Monday. 10.16.06 11:37 pm
At the end of day three of SOHH's exclusive coverage of The Source sex trial, tales of inter-office relationships, torrid business trips and sex with rappers were all commonplace at the magazine.
After a brief 15-minute recess, the trial reconvened with former Source editor-in-chief Kim Osorio still on the stand. She testified that she wasn't the only female employee at The Source being harassed. Osorio told the jury of multiple instances when she witnessed former Source honcho Raymond "Benzino" Scott touching and speaking to managing editor Adilla Francis in an inappropriate manner.
"He would grab her and hug her and kiss her ... Sit on her lap," Osorio said.
On a business trip in Puerto Rico, Osorio said, she and Francis were coming off the elevator in the hotel where a convention was being held after meeting with Benino and then Source publisher Dave Mays. "He grabbed her and said, 'Come on, you're coming with me,'" Osorio recalled. She then said Benzino then instructed Mays to, "Take Kim to get something to eat."
Osorio testified that Francis had complained to her about Benzino's behavior and the plaintiff advised Francis to file a written report. At this point in her testimony, Judge Jed S. Rakoff posed his own question to Osorio.
"You were the editor-in-chief, were you not?" asked Judge Rakoff.
"Yes," she replied.
"Then why didn't you take further action?" he continued.
"Because I was afraid he was going to fire me," Osorio said.
Osorio alleged that though Benzino had blatantly pursued Francis, he turned his sights on her, inviting the plaintiff to Atlantic City, NJ for the weekend. She then described a scene where the two were leaving the office one evening on the elevator.
"He kept saying, 'Come to Atlantic City with me?'" Osorio said he asked repeatedly. "'You're coming to Atlantic City with me.'"
Once the two were outside of the building, Osorio accepted a ride from him to the parking lot to get her car. She testified that Benzino persisted in asking her to go away with him and when they pulled into the garage and she got out of the car, he said, "I'm gonna call you. You're coming with me."
According to the plaintiff, when she got home that night Benzino called her at least 10 times on her cell phone and at least another 5 times on her home phone. She said she doesn't know how Benzino got her home number and that she didn't answer the phone.
Osorio also alleged that during her employment, Benzino repeatedly questioned her about her sex life, demanding to know if she were having relations with certain hip-hop artists. "Nas, Jay-Z, Slim Thug... Any artist I ever wanted to do a story on, I had to be fucking them," Osorio said.
She went on to say that Benzino asked her about her sex life, in general, all the time. "'Who are you fucking?'" Osorio alleged he would ask. "'Tell me who you're fucking.'"
She said he revealed to her that he'd slept with recording artists such as Foxy Brown, Trina and Lil Kim. According to Osorio, he even told her about Mays' sex life. "He said, 'Dave used to do it. He slept with [veteran female MCs] Nikki D and Yo-Yo.'"
According to Osorio, Benzino also admitted to having a sexual relationship with Francis. "'We slide off at lunch,'" Osorio alleged Benzino said.
Osorio said Benzino also made a vulgar remark to her at one point about a cover photo of Ashanti [see photo above]. "He said, 'Ashanti looks so good on the cover. She got a fat pussy. But I can't, that's Irv's piece.'"
Osorio also alleged that at one time Benzino called radio personality Minya Oh, better known as Miss Info, a "ching chong slut." He also said that Oh was "on her knees as an intern," Osorio told the jury.
When court reconvened after lunch, Osorio's attorneys called Sabrina Smith, another former Source employee, to the stand. Smith, who was called early due to a scheduling conflict, testified that she met Benzino in the elevator of the magazine's office one day and that he remarked that she had a "fat ass" as she exited the elevator. Smith said she didn't learn that Benzino was co-owner of The Source until later, when he began calling her at work repeatedly. The calls became so frequent that at one point that she stopped answering in-house calls and then stopped answering the phone altogether.
After Smith, Osorio retook the stand and told the jury of Benzino and Mays' plot to ruin the reputation of New York radio personality Angie Martinez.
"Ray said he wanted to attack her in the magazine," Osorio recalled of the April 2005 feature entitled "Hot Air." "He wanted to know who she fucked and sucked and put everything out there. He said he wanted to put the fact that she had a child by a certain artist in the magazine."
According to Osorio, Mays was in on the plot to defame Martinez and equally zealous, as he rejected the first version of the article submitted. "Dave said the article we had submitted wasn't vicious enough and if I had to make something up, then go ahead and make it up."
Osorio's testimony went on for most of the day recounting time after time, incident after incident of Benzino's alleged misconduct at work as well as that of Mays and a general environment of hostility. But every vignette the plaintiff's team offered wasn't accepted by the court.
Osorio told of an incident when she was invited to speak at a feminism conference at a university in Chicago. She said she had already accepted the engagement and her travel plans were confirmed when Mays got wind of the news and forced her to pull out. "He said, 'The Source shouldn't be involved in any feminism conference,'" Osorio said. "'This is the kind of thing that should be attacked in the magazine.'"
But Judge Rakoff struck this testimony from the record, finding that it is perfectly lawful for the magazine to take a certain position on feminism, if it so chooses. "This is an issue of free speech and not an example of discrimination," he said.
The trial will reconvene Monday (October 16).
[For more on The Source sexual harassment trial, check out SOHH's exclusive Source trial blog.]
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38 USER COMMENTS
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* tunes says...
* first beeyatches. but real talk the music industry some grimey sh!t.
* Friday, 10-13-2006 @ 11:04pm
* Bubo says...
* Nikki D? Yikes. I was wondering how lil Kim got 5 mics.
* Friday, 10-13-2006 @ 11:15pm
* Bones says...
* LoL. Word. The head must've been GOOD for that album to get 5 mics.
* Friday, 10-13-2006 @ 11:38pm
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