Jeff Koinange: I never met woman who claims I raped her – VIDEO
Celebrated journalist Jeff Koinange has finally lifted the lid on an alleged rape incident that led to his sacking at the Cable News Network (CNN), stating he never ever met his accuser.
In what turned into a sudden emotional revelation during his popular breakfast show on Hot 96, the deep-voiced journalist faulted the American media house for its failure to fact check some of the allegations levelled against him before arriving at the decision to sack him.
Koinange, whose dad was an influential government official during Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s regime, also claimed some of his colleagues had grown envious of his success at the time.
“Even from within (the media house) eh!.. a lot of jealousies, (other journalists are like) ‘who is this guy who has risen to the top and has done all the big stories, he’s done (Hurricane) Katrina, he’s done this, he’s done that… winning awards left, right and centre… so that PHD syndrome, (Pull Him or Her Down), I’ve experienced it,” he narrated on the radio show he co-hosts with comedian Felix Odiwour aka Jalang’o.
Koinange, who also hosts the popular weekly talk show Jeff Koinange Live, also narrated how he informally received the message of his sacking from his boss, at a time he was – wait for this – driving on a highway in the US.
“People always think you (I) are (am) something of an overnight star or you (I) don’t go through problems as they do,” Koinange narrated to his co-host.
“At that time, my name was just up there (laughs). The anchor in Atalanta (USA) would just say ‘We are going live to Jeff Koinange in…”
ATTEMPTED RAPE
“It was around that time that rumours started circulating that a woman I had gotten in touch with in Europe, wrote to to me and said, ‘look I hear you are a good friend of (famed American actress and talk show host) Opray Winfrey, I would really like to get in touch with her just (for her) to promote a book that I am writing.”
“I said ‘look, Oprah is my friend, but she is not that kind of friend whom I would introduce people that I even don’t know’.”
“It came to that point when she became a stalker and said things like, ‘Oh I’m gonna do this I’m gonna expose you’, all kinds of crap… through mails.”
“And then one day she wrote a story – she used to write a lot – she had a blog and she brought a story that I attempted to rape her.”
“It went all the way to my boss. So I’m driving on the highway, I just left office, then I get a phone call and my boss says, ‘listen man there’s just too much crap, the Nigerians are saying you stage-managed that story and now there’s all these kinds of rumours coming up, I don’t think we can sustain you any much longer. We gonna have to let you go.”
Koinange, 51, is an Alma Mater of the New York University and among other an Emmy Award winner. He has also worked at the Reuters, ABC News channel, KTN and K24 Television stations.