Boston Globe Clarifies Karl Templer Did Not Sexually Coerce Models
CLEARING UP: Stylist Karl Templer is still working to clear his name after it appeared in a Boston Globe investigation into mistreatment of, and sexual misconduct against, fashion models.
The newspaper, which in February published a 5,100-word investigative piece on allegations by many models of sexual assault and harassment by high-profile male photographers and stylists, told Templer’s lawyer in a brief letter dated Oct. 2 and reviewed by WWD that the story did not implicate him specifically in instances of sexual coercion.
A day after the article was published Templer wrote an open letter to WWD, rejecting any accusation of sexually untoward behavior. He has doggedly protested his innocence since then and asked the Globe to clarify the details pertaining to him.
While the Globe’s lawyer was adamant that the paper “stands behind all of its reporting in that article,” he addressed Templer’s view that the article implicated him in “coercing or trying to coerce models to engage in sex or sexual activities” with him.
“The article did not assert or imply any such thing, nor did it report that Mr. Templer attempted to have or had sex with any models,” the letter reads. “Any claim that the Globe accused Mr. Templer of such conduct is entirely unfounded.”
With that, the Globe held firm that its article will not be amended or retracted in any way.
The letter referred to Templer alone and not to anyone else named in the story, like photographers Patrick Demarchelier, David Bellemere and Greg Kadel, all of whom denied the various allegations of sexual misconduct against them, ranging from lewd comments and quid pro quo harassment to forced kissing and rape.
None has been formally charged with a crime.
Three models, speaking anonymously to the Globe, said Templer had, during shoots that he was styling, yanked at the underwear and shorts of one, touched another’s crotch and another’s breast.
The paper said the models felt this behavior “crossed the line of professionalism” and one model recalled the instance of her underwear and shorts being pulled off as “trying to get me naked,” although she’d told her agent she did not want to be nude below the waist.
“A stylist’s movement of clothes multiple times — over three decades and possibly tens of thousands of interactions — is not the same as sexual predation or sexual harassment or touching with the intent of self-gratification,” Templer said in his initial letter to WWD.
He added that it was “impossible” for him to defend himself, as he’d been given no specific information to which he could respond.
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