American Apparel board votes to fire controversial founder and CEO Dov Charney

American Apparel board votes to fire controversial founder and CEO Dov Charney
(Image credit: Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)

Years of sexual harassment lawsuits and negative publicity have finally caught up with Dov Charney. On Wednesday, American Apparel's board of directors voted to oust the company's CEO and founder due to an "ongoing investigation" into "alleged misconduct." The board appointed CFO John Luttrell as interim chief executive.

Charney will serve a contractual 30-day suspension, and then the board will fire him for cause, The Wall Street Journal reports. "We take no joy in this, but the board felt it was the right thing to do," Allan Mayer, a director of American Apparel, said in a statement. "Dov Charney created American Apparel, but the company has grown much larger than any one individual and we are confident that its greatest days are still ahead."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.