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[Palabragrís]

Today I found out that since mid-march there's been an online movement on twitter (called #ChangeTheChannel) regarding the mistreatment, harasment (sometimes even sexually) and abuse to former collaborators and content creators on Channel Awesome (formerly known as ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com), site famous for hosting people like the Nostalgia Critic, AngryJoe, MasakoX and others (and formerly The Spoony One, Nostalgia Chick, Linkara, and others). There's even a 69-page-long text with the testimonies and evidence from old Channel Awesome providers, talking about all the problems they experienced while working for the site (Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZFkR__B3Mk9EYQglvislMUx9HWvWhOaBP820UBa4dA/preview).

It's a shame, really. Though rumors of problems have surrounded the site since its conception (I've been following them since ~2008, when there was a crossover fight between the Angry Videogame Nerd and the Nostalgia Critic), but reading about all the abuse the CEO of the company subjected upon its workers is cringeworthy. A shame for a site that provided me with a lot of enternteinment, but that has been slowly dying for the past 5 years or so.

Also, as an answer (and as what could be read as the confirmation to the rumours), Channel Awesome issued the most EA-like non-apology apology I've read in a long time:


It's a shame, I insist. I really enjoyed some of the creations from that place, but after knowing all of this, it's really hard to go back and watch their shows again.

PD: Sorry I posted this, but I had to get it out of my chest :v

 

[Barsinister]

If you are a creative person, you already kind of understand something about the process. But if you are not, I will tell you something you may not know. There is drama that swirls all around you as you are doing a creative and collaborative thing. People will hate each other one minute and get on like the best of friends the next. It is a very strange thing to watch as it is going on. Actors and others are creating drama or comedy and it seeps into reality. I really do advise everyone to take this with a grain of salt. Dramatic people will make things seem more dramatic than they actually are. This can generally be counted on to be true.

I can back this up. I have been in actual movies. They are not good movies, but I have been in them. I don't want to reveal too much about my personal life, so I won't name them.

 

[Dunki]

I have read some of it (sorry I do not want to read 65 pages but to me this looks mostly like people not having a clue what they are doing and not some people doing some shitty things because they are awful.

 

[strange headache]

I'm sorry, I've tried to read through this document, but I gave up after page 22. Most of that stuff is petty squabbles between a bunch of amateur vloggers and 'critics' who used to be friends but have fallen out with each other. What's the point in stirring up these old stories in this soap opera like fashion? Seems to me as if some people are trying to make a name for themselves by creating internet drama in order to garner a few more clicks.

If you watch their anniversary movies, it's quite apparent that, while somewhat enjoyable, they have been mostly cobbled together by a bunch of likable loonies who also happened to be friends. Nobody should be surprised that production didn't adhere to any sort of professional standards.

As for the interpersonal drama, I really couldn't care less. Would you really expect otherwise if you threw a bunch of socially awkward geeks together? I suspect not. Don't get me wrong, I used to enjoy some of their content, especially Spoony and I wish all of them the best of luck. But after Spoony was forced to leave due to some stupid twitter joke nobody really cared about, it became quite apparent how immature and/or quizzical so many of them really are. The document you provided, just seems to be more of the same inane bickering.

All the finger pointing really only reinforces the impression how woefully unable all the parties involved are at dealing with their problems in an adult manner. They are just a bunch of mostly harmless, needy and amateurish enthusiasts who have gotten themselves tangled up in a messy web of work and relationship related gossip. Grown ups usually deal with these problems in a personal and direct manner, not years later through airing dirty laundry over social media.

 

[Insane Metal]

If you are a creative person, you already kind of understand something about the process. But if you are not, I will tell you something you may not know. There is drama that swirls all around you as you are doing a creative and collaborative thing. People will hate each other one minute and get on like the best of friends the next. It is a very strange thing to watch as it is going on. Actors and others are creating drama or comedy and it seeps into reality. I really do advise everyone to take this with a grain of salt. Dramatic people will make things seem more dramatic than they actually are. This can generally be counted on to be true.

