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Court Docs: Rolling Stone Recently Fired Author Of Debunked Campus Gang Rape Article

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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Rollings Stone recently “terminated” its contract with Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the reporter who wrote the debunked article about the gang rape of a University of Virginia student.

Erdely’s status with Rolling Stone has been kept under wraps since UVA dean Nicole Eramo sued the magazine for defamation because of its reporter’s Nov. 2014 article “A Rape on Campus.” In previous disclosures Erdely appeared to still be employed by the magazine.

But according to papers filed by Eramo in the U.S. District Court of Western Virginia on Friday, “Rolling Stone is no longer working with Sabrina Rubin Erdely and has terminated her contract.”

The school administrator claims that Eramo and Rolling Stone smeared her in an article detailing claims made by former UVA student Jackie Coakley about a 2012 gang rape on campus.

Erdely reported that Eramo failed to take Coakley’s claims seriously. But after the article was published, it came to light that Coakley had lied about the gang rape and that Erdely failed to conduct basic journalistic due diligence to verify the claims.

Erdely failed to obtain the names of Coakley’s alleged attackers. She also did not find out the identifies of three friends that Coakley met after the alleged gang rape. Had Erdely done so she would have learned that Coakley fabricated the incident.

Erdely did not respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment.

[h/t Brooklyn College professor K.C. Johnson]

Nicole Eramo court filings

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