Michael Hafford, a VICE News contributor who wrote “male feminist” content for the website, has received numerous allegations of sexual and violent abuse from women.
In one post, former VICE News employee Helen Donahue revealed several pictures of bruises on her body.
sux men in media hate women yet write abt feminism n masquerade as allies but its sadder this happens. 2015 i screamed @ my own reflection pic.twitter.com/RGERURFwnb
— helen (@helen) October 6, 2017
Donahue claimed the abuse, which allegedly took place in 2015, was perpetrated by “an editor [at] a popular mag,” and claimed he wrote a column on male feminism.
blacked out n woke up like this. not ready 2 name an editor @ a popular mag but i can post pix. u must kno this happens. n many of u did so
— helen (@helen) October 6, 2017
obv this is chest up. anyway im not ashamed 2 share pix if it helps anyone (or me) heal bc thank u asshole 4 all the goddamn therapy
— helen (@helen) October 6, 2017
the worst part is bc i was in an abusive relationship at 15 n dated my rapist in an attempt 2 feel in control, i tried 2 date this POS too
— helen (@helen) October 6, 2017
btw this was the first night i met this person (wtf) n he wrote a column on male feminism, making fun of dudes who masquerade as allies
— helen (@helen) October 6, 2017
soooooo many ppl knew abt this the day after it happened n he only apologized bc he thought itd impact his career n maintained i asked 4 it
— helen (@helen) October 6, 2017
The alleged perpetrator was later revealed to be Michael Hafford, who has also written for Refinery 29, Playboy, and Rolling Stone.
The guy that did this abused multiple women his name is @michaelhafford and We shouldn’t let him get away with this https://t.co/t1YerduXf7
— art boy (@ka5sh) October 6, 2017
Following numerous allegations of abuse, Hafford set his Twitter account to private, and blocked one of the accounts alleging abuse.
He blocked me lmao pic.twitter.com/k12Dt6zjfd
— art boy (@ka5sh) October 6, 2017
In a post on Twitter, writer Deirdre Coyle also claimed Hafford “physically forced me to do cocaine during sex,” while another account added, “This is the same guy who choked me at the foot of his stairs until I passed out and then repeatedly punched me in the face.”
these bruises came from the same guy who physically forced me to do cocaine during sex https://t.co/jBmD94E0Rc
— Deirdre Coyle (@DeirdreKoala) October 6, 2017
This is the same guy who choked me at the foot of his stairs until I passed out and then repeatedly punched me in the face https://t.co/VNKsR4CYG1
— dilara (@lamegirl1234) October 6, 2017
In 2015, when at least two of the incidents allegedly took place, Hafford wrote eight articles on being a male feminist for the VICE News women’s subsection, Broadly, including “The Broadly Guide to Male Feminism.”
https://twitter.com/MrNashington/status/917102659454238720
Despite numerous attempts from users on Twitter to get VICE News, Rolling Stone, Refinery 29, and Playboy to respond, they have yet to acknowledge the accusations.
**UPDATE** After this story published, another woman accused Michael Hafford of sexual abuse. Journalist Abby Carney tweeted “I too was forcibly entered and choked by the same male feminist.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.
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