I can back this up. I have been in actual movies. They are not good movies, but I have been in them. I don't want to reveal too much about my personal life, so I won't name them.

Hello, Steven Seagal.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Yeah, this doesn't come as much of a surprise. It was pretty clear they had no clue what they were doing, which makes sense since they were some of the first people to make a living off of online video content. It's normal now, with Youtube and all, but back then, they were going places no one else had gone before.

I don't really know what the purpose of ChannelAwesome is anymore. I left the site a long time ago, when they stopped using blip. If you're just gonna host videos on youtube, I'll just subscribe to the channels I'm interested in there. I don't need them to gather a group of people anymore.

Anyway, it's somewhat interesting to see all these former contributors talk about their experiences behind the scenes. It's a bit nostalgic, them talking about all that stuff that happened 10 years ago.

 

[infinitys_7th]

So when will Lupa admit that she conspired against Spoony with Scarlett and the HR weasel?

That seems more like intentional harassment than any of her complaints, considering she got a guy known for making gross Tarantino-ish humor fired for making a gross Tarantino-ish joke (see Pulp Fiction). And Jesotaku did not even care about it.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Also, I love the whining about the Mechakara rape scene when Lindsey Ellis wrote the infamous rape rap.

 

[Barsinister]

Hello, Steven Seagal.

 

[Blackie]

It's been fascinating to follow the news on this. A lot of great content creators like Lindsay Ellis started there, many of the stories of what happened are sad but credible.

 

[Dr. Claus]

So when will Lupa admit that she conspired against Spoony with Scarlett and the HR weasel?

That seems more like intentional harassment than any of her complaints, considering she got a guy known for making gross Tarantino-ish humor fired for making a gross Tarantino-ish joke (see Pulp Fiction). And Jesotaku did not even care about it.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Also, I love the whining about the Mechakara rape scene when Lindsey Ellis wrote the infamous rape rap.

Lupa is one of the reasons I can't really take this "movement" seriously. She waited until over a month passed and the dust had settled with the Spoony tweet before dredging it back up to lodge a complaint. If it was genuinely an issue, she would have done something much sooner (as the tweet was pretty well known when it was originally posted). Ever since I first found out about ChannelAwesome (then dubbed "ThatGuyWithTheGlasses"), she has always come across as petty and jealous of her more entertaining (in my opinion) brethren on the site.

As for the document, I have read through the entire 64 page document and... I have to agree with the others. It is just a bunch of petty squabbles with maybe one or two actually worrying issues. One in particular confuses me: Jane Doe. I am not very familiar with "sexual grooming", but it sounds more like someone had a sexual relationship as a legal adult that they ended up regretting, but claim that they were still "16 in mind". How is that sexual abuse? I am genuinely curious.

 

[Barsinister]

I could write a story here that will give some insight. If I write about it I will have to tell my wife, though. I was married at the time it happened. It's nothing that will get me divorced, but it is embarrassing.

I was acting in a play with three women. One of the women was pretty old and got on with everyone well enough. She was the mother character, and she acted like it! We were all her children, as far as she was concerned.

Well the other two were younger like me at the time. Both the other women were at each other's necks all the time, but loved and kissed on one another too. One of them used to undress in front of us as if it was no big deal. "We were all adults," she would inform us. She would rub up against me, we were married in the play. We would argue like we were really married sometimes. I was playing a creep, hitting on the other girl. One got jealous. Insanity, I'm telling you! In the moment it FEELS real. You really are married to this other girl. You really are a creep hitting on the sister in law. That's how you feel, if you get into it.

If you didn't rub the behind of a statue of Captain Kirk, you were putting the whole show in jeopardy. Late night parties where show tunes were sung until three in the morning. I felt most times that I was watching crazy people. It was hard to look away. I mentioned to one of the guys that I had read comics as a kid. He gave me a copy of Wolverine #1. He just gave it to me, for free. I told him I hadn't read a comic in ten years, he said keep it.

