Canada’s CBC radio station made a surprising announcement on Sunday, that they were firing popular talk show host Jian Ghomeshi. As more information surfaced over the course of the day, it became clear that the famous interviewer and former indie musician had been accused by at least three women of sexual violence. Ghomeshi is striking back though, and has now filed a $50 million lawsuit against CBC and posted a statement on Facebook attempting to clear his name. He insists that he only ever engaged in consensual BDSM, and all claims to the contrary are being made out of vengeance.

The Toronto Star Reports that Ghomeshi’s accusers, all in their twenties, say the host physically and verbally attacked them during sex, without consent. His alleged violent actions include beating them with a closed first, biting them and choking them. In addition, a former CBC employee says Ghomeshi once told her at work, “I want to hate f*ck you.” The publication says they were previously aware of the allegations, and contacted Ghomeshi repeatedly over the past few months, but that the host simply had his lawyer tell them he “does not engage in an any non-consensual role play or sex and any suggestion of the contrary is defamatory.

CBC originally said on Friday that Ghomeshi, who’s show Q was one of their most popular, had been put on indeterminate leave in order to deal with “personal issues.” On Sunday, shortly after the station made the official announcement of his termination, Ghomeshi’s lawyers stated that they would be filing suit on Monday for “breach of confidence and bad faith.” Around the same time, the host released his own statement.

In his Facebook post, Ghomeshi called the claims being made against him “a campaign of false allegations persued by a jilted ex girlfriend and a freelance writer,” and insisted, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”  He went on to say that he has “always been interested in a variety of activities in the bedroom, but I only participate in sexual practices that are agreed upon, consensual, and exciting for both partners.”

Ghomeshi says that he started an “affectionate, casual and passionate” relationship with a woman in her twenties, two years ago.  By his account, they engaged in “adventurous forms of sex that included role-play, dominance and submission,” but they “discussed our interests in length before engaging in rough sex (forms of BDSM).” He insists that after he broke the relationship off, the woman in question “began a campaign of harassment, vengeance and demonization” against him, and convinced others to join in.

This is not the first time the subject of possible sexually abusive behavior by Ghomeshi has come up. Last year, writer Carla Ciccone penned an article for website XOJane about a “bad date” with an unidentified Canadian radio host, who many believed to be Ghomeshi. Ciccone endured extreme backlash, including abusive messages in the comments thread and even death threats. That incident is one of the reasons all of Ghomeshi’s current accusers have chosen to stay anonymous.