Progressive PR firm FitzGibbon shuts after sexual harassment allegations
Claims against founder Trevor FitzGibbon forces closure of company that has big-name clients including Amnesty International
Fri 18 Dec 2015 07.36 GMT
Last modified on Fri 14 Jul 2017 21.20 BSTThe public relations firm behind some of the world’s most progressive organizations has dramatically closed after its founder and figurehead received what one staffer described as “an avalanche” of complaints about sexual harassment and assault by his employees.
Trevor FitzGibbon, a major figure in the communications industry, who counts among his clients Amnesty International, MoveOn, the American Civil Liberties Union and WikiLeaks, confirmed in an emailed statement that the company bearing his name was closing after complaints about him.
“The allegations against me are a distraction to the mission at hand,” FitzGibbon said. The public relations expert, who has been on leave of absence since complaints first emerged, added: “it is abundantly clear that an irreconcilable difference has arisen between the FitzGibbon team and me”.
Employees at FitzGibbon Media, which is based in Washington DC and has offices in New York, San Francisco and London, were informed of its closure during a company-wide call at 4pm on Thursday.
Suddenly out of work, staff spent the evening drafting a collective statement, saying they were “incredibly sad and disappointed” to confirm the allegations against FitzGibbon were “for sexual assault and harassment of multiple female staffers”.
“Staffers reported over a half dozen incidents of sexual harassment and at least two involving sexual assault committed by Trevor FitzGibbon against his own employees,” it added.
The Guardian, which is among a handful of media outlets listed as clients of FitzGibbon Media, has spoken to five employees at the firm, all of whom were involved in drafting the statement and confirmed its authenticity. Andy Stepanian, the company’s senior director of media relations, said the statement was drafted online and signed off by 24 of the firm’s 29 employees.
“For decades, Trevor presented himself a champion of the progressive movement, claiming to support and respect women and feminist issues, from equal pay to reproductive rights, but his actions prove a hypocrisy so great that FitzGibbon Media closed its doors today, as we could no longer continue working under his leadership,” the statement added.
“We lost our jobs standing up for what’s right, to ensure a safe workplace for all – and while we may have been left without jobs, benefits and long-term healthcare, we have our integrity and each other.”
The complaints against FitzGibbon, a major power-broker in progressive circles in Washington DC, and whose clients also include the Chelsea Manning Legal Defense Fund and the largest federation of unions in the the US, the AFL-CIO, began earlier this month during a company retreat in Austin, Texas.
It was there that word surfaced that a candidate for a job at the company had complained that FitzGibbon had propositioned her during an informal interview. The complaint was immediately forwarded to human resources and prompted a discussion among women at the company about their founder’s alleged past behaviour.
“I think a lot of people before that had felt they were alone and isolated,” one female employee said. “We have a young staff and a lot of the incidents [are alleged to have] happened one-on-one with Trevor. He was in a position of trust.”
Further complaints were lodged against the president of the company and, on Monday, the workforce was informed that he was taking a six-week leave of absence, pending an investigation into complaints of a sexual nature, and undergoing counselling, according to several people who heard the call.
Stepanian and other staffers said Monday’s call prompted more women to come forward. “When it happened there was an avalanche of complaints,” said Stepanian, who added he knew of as many as 10 women who had made allegations and had spoken at length to four. Two of those described alleged treatment that amounted to sexual assaults, he added.
Another employee, a 24-year-old media relations strategist who asked not to be named, said FitzGibbon made inappropriate comments about her body and and hugged her “in a way that made me feel uncomfortable”. She said female colleagues had shown her inappropriate text messages of a sexual nature sent to them by the company’s president.
According
to several people who heard Thursday’s call, at which the workforce was
told their company was being closed, senior managers said they had
explored the possibility of keeping the firm going without its founder
at the helm. However, when that was not deemed possible, it was decided
to close the company.
News of the company’s closure was first reported by the Huffington Post.
FitzGibbon Media said in a statement: “After much discussion and deliberations, and in consultation with legal counsel, it is with great regret that we have announced our firm is closing.”
FitzGibbon, who is married with three children, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. His public relations representative, however, said his response to all inquiries was the emailed statement shared with reporters.
That statement, in which FitzGibbon described the allegations as a distraction from the company’s leftwing mission, added that the his firm had been “the undisputed communications leader for the progressive movement”.
“I apologize to my team and our clients for the impact this closing will have on them,” FitzGibbon added. “I will work to once again regain the trust that was lost.”