It's like you are living in a fantasy the whole time and it's hard when you come down to tell what is real. I wish I was better with these words, but I hope that you get my meaning. None of this is "troubling". It's people coming back to reality, but they were definitely in the fantasy. You will have regrets of things you did in the fantasy, but that's your own fault for getting too caught up!

Back in High School, remember how weird the drama kids were? They don't grow out of that weirdness. It doesn't matter the scale of the production, they are still weird.

 

[SirKicksalot]

I'll never understand why some people just jump over the pre-production stage. I've seen it happening multiple times and it's just incredible IMO.
Then they want the product fixed in post, lol.

 

[Kadayi]

I'll never understand why some people just jump over the pre-production stage. I've seen it happening multiple times and it's just incredible IMO.
Then they want the product fixed in post, lol.

 

[infinitys_7th]

So CA posted their official response, and they come out swinging:

https://channelawesome.com/our-response/

In particular:

ACCUSATION – Holly Brown alleges Channel Awesome had her work during “To Boldly Flee” after her surgery.

FACT – During this time, Robert Walker, Doug Walker and Michael Michaud told her she did not have to work. Site updates were performed by others as she recovered.

So it looks like Holly is nothing but a snake.

 

[Dontuseducks]

I don't get all the negativity. Yes they probably are not very professional. Is there anybody who watched the channel for their professional content?

I watched because most of the times i saw a amateur enjoying making simple videos. Nostalgia Critic, for example, is not always funny or spot on, but i always enjoy him trying. 20/30 minutes per week in where he tries really hard to entertain me. Most of the times he succeeded. Even nowadays, i like his videos.

So that joy that i see in his videos, i also saw it in a lot of other people's videos. The amateuristic joy as in we just like what we do. Maybe some people behind the scenes expected too much.

Im not saying that amateurs don't have to try to be somewhat stable and im sure lots of things didn't go well. But you can say what u want, NC en co were ine of the first to do it like this. They never grew into a YouTube high value business, but that is, for me, the absolute charm of Doug en others. And yes some people can be assholes.

 

[Dunki]

This is such a fucking mess I can not understand how people can not jsut move on and be done with it....

Also it is kind of sad how they now involve people like Tamara and Malcom as wel.. They already said they love it there and were always treated with repsect.

 

[infinitys_7th]

I'm really confused as to the reactions of people to CA's rebuttal.

"Why don't you all just say you are sorry?"

Why would you say you are sorry for things that are easily debunked/explained? It's strange that the first reaction of people is to expect an immediate apology even for things that are not true. I blame HR/PR coddling the population.

In terms of the only serious charge in all this - Mike Ellis' harassment - it appears that they started removing Ellis as soon as his harassment came to light. As they said, those things take time, and it happened in a reasonable amount of time. People keep screeching about how CA was "unprofessional", but as mentioned removing someone with a financial stake in a company from a company in a professional, legal, structured manner takes time. You can't have it both ways.

 

[Barsinister]

I have spent the last few days looking at a lot of the stuff involved in this business. I don't know why, exactly. I enjoy learning about the process of creating entertainment, I guess. I watched "Nostalgia Critic" and other videos related. I watched about an hour of the movie "To Boldly Flee". I read the complaints and answers to the complaints. Took me about a week. I have some thoughts I would like to share.

The writing of most, if not all, of these shows use the same pattern and it gets weary after a while. I can understand why Mr. Walker wanted to retire the character. Every character uses the same voice. By that I mean that they all use the same fast talking patter to deliver the jokes. It's like a who's more clever Olympics. Even the "Bum" character talks the same as the others. With the AVGN character, at least it seems like he knows that it's limited, so he tries to change it up. All of the other producers of content use the same template. The ones who developed a different style look to be still around in some fashion. Or they went crazy, it looks like.

The "rape" scene seems to be a major point of contention. I always thought that was one of the themes of the Borg. They violate, physically and mentally, their victims. The joke in "To Boldly Flee" is risky on the face of it. A pleasurable violation? That joke needs to be really funny in order for people to forget what its intention is. Looks to me like the joke fell flat. I've never seen that joke work, probably should have cut it. Used the drama of the moment only to undercut it somehow in the next scene.

