Writer Claims Rolling Stone Founder Jann Wenner Offered Work In Exchange For Sex
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November 10, 2017And the allegations continue to roll in. Speaking of roll…ing, Rolling Stone. Let’s talk about that. (I’m sorry. That was a terrible segue. But terrible in a cheesy, endearing way, right?)
ANYWAY. The founder of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, has been accused of offering work in exchange for sex. At least, that’s what 27-year-old writer Ben Ryan says.
When Ben Ryan, a 27-year-old writer for a little-known magazine, was contacted by Jann Wenner, one of the most powerful figures in magazine publishing, the young man leapt at the chance to come in and pitch some freelance stories.
It felt like his big break — “the beginning of the end of waiting for something to happen professionally,” he remembers telling his father.
“I felt like this was the beginning of me making it,” Ryan said. “That’s how naïve I was at the time.”
That was 2005. Ryan, now 39, says he’s not naïve any more: The invitation that started with such high expectations ended, he told BuzzFeed News, with an offer of career advancement in exchange for sex.
Sitting in Wenner’s corner office, Ryan did his best “to seem incredibly knowledgeable and professional,” while Wenner leaned back with his feet on the table. Ryan left with an assignment for Men’s Journal.
Ryan said Wenner called now and then to check in, then again one evening with an invitation to his Upper West Side townhouse.
The publisher greeted his guest, fixed him a drink — “like a sidecar; one of those old, fancy, mid-century lowball glasses,” Ryan recently recalled — and sat with him on a couch. Wenner had been out as gay for 10 years by that point, and Ryan said he was aware that he might have expectations, but the young writer figured he could hold the line. Then suddenly, said Ryan, his host pounced.
Before he knew it, Jann’s tongue was in his mouth.
“I had Jann Wenner’s tongue in my mouth,” Ryan said. “I went along for a second but then said something to the effect of ‘Oh please, I’m not that kind of girl.’”
Feeling “totally grossed out,” he said, he remarked that his psychiatrist had predicted that would happen.
At the suggestion that anyone else might know about their encounter, Ryan said, “It was like the entire temperature of the room changed in a flash.” Wenner “got very upset and was pseudo-threatening of how bad it could be if this got out.”
Ryan recalls feeling terrified. “All of a sudden I was the bad guy and I felt like I was in the hot seat and being grilled.”
He got up to leave. He was in the foyer, he said, when Wenner made him an offer: Stay, and I’ll give you a writing contract.
“I think there was that moment where it’s like time stood still, and you’re imagining how this could be the answer to all my struggles. All I would have to do is this one thing,” Ryan said. “But that’s not me. I would never do that.”
Apparently, Ben journaled about this. His entry is pretty chilling.
Thursday, August 11, 2005. Last night Jann Wenner asked me to come to his townhouse for a drink at 10:30 p.m. I knew this would happen sooner or later, I just didn’t think he’d take such a direct approach. It was the most pure form of sexual harassment: he pawed and groped and I insisted no but he persisted promising me a “25 article contract” in the most disingenuous voice. “Preferential treatment.” I was forced to kiss him. His mouth was dry and he was a serpent-like kisser, lashing with his tongue. After 90 minutes I left dignity relatively intact.
Good grief this is disgusting. And it just goes to show that women aren’t the only victims.
For those who care, Ryan’s former boyfriend (along with a few others) confirmed that this happened.
Wenner “acknowledged” the incident and admitted that he “flirted” with Ryan.
In a short statement to BuzzFeed News, Wenner acknowledged the encounter but described it differently: “I met him twelve years ago and did flirt with him. There was no quid pro quo. He refused my advances, but still went on to have his assignment from Men’s Journal published.”
Not much denial happening, there. He basically admitted that he tried to get into Ryan’s pants.
Ryan only wrote one article for Men’s Journal — the one he was assigned on that first encounter with Wenner in his office — and never saw him in person again. But as a more people share their stories of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, Ryan said he felt ready to share “the secret I’ve held tightly for 12 years.”
“I feel we are in such a unique moment in our evolution as a society — a moment when people are genuinely ready to listen to stories such as this — that I must take a stand to help continue the public conversation about sexual harassment and assault in all its forms,” Ryan said.
The whole experience was a “turning point” for Ryan as a freelance writer: “I’m not saying he killed my dreams, but it was a discouraging part of the process.”
Wenner is gross. Go ahead and add him to the seemingly unending list of high profile pervs.
PS– Rolling Stone is still garbage.