This article was updated on 18 December 2015. An earlier version said Pussy Riot was a client of FitzGibbon. A publicist for Pussy Riot, which is listed on FitzGibbon’s biographical page, said they had never been a direct client.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/X
The political action committee that dropped $7 million to promote Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid during the Super Bowl has picked its public face—selecting a spokesman forced out of progressive circles over claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Federal Election Commission records show the American Values 2024 Super PAC, established to boost the Hyannisport scion’s longshot attempt at the White House, has paid $90,000 to date to Silent Partner Inc., the firm of outcast media consultant Trevor Fitzgibbon. Multiple press releases the committee has put out list Fitzgibbon as its press contact, and both local and national news outlets have quoted him as its spokesman.
But missing so far from these citations is the PR man’s past: namely that he lost his former firm, Fitzgibbon Media—which once repped some of the biggest names in liberal politics, from The Intercept to NARAL to the Center for American Progress to MoveOn.org—in 2015 after multiple female employees accused him of groping them and insisting they send him sexy selfies. Authorities in Washington, D.C., ultimately declined to bring charges against Fitzgibbon, leading him to attempt a comeback with a new firm in 2017, only for a host of progressive organizations to sign a letter vowing never to employ him.
The Daily Beast reached out to American Values 2024 with inquiries about what kind of competitive interview process it conducted prior to hiring Fitzgibbon, how many alternative candidates it considered for the role, and at what point it had learned of the misconduct claim against him.
Rather than answer any of these questions, the PAC’s co-chair and treasurer instead accused The Daily Beast of engaging in “character assassination” by bringing up what he described as “old allegations.” The PAC also highlighted that Fitzgibbon once worked as New Mexico communications director for ex-President Barack Obama’s successful Democratic primary effort 16 years ago.
“Trevor Fitzgibbon has a long and distinguished career representing progressive causes, including the Obama campaign in 2008,” asserted Tony Lyons who besides helming the PAC also runs fringe imprint Skyhorse Publishing. Skyhorse has put out multiple books by Kennedy and also paid him six-figures in consulting fees, according to the candidate’s own disclosures. However, election law forbids the PAC from coordinating with the Martha’s Vineyard habitue’s campaign.
Writing from his Skyhorse Publishing email address, Lyons further noted that one of the accusers had retracted her claims as part of a settlement following protracted litigation.
Fitzgibbon himself did not respond to repeated queries, but referred The Daily Beast to Lyons’ statement. But when trying to relaunch himself seven years ago, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, he struck a far more penitent note than his current superior.
“I am sincerely sorry for my behavior and for any women who were harmed,” Fitzgibbon said in a statement at the time, even as he denied the criminal claims against him. “Moving forward, I have a newfound compassion and sensitivity for what women go through on a daily basis and am committed to fighting against unfair power dynamics and fighting for equality for everyone—both in my own actions and whenever I see it.”
But Fitzgibbon’s new venture, christened Mission Critical Media, appears to have gotten little traction at the time. His latest firm, Silent Partner Inc., has never received payment from another federal committee besides American Values.
The Daily Beast reported in 2020 that Fitzgibbon had powwowed with right-wing activists over a proposed but never-realized spying operation targeting the family of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
Otherwise, Fitzgibbon has spent the intervening years representing such causes as offshore wind opposition groups and protests against aid to Ukraine. In 2022, he handled PR for an anti-vaccine mandate rally Kennedy led in Washington, D.C.
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This has touched a nerve. I was accused when I first posted in on one comment of mistaking millions for billions. The $21 million in bonuses were handed out to staff at the Bank of Canada. (a disgrace with what Canadians are going through that they live the high life)
The story I posted was about the 5 main BANKS in Canada who paid out BILLIONS IN BONUSES.
Keep in mind grocery total profits were $3.27 billion. Total bank profits were over $60 billion.
Here is a breakdown and a link to the article from BNN Bloomberg who NO ONE IN GOVERNMENT OR MEDIA reports on
EVERYONE is carrying the banks water and protecting them from public backlash.
Here are the figures from BNN Bloomberg
Toronto-Dominion, set aside C$4.07 billion for incentive compensation.
Royal Bank of Canada-increased variable compensation 6.7% to C$7.61 billion.
Bank of Nova Scotia boosting money set aside for bonuses by 3.9% to C$2.08 billion
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased its bonus pool by 2.2% to C$2.51 billion.
Bank of Montreal increased its incentive compensation pool by 11.7% to C$3.57 billion
National Bank of Canada, increased bonus payments by just 0.1% to $1.34 billion.
Taken From BNN Bloomberg – December 1st 2023
https://lnkd.in/gSTDWFmn