The rest seem to me like most amateur production complaints. This is about money, in my opinion. Mr. Walker and company can't copy-write their lazy writing, so they have many aping their style. It was smart to cast a net around the copycats and use them to promote themselves. Looks like when the copycats wised up they got a little upset. The pie isn't big enough to sustain them all! Their only course of action is to tear the whole thing down. Notice how the successful ones aren't nearly as upset as the ones who couldn't sustain an audience?

My initial opinion of the matter seems justified, to my mind. This is High School Drama. Only they are thirty years old.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Well, this turned into a shitshow like a semi going into a wall at 70 MPH.

 

[Novdelothwen]

Let me first say that I appreciate the civil discussion going on in this thread. Everywhere else I’ve gone to get info or insights, it’s been “Watch the Walkers burn!” or “My feelings, they’ve been damaged forever.” As far as I can tell, the ex-CA people haven’t provided a lot of concrete evidence, yet people are taking it as gospel. It’s “feels over reals,” or whatever that dumb phrase I ran across. (It’s so dumb, for some reason, my brain wants to hold on to it.)

At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if the CA people hired a lawyer.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Let me first say that I appreciate the civil discussion going on in this thread. Everywhere else I’ve gone to get info or insights, it’s been “Watch the Walkers burn!” or “My feelings, they’ve been damaged forever.” As far as I can tell, the ex-CA people haven’t provided a lot of concrete evidence, yet people are taking it as gospel. It’s “feels over reals,” or whatever that dumb phrase I ran across. (It’s so dumb, for some reason, my brain wants to hold on to it.)

At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if the CA people hired a lawyer.

That's the thing - almost everything the #ChangeTheChannel people talked about was petty nonsense, up until the latest revelations around JewWario. "Wah they didn't pay us enough!" "Wah they fired me for being sick when they actually helped me the whole time!" "Wah they triggered me with a scene in a movie!"

#CTC whined about that bullshit and knowingly withheld all this, likely because they were complicit in covering it up too.

Now CA AND the #CTC people all look like garbage human beings - they all (meaning the leadership - Michaud and the Walkers, Holly and Lupa and NChick) apparently knew about JewWario and never said a thing. This has now been confirmed by multiple sources (the badly redacted chat log from CA, Holly's Twitter confirmation, and now Iron Liz's confirmation that she rendered services as a trauma counselor).

 

[Dunki]

Count Jackula also made a video about his experiences

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

My impression is people are overreacting waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to this, could Doug be kind of a dick? Sure. Was there some drama? Sure.

But like, that's life, ya know, the world is not your personal hugbox or safe space, any group of people are going to butt heads and step on each others toes if they spend enough time together.

I see no reason to stop watching the Nostalgia Critics videos but it's a shame the heyday of Channel Awesome is over with, now even Linkara has left.

 

[brap]

Funny how Brad, Guru Larry (who was apparently on the site for like 10 years), and Douge are the only ones left. So much drama started over pretty much nothing. Troublemaker Lupa strikes again.

 

[Ka-Kui]

I used to watch some of their stuff many moons ago. Reading this feels somehow expected from a bunch of unprofessional nerds with very left leanings.

What is up with that Jane Doe saying she was 18 with the mind of a 16 year old!? Is she trying to imply child abuse?!!! No that's not how it works.

I'm 32 years old with a mind of a 2 year, somebody change my diaper and fetch me a nipple!

 

[brap]

Most of the doc is petty bullshit but there's a couple cases of sexual harassment that run fucking DEEP. Stuff is still being uncovered and Holly (previously CA's HR person) is confirming and denying things. Basically, JewWario is being accused of sexually assualting and grooming multiple females. I guess that Catgirl Army shit he came up with wasn't so innocent. Always thought it was creepy that some 40 year old was always being so nice and sweet to all his teenage fangirls. Doug, Rob, and Holly were covering this all up for years.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Most of the doc is petty bullshit but there's a couple cases of sexual harassment that run fucking DEEP. Stuff is still being uncovered and Holly (previously CA's HR person) is confirming and denying things. Basically, JewWario is being accused of sexually assualting and grooming multiple females. I guess that Catgirl Army shit he came up with wasn't so innocent. Always thought it was creepy that some 40 year old was always being so nice and sweet to all his teenage fangirls. Doug, Rob, and Holly were covering this all up for years.

