UPDATED
As Reason‘s Robby Soave noted, more chickens are coming home to roost for Rolling Stone: Three members of Phi Kappa Psi are suing the publication for its now-retracted feature about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia.
Though George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler weren’t identified by their “real names” in the story, they say “they were harassed after the article’s publication and that details in the article led members of the public to begin identifying them as being involved in the assault,” The Washington Post reports:
“As young men who have dedicated their lives to obtaining the merits to attend UVA, maintaining good grades and obtaining undergraduate degrees, while also becoming involved in UVA activities, pledging a fraternity and finding lifelong brothers and friends, Plaintiffs have been embarrassed to admit that they are members of Phi Kappa Psi as a result of the article and its accusations,” according to the filing entered in U.S. District Court in New York.
Elias, who said he was suspected of having participated in the seven-man gang rape of “Jackie” by virtue of living on the frat’s second floor, “hesitated to admit to co-workers that he was a member” as the story went viral:
“The day it came out was the most emotionally grueling of my life,” Elias told The Post, adding that the alleged ritual gang rape hit the hardest. “It assumes that everyone that is part of the frat had to do that, and that hurt a lot of us.”
They want a trial by jury and more than $75,000 for “mental anguish and severe emotional distress.”
Read the lawsuit and the Post story.
UPDATE: Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana is stepping down next month after nearly two decades at the helm, the Post reports: “Dana had only limited involvement in the development and editing of reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s nearly 10,000-word story. But he apologized for it on Rolling Stone’s Web site after major elements of it could not be corroborated.” The magazine hasn’t named a successor.
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