It seems that, at 60 years old, Vancouver’s self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot” may finally be getting de-throned, ushered out of the cannabis industry spotlight in Canada by the #timesup #metoo movement. But only after one last wild, online spectacle that’s currently playing out.
Marc Emery came upon fame in the 1990s when he became known for his propensity to smoke weed on the steps of city hall and wag his middle finger at Canada’s pot laws. This week the world learned a secret that many in his industry seemingly already knew: the guy is allegedly a creep.
Taking to Facebook on Wednesday, Emery shared a rambling, 1,800 word apology letter which seemed to be an attempt to take the wind out of an upcoming news article about him on The Huffington Post. A freelance reporter named Deidre Olsen from Vancouver had outlined some sexual harassment allegations in a Twitter thread, which prompted journalists to dig in and find out more.
The apology, timing and theme reads a lot like Jian Ghomeshi’s death rattle on the same social media platform, and it has revealed more than would have been reported had he not written it.
Some things of note in the letter:
– Emery admits that he has “only” ever had sex with three of his employees
– He’s comfortable smoking pot with 17 year olds
– His wife Jodie Emery permanently “banished” him from hanging out in Cannabis Culture stores for unwanted sexual behaviour that made their staff uncomfortable
– He claims to have never had sex with anyone under 19
– He doesn’t want social media outrage to tarnish his legacy, stating that “so, so many good things [he’s] done… can get forgotten amidst Social Media indignation”
– “It’s possible other lurid stories may come to light of [his] behaviour”
Emery has always been outspoken in public, but not concerning sex; he’s only ever raved about the injustice of cannabis laws when in front of a microphone. However after we reached out to a few people who work in his industry it became clear that the sex stuff was no surprise to any of them. None of these people wished to speak on the record, and all of them are happy to see stories of Marc’s actions come to light so that they can move on to a more positive chapter.
If you were paying attention to Emery on social media over the years, there were some clues.
In 2014 he decided to shoot a creepy photo of a group of 14-16 year-old girls and post it to Instagram with the caption “A gaggle of teenagers and their lovely legs.”. In his apology his explanation was that it was “meaningless” and that he was “taking photos of everything that day”.
In 2017 he tweeted some thoughts seemingly defending artists throughout history having “inappropriate or age-sensitive sexual relationships with women”. The series of tweets on that subject have now been deleted.
Emery doesn’t seem to be sincerely apologizing to anyone but his wife. The Prince and his partner, Jodie Emery, have been waging a PR offensive online this week but so far don’t seem to have spoken directly to media. Jodie has been retweeting historical stories about her work, highlighting the fact that she’s been a vocal advocate for cannabis for the last decade. Marc has posted another letter to Facebook, as well as some tweets (one defending an email he sent to someone’s grandma where he said he wanted to “f**k” them).
While Marc is apologizing to Jodie, she seems to think no apologies are necessary. As recently as last month, while responding to something she read in a politics column published here, she let us know that reporters trying to hold him to account was “getting old”.
- Bob Kronbauer, Vancouver Is Awesome
The Facebook statements from Marc Emery is below.
