The End of a Six-Year Vendetta

Over the last week, I have been inundated with questions about what motivated Barbara Coloroso to behave so recklessly and to put her reputation at such risk in our dispute.

For the past six years, I chose to take the high road in my dispute with Ms. Coloroso, despite her very public campaign to discredit me.  The question was why she went to the extremes that she did: committing perjury, cyberbullying, publicly calling me a liar, a thief and a cheat, and sending a mass e-mail to everyone on my mailing list, claiming that I fabricated research and falsified statistics.

I do not believe in coincidences.  In my book From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, I advise people who think they are being targeted to "tie seemingly unrelated events, comments and situations together and they will usually add up to something.” Now that the legal disputes have been resolved to my satisfaction, I am now able to give my perspective on the reasons for Ms. Coloroso’s actions.

Between February 24, 2010 and July 30, 2011, Ms. Coloroso complimented me nine times on my work on our joint manuscript.  The last compliment was received two days before the expiry of our August 1, 2011 deadline to submit the completed manuscript to HarperCollins.

On July 4, 2011, I rejected what I believe to be a sexual overture made towards me by Ms. Coloroso.  She told me that she had seduced a gay Canadian Olympic athlete, after teaching him to kayak. Then she put her hand on my leg and said "I would love to convert you."  I tried to make light of the situation by gently removing her hand and telling her that I was not a convertible.

We met the next day with my assistant to finalize the manuscript. Ms. Coloroso was a bundle of nerves and we made little progress on the work. That day, July 5, 2011, is the last time that Ms. Coloroso and I have ever spoken in person or by phone, except for her calling me “you bastard” at my examination for discovery. 

On July 7, 2011, three days after the July 4 incident, Ms. Coloroso expressed concerns about my work for the first time.  Thus started her six-year campaign to destroy my reputation.

Coincidental?  I think not.”

Cosby Proves Once Again Bullies Turn Victims into Villains

We like to think that we’re a society that protects the vulnerable, but the continued power of celebrity bullies like Bill Cosby and Bill O’Reilly makes you wonder. Both bad Bills are fond of the bully’s favorite tactic—turning their victims into villains. In Cosby’s case it’s the brave woman who came forward to seek justice for being sexually abused. O’Reilly meanwhile is promising an all-out assault on those who put an end to his decades of misbehavior by promising an “exposé” of a “left-wing cabal”—just as soon as his current legal quagmire is finished, of course.

It makes me feel deeply that hope is in short supply when it comes to helping victims seek justice.

At least O’Reilly is widely known as a bully, braggart and blowhard. His ability to avoid justice has been due in part thanks to his late friend and fellow bully and sexual predator Roger Ailes, but the accusations against him have been no surprise.

This is contrary to Cosby, who was beloved by an entire generation for his clean humor, intelligent children’s cartoons and endearing turn as Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show. That’s why the revelation of multiple cases of rape and molestation has been such a shock. When America’s favorite dad turns out to be a serial sexual predator, how are victims expected to get any sort of closure?

This is where the justice system is flawed. More than 40 women have come forward with stories about being sexually violated by Cosby, but the trial allowed the testimony of only one of them. This made the trial a case of he said/she said without giving the jury the full picture. Why should they listen to a young woman against the word of the most lovable father figure of the 1980s?

The system is clearly stacked against people who are targeted, especially if they’re marginalized or not people of means. Tragically, this allows bullies to think of themselves as bullet-proof and continue their misdeeds. No wonder so many of us are losing faith in the justice system.

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