One of the world's biggest newspapers, the Daily Mail, has run a big article on the abuse claim that a woman named Jenn Allen made against TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington last week:
There's no new news in the Mail article. It consists mostly of pictures of Allen, who is described as "the latest in a string of beautiful and successful women with whom Arrington has been romantically linked."
What's notable about the article is that the Mail is a mainstream publication. So this will likely raise awareness of the claim against Arrington, further damaging his reputation. It will also likely increase the pressure on Allen to either elaborate on what happened or withdraw her claims.
To be clear:
Jenn Allen has accused Mike Arrington of committing at least two felonies. First, physically abusing her. Second, "raping" her friend.
Those are extremely serious claims.
Although they were instantly taken as fact by some in the tech community, they were also made in a highly unconventional way:
In a Facebook comment left at 2:06am and then in a follow-up blog comment on Gawker.
To say that these are not the typical forums for physical assault claims is an understatement.
In the days since Allen made these claims, Gawker and other publications have researched them and others and learned the following:
- 15 years ago, Arrington was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint and investigation at a company called RealNames. Importantly, the investigation was resolved without Arrington being reprimanded in any way. In other words, as far as the company was concerned, nothing inappropriate happened.
- A couple of years ago, there was a story going around that Arrington threw a friend named Megan Asha against a wall. Importantly, Asha has since denied this story and said that she and Arrington remain friends.
- Two girlfriends of Arrington have told TechCrunch that there was no abuse in their relationships.
In other words, with the exception of Jenn Allen's Facebook post and follow-up blog post--both of which allege that Arrington committed felony assault--there have yet to be any other instances revealed in which Arrington is alleged to have physically abused anyone.
Allen has gone silent since making the claims. Arrington, meanwhile, has yet to comment publicly.
Now that this story has hit the mainstream media, it is unlikely to just go away. So it's time to get to the truth (or at least more details).
Jenn Allen has accused Mike Arrington of two very serious crimes, both of which are seriously damaging to his reputation. It is time for Allen to either elaborate on what happened--telling the full story and possibly filing a formal complaint--or withdraw the claims.
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