Just to be clear, there are only two concrete accusations against JewWario at present:

1. A CA contributor who claims to have been raped by him at a MAGfest while she was drunk and unconscious. This incident has been confirmed by CA, Holly, Iron Liz, and now Count Jackula, who saw JewWario literally leaving the scene of the crime but did not know what had happened until later. Interestingly, Holly blocked Jankula from digging into the incident when he started investigating rumors after JewWario's death:



2. A JewWario fangirl who claims to have been "groomed" by JewWario. During the "grooming" and ensuing relatioship, she was 18-going-on-19 years old, but claims to have been "16 in mind". The latter claim has now ballooned into him preying on underage girls, but there is no evidence of that at the moment, as, regardless of the relationship being creepy or not, she was of legal age.

Jackula did mention a potential third victim that Holly was working with at another convention, but the details are scant.

Of course, Victim 1 is more than enough to say screw JewWario.

 

[Novdelothwen]

So much drama started over pretty much nothing. Troublemaker Lupa strikes again.

I remember in that video where she showed lost stills from the Quantum Leap finale she said something along the lines of "I feel that 2018 is the year of Allison."

It sure is, but in all the wrong ways. Her friends' reputations are in tatters, she's proven herself untrustworthy, and all this is very possibly the cause of Fullscreen dropping her and Phelous.

I'm sure it started out as Lupa wanting to get even with CA but disguising it as wanting to protect other contributors and "change the channel." This was her personal #metoo movement. But as kind and socially aware she presents herself, it seems that Lupa has a gigantic ego, an even bigger revenge streak, and a few skeletons in the closet she shares with her buddies.

The only good thing out of all this is that maybe JW's victim will get some kind of closure. Since he can't be brought to justice, at least his true nature can be made known.

 

[brap]

Just to be clear, there are only two concrete accusations against JewWario at present:

1. A CA contributor who claims to have been raped by him at a MAGfest while she was drunk and unconscious. This incident has been confirmed by CA, Holly, Iron Liz, and now Count Jackula, who saw JewWario literally leaving the scene of the crime but did not know what had happened until later. Interestingly, Holly blocked Jankula from digging into the incident when he started investigating rumors after JewWario's death:



2. A JewWario fangirl who claims to have been "groomed" by JewWario. During the "grooming" and ensuing relatioship, she was 18-going-on-19 years old, but claims to have been "16 in mind". The latter claim has now ballooned into him preying on underage girls, but there is no evidence of that at the moment, as, regardless of the relationship being creepy or not, she was of legal age.

Jackula did mention a potential third victim that Holly was working with at another convention, but the details are scant.

Of course, Victim 1 is more than enough to say screw JewWario.

I'm hearing that more are being added to the doc but I can't see because you need to request access now. Anyway, people have apparently identified victim 1 because of what Count Jackula said in that video so I'm kinda inclined to believe there's more whether underage or not. Especially because one of the alleged victims (not sure if I should post here) seems very childlike. That's all I'll say.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Ah of course the new shitty form of gaf would take the walker's side and their pathetic response at face value, even when many of their claims are easily debunked.

 

[Glass Joe]

Ah of course the new shitty form of gaf would take the walker's side and their pathetic response at face value, even when many of their claims are easily debunked.

The problem I'm having with the other forum is that no one questions ANYTHING. Everything in the document is truth. At least here I'm seeing some critical thought. I agree with the sentiment that Lupa has an ego. I agree that an 18-year old who consents and agrees that nothing illegal happened is not a sexual assault. You can't just say you're 16 in your own mind. How would you even determine such a thing?

