Almost a year ago in August, Darren Davis, President of iHeart Media (IHRT)
spoke extensively about his strategy for breathing life back into Talk Radio, and specifically the Rush Limbaugh Show. With advertisers still avoiding toxic and polarizing shows like Limbaugh's, he talked about research done by
Brian Glicklich, Rush Limbaugh's Spokesman and Media Crisis Manager:
"We funded some very extensive research to get to the bottom of these negative social media attacks, so now we're armed with all the facts."
The "Social Media attacks" he's referring to focus around the #StopRush protests on Twitter, which Glicklich appears to have convinced Mr. Davis is a campaign by 10 people. Of course, there are not just 10 people as I did the research and found out
over 300,000 people have visited
http://stoprush.net and participated in letting advertisers know they did not want to support Limbaugh's hate speech poisoning our culture. And
another industry professional is openly questioning Mr. Davis's support of Limbaugh, as well as reaffirm the distaste for Limbaugh extends beyond 10 Twitter users.
But clearly Mr. Davis is buying into Glicklich's media strategy 100% and makes it clear he is going to continue to support this campaign:
"This leads another very large point: 80% of the attacks come from a different state than where the business exists. It's really amplified when you look at it that way. A small business in New York is getting letters, Facebook posts and tweets supposedly from customers boycotting their business -- when it's all coming from a person who actually lives in Nevada. It's the biggest bunch of nonsense I've ever come across. We're definitely going to do a big job of telling the truth."
My question to Mr. Davis: Exactly what truth are you telling?
I would also like to tell the truth, and that you, and iHeart Media have funded a campaign of cyberbullying and terrorizing women online, and it is time for you to put an end to it.
So far, Mr. Davis, "telling the truth" has meant:
- Brian Glicklich cold-calling a #Stoprush woman in the middle of the night and badgering her
- Publishing a 68 year-old grandmother's home address four times on Twitter to drive threats her way, causing so much distress she ended up in the hospital
- Talked openly on Twitter about organizing travel to Columbus, Ohio, and bringing along a mob to physically stalk and harass another woman who participated in StopRush
- Contacted employers of StopRush members attempting to negatively affect them or get them fired
- Openly works with and encourages violent Twitter users, including a man jailed for seven months after police found him strangling his girlfriend
- Brian Glicklich's Twitter account being suspended four times for targeted harassment of StopRush women
- Glicklich stalked a random woman on a dating service and reposted private pictures of her claiming she is part of StopRush
- Several StopRush members will not return to Twitter because of the intensity of the harassment they experienced from Brian Glicklich and his trolls: they do not feel safe anymore
Is this the way iHeart(less) does business? You mess with us and we'll send in a paid thug to destroy your life however we can?
More below the fold, including screenshots of the cyberbullying and offline harassment we have endured.
Of all of the women Glicklich has pursued, Carol Wallin has been the target of the worst of his harassment so far.
StopRush volunteers have set up a fundraiser to help her recover nearly $22,000 in court expenses when she attempted to get him to cease publishing her personal information and harassing her.
Glicklich published Carol Wallin's home address and personal information four times (for which he was suspended from Twitter four times). She received threats and menacing emails as a result. Doing the only thing she could think to do, she attempted to get a restraining order on Glicklich so he would cease his campaign to cause her direct harm.
As publishing a home address is not an actual physical threat of violence by Glicklich, the court denied the TRO and set a hearing for a permanent restraining order. Carol paid a process service that tried multiple times to serve Glicklich for the hearing, but was unsuccessful. Terrified and distraught by Glicklich's ongoing harassment, she was admitted to the hospital for emotional distress.
Overwhelmed, at this point, she hired a lawyer to handle the case and made the decision to dismiss, opting for alternate resolution. Unfortunately, the lawyer did not dismiss the case before the court date, and under Anti-SLAPP law, Glicklich had the right to sue Carol, which he did.
During Carol's original hearing, she appeared without representation. The Judge did not rule but took the case under submission.
This time Carol did research in her attempt to find a lawyer who actually knew about anti-SLAPP cases. The judge asked for motions from both sides and on July 8th, made his final ruling. He ruled in favor of Glicklich in the amount of $9,282.50, as required by law, but did not rule on the Anti-SLAPP for lack of jurisdiction.
Carol has legal bills from both attorneys totalling $12,500. The total of all costs for this frivolous lawsuit is now at $21,782.50.
Here are some samples of harassment we have faced from Brian Glicklich:
He was very proud of calling one woman in the middle of the night. Notice the date stamps.
Another tactic was
contacting employers, and he encouraged his followers to do so as well:
Brian Glicklich focused on individual women of StopRush and stalks them across all social media. Here is one woman whose
private pictures he pulled from a dating site:
And then Glicklich talks about plans to pursue StopRush members in person. He talked about
organizing a group to show up in person to harass Cherie Richards and to directly interfere with her husband's business.
These are some examples, and I can show more. But the main point is this: iHeartMedia needs to realize they've made a mistake hiring Brian Gliclich and that he is getting completely out of hand and acting completely uncivilized.
He's already expressed an interest in stalking StopRush women in person. At what point will one of us be physically harmed because of your company's campaign? Please, Mr. Davis, please fix this horrible situation.