Pulitzer Prize president accused of sexual harassment

Sexual harassment accusations began on May 4: At a trade show in Sydney, Australia, journalist Zinzi Clemmons approached Junot Diaz, the president of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, about an incident that allegedly took place between them six years earlier, according to several media.

In a message posted later on her Twitter account, she claimed that the author, 49, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his book The short and wonderful life of Oscar Wao» forcibly kissed her. “I am far from the only one to whom he did this,” wrote the one who was, at the time, a student at Columbia University in New York. “I refuse to be silent any longer.”

Two other authors, Carmen Maria Machado and Monica Byrne, accused the writer, originally from the Dominican Republic, of aggressive behavior since, without mentioning sexual harassment.

Junot Diaz would cooperate with the investigations

Junot Diaz, who in April recounted how he was raped as a child in an essay published in The New Yorker, reacted at the start of the week by saying, in a statement sent by his agent, “to assume (his) responsibilities for (my) past.” “That’s why I made the decision to tell the truth about my rape and its aftermath. This conversation is important and must continue. I listen and I learn from these women’s stories, in this essential cultural moment that is long overdue,” he added.

On Thursday, the Pulitzer Prize board said it had initiated an independent investigation into the charges, saying Junot Diaz supported them and would cooperate with the investigations. Pending the outcome of the investigation, Junot Diaz relinquished his position as president to Eugene Robinson, a journalist at Washington Post, but remains a member of the Pulitzer Prize board.

Since the outbreak of the Weinstein affair in early October, dozens of influential men from the worlds of entertainment, art, politics and journalism have been accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape. The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature has been postponed for a year, as the famous Swedish academy has also been caught up in the turmoil of the movement #MeToo.