement…
2/14/2015 11:57 pm
Ebstein, that would imply that Ederly had some degree of writing ability. A more credible rumor is that she’s looking into “Jackie’s” background in an effort to paint her as a pathological liar and deflect any legal civil actions toward the young lady that she featured in her story (pornographic fairy tale). Ederly is a weasel and will do anything to duck responsibility for her actions. I’ve made it my lifelong mission to follow everything she does and shout her down as the cowardly fraud she is.
2/24/2015 7:37 am
Still no Ederly sightings! Cowardice makes for a good hider.
3/3/2024 4:18 pm
Nobody’s seen this repugnant little coward yet?
3/10/2024 9:04 am
I saw her last Wednesday at Synagogue for Purim Services. She knows me well and knows I went after he on Twitter and Facebook and exposed her in our neighborhood (she lives 1 block from me). Her husband and her were very drunk and he threatened me for writing negative things about her on Twitter and she harassed my family including my wife and kids who were sitting with me.
Let us just say her life is not going well, her silence is because she has not response and her effort to bring her cause to the forefront by lying and scamming has failed. She will never write another article again other then maybe a recipe for grandma’s cookies.
3/12/2023 1:24 pm
Great post, Dan. It really shows what a low-life she and her husband are - not that we didn’t already know it. If I knew where she lived, I’d love to take a dump in her yard…
3/12/2023 2:51 pm
That “audit” of the fraudulent RS article sure is taking a long time to produce. Started in December and now, three months later, …..
3/14/2015 2:14 am
You mean that “fraudulent” audit of the “fraudulent” UVA rape article published by the “fake” news organization Rolling Stone Magazine?
3/17/2015 10:01 am
Ederly…… We’re watching yoooooou… Come out and playay…….
3/19/2015 9:37 pm
Interesting posts. Dan, it’s sounds as though you have the courage and conviction to do what’s right for your community. Not allowing such people to bully you is commendable. Understandably, things in the Erdely lives are not going well. I think that Sabrina has always know she’s been living on borrowed time with all the fabricated “journalistic” pieces she published - many with only one hardly credible source. But, every time she published a fabricated hit piece that spoke to the narrative of the most liberal in the country, she was applauded. With every article, she had to know she was that much closer to getting caught, being exposed for the horrific damage she was doing to people. Now, the truth is out and it’s an inconvenient truth to the most liberal. This truth enrages the far left and they’ve turned on Erdely like a pack of starving wolves who’ve just realized one of the “pack leaders” now has a broken leg and it’s only practical to eat her. Poor Erdely. Completed excommunicated from the left that was so dear to her with nowhere left to turn except inward or, as you’ve indicated, into a booze bottle. In any event, keep doing what you’re doing and protect your community and family from these creatures. Don’t let their bullying stand in the way of you’re doing the right thing.
3/19/2015 9:45 pm
Thought I’d repost this from a previous poster. I found it hilarious, but sadly true:
In all honesty, Ederly is a narcissistic, lying coward with self-serving moral and ethical standards. Her sense of insecurity relating to her own inept investigative journalism abilities is manifest in fabricated, sensationalist stories she labels long-form journalism. The recipe for her fabrications includes ample portions of sensationalism, appeal to emotions, and controversy, stirred briskly by a genuine pathological liar.
As I type this she is, without doubt, scurrying about her home peeking out window blinds. Her eyes dart maniacally from left to right at the slightest hint of movement or sound. Her mind is racing as she understands she is now a caged animal subsiding on diet coke and antidepressants. If we were present to hear, we could hear her muttering, “It’s all so unfair! … Don’t they recognize the need for my stories for the greater good? Truth! The truth is what I make it! I must make them understand… For their own good…”
3/20/2015 9:24 am
The irony of a person (Sabrina) angry about what someone wrote about her and demanding accountability from me yet she writes the biggest fabricated gang rape story in history ruining lives and she feels she does not have to answer to anyone. Wow.
3/24/2015 4:48 am
Ederly is obviously a hack as a writer, she would have been better off sticking to fiction. I would not be surprised if most of her previous stories were also equally bogus. The UVA police concluded the investigation few days ago, they could find no wrongdoing and the fraternity is going to sue the heck out of Rolling stone and hopefully this facetous twit Sabrina Ederly.
3/24/2015 4:51 am
by the way I dont know if you ever will come back to this page Dan but way to go with whatever you did on twitter to that twat