 

[Ka-Kui]

Ah of course the new shitty form of gaf would take the walker's side and their pathetic response at face value, even when many of their claims are easily debunked.

I don't think either side comes out looking good here.

It's a bad idea in my opinion to pick a side seeing as we're only looking at things from the outside in, as well as the fact that both sides are presenting evidence to the public without full and proper context. There are too many questions. One side provides evidence on a certain point and then the other side provides counter evidence... and then the other side provides a counter argument to the counter evidence...This can go on forever.

We also don't know these people well. Some people may come across like unreasonable on the surface but might actually be being sensible and reasonable, and so it may br vice versa as well. We don't kniw who's manipulating what.

This is just a very miserable state of affairs. I personally don't think it was a good idea to air these grievances like this. Although I admit the drama is quite exciting.

 

[Corronchilejano]

I don't think either side comes out looking good here.

So we're just ignoring the fact that pretty much every producer quit for this situation?

 

[brap]

So we're just ignoring the fact that pretty much every producer quit for this situation?

They quit because the owners are incompetent/assholes and didn't like them as much as douge. Holly and Jesu have admitted to know about Jewwario being a rapist and I'm sure there's plenty of others who knew too. Nobody is innocent in this situation except maybe Guru Larry and all the other producers nobody on CA really talked to.

 

[Novdelothwen]

Ah of course the new shitty form of gaf would take the walker's side and their pathetic response at face value, even when many of their claims are easily debunked.

It's a bad idea in my opinion to pick a side seeing as we're only looking at things from the outside in, as well as the fact that both sides are presenting evidence to the public without full and proper context. There are too many questions. One side provides evidence on a certain point and then the other side provides counter evidence... and then the other side provides a counter argument to the counter evidence...This can go on forever.

We also don't know these people well. Some people may come across like unreasonable on the surface but might actually be being sensible and reasonable, and so it may br vice versa as well. We don't kniw who's manipulating what.

I personally don’t want to have a negative opinion of Lupa. Her Baywatching series had me roaring with laughter, and she can be a quirky, funny gal. I’d hoped that she learned from the Spoony tweet fiasco and matured a little. But I learned that she’s been doing this kind of stuff for years, dredging up old info and/or publicly berating people where her business isn’t needed (there’s a “History of Reviewtopia as told by Mues and Doc Pepper” video where they mention her around the 25 minute mark). I know, you can separate the artist from the art, but it’s kind of difficult for me to watch one of her kitschy reviews and not remember that she’s caused trouble for people who weren’t asking for it.

As for the whole JW mess... if I have my info correct, a lawyer had been consulted about the issue. Victim’s rights, anonymity, and all that, hence why we didn’t get wind of it until years later. But some of the CTC people were using parts of that story to make it look like management had completely ignored sexual harassment, keeping it vague enough so it appeared that they were standing up for a victim. Then we learn that there was a second Jane Doe, JW’s MAGfest victim and possibly the true subject of the “ignored victim” in the original Google Doc, who reached out to the CTC people and was ignored because her own story would have outed them as liars.

That part of the narrative is getting messier, and it doesn’t help that some CTC people are attempting do to damage control. What I described is how I best understand the situation.

 

[Agent_Carnage]

So we're just ignoring the fact that pretty much every producer quit for this situation?

At this time only two people remain at CA plus people that work with NC Directly.

Brad and Guru Larry and the NC crew.

 

[infinitys_7th]

So we're just ignoring the fact that pretty much every producer quit for this situation?

Most of the ones quitting aren't joining CTC. They are just going out on their own.

Both CA and CTC leadership were complicit in covering up a rape, and potentially molestation. Who would want to be associated with either?

 

[Ridcully]

Channel Awesome kind of passed me by, so I find all of the drama kind of weird. No one is coming out of it smelling like roses, from what I can see.

I'm sure it was just a matter of time before this all shut down anyway, in a world with Patreon and all.

 

[Shouta]

This looks like a hot mess on all fronts. I feel bad for Guru Larry but his twitter also made me laugh so it sounds like he's taking it in stride.