No matter how long ago it was, if you're in public life, it now appears your past can come back to haunt you, regardless of how serious or even how true the allegations are.
Consider what Elmo, IKEA, and John Furlong have gone through recently.
Earlier this week, Kevin Clash had to go on voluntary leave from his job as the puppeteer for the beloved red furry fella after a former lover went public with accusations he was underaged during his relationship with Clash nearly 30 years ago.
The allegations were reported this and, just one day later, withdrawn.
Later this week, Swedish furniture giant IKEA was forced into contrition after an independent report showed its East German suppliers used forced prison labour to manufacture some of its products. Senior IKEA leaders were aware it may have been happening and took steps to prevent it but didn't do enough, particularly since many of the prisoners were political dissidents.
The allegations date back to 1982, when a human rights group first brought it up, but it didn't come to broader public attention until a Swedish TV documentary earlier this year, prompting IKEA to sponsor auditors Ernst & Young to look into the validity of the claims.
Today New York Cortland County district attorney Mark Suben confessed he lied about appearing in adult films in the 1970s when confronted by local media during his re-election campaign earlier this year.
And, of course, Furlong, the former Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics CEO, who is facing charges he physically abused First Nations elementary school students in Burns Lake in 1969, where he was a physical education instructor still in his late teens.
These three cases stand in mark contrast to Lance Armstrong or David Petraeus, where the combination of physical evidence and witnesses to speak to recent incidents made for a devastating indictment against the accused men.
Those are much different than claims that go back decades, based on statements made by one or a group of people, with little or no physical evidence except for the memory of the alleged victim(s). That does not mean those allegations are invalid but they deserve to be assessed far more critically.
The seriousness of the alleged infractions are also important. The Petraeus affair is significant because he was the CIA director, meaning a personal affair becomes an Achilles heel that could be used for blackmail purposes by America's enemies. The Armstrong fiasco involves a cheater who made millions of dollars on a lie. It's not just about stripping the man of his titles, some of those people who gave him those millions would like their money back for investing in a scam.
The allegations made against Clash have no connection to his skill as a puppeteer and no one is saying IKEA ripped off its customers, stole from investors or put the public at risk. No one is saying Furlong did a poor job organizing the Olympics.
Before judging and throwing the reputations of companies and individuals to the curb, context needs to be considered.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
