James Clementi on the Real Story of His Brother’s Tragic Suicide

On this Memorial Day Monday, we’re going back and playing some memorable Takeaway interviews from the last year.
In February, we spoke with James Clementi, older brother of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University student who killed himself in September 2010 after discovering his roommate, Dharun Ravi, had used a webcam to spy on him during an intimate encounter with another man. Just last week, Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail for his actions; he escaped a much harsher punishment, as he faced up to ten years in prison.
Tyler and James’ mother, Jane Clementi, gave an emotional statement in court on May 21, the day of Ravi’s sentencing. “My question is why didn’t his roommate just request a roommate change?” she said. “Why was he so arrogant, so mean spirited and evil that he would humiliate and embarrass Tyler in front of Tyler’s new dorm mates, the very people Tyler was trying to meet and become friends with? How could they all just go along with such meanness? Why didn’t any one of them speak up and stop it?” James also spoke to the court, saying “Mr. Ravi appears untroubled in any way by what he did, how he made my brother suffer.” He continued: “To be honest, there is a time when an apology would have actually meant something to me, but now it is clear that anything of the sort would be empty, rehearsed words, spoken without empathy.”
James spoke to us back in February after writing an article for OUT magazine about his brother’s death and the case that galvanized national concern for suicide among gay teenagers.
James spoke to us on February 3, 2012 after writing an article for Out magazine about his brother’s death and the case that galvanized national concern for suicide among gay teenagers.