So the recent controversy about Channel Awesome mismanagement

[Sentay]

"Recent", this shit has been out there for years (I remember reading out the experiences of the extras on the desert movie and they were all identical: Doug and Rob are terrible, Spoony has legitimate mental problems, Linkara is a sperg and Mike Michaud is evil).

 

[Rednog]

Honestly, I don't think there is a way that they could have gotten out of this. The public has made up it's mind and there is no changing it, no matter how much evidence there is or is not against the allegations or how much they apologize. I mean, these are still only allegations, that document doesn't have much evidence apart from testimonials. So if they did apologize and say "we're sorry for everything! We apologize from the very depths of our soul for all that's happened!" that's just admitting that it's all true. It won't even matter because people will just say "you're apologizing now? Too little, too late." There's no way out. They've already been sentenced in the court of public opinion, and in these courts there's no appeal.

I don't think their chat logs make them look that bad either. That one with Lindsay 'seems' as if they are as giving her the final say on the scene she has a problem with and she says whichever way is fine with her. It is only partial context though.

I think this line is particularly funny in light of current events:

Not saying they are innocent though, that contract does look just as cruddy as the doc stated.

I went back and rewatched the "rape scene"...I'm a bit confused as to why Lindsay thinks it's worth mentioning. It's Linkara turning her into a cyborg. I don't even get where one gets a rape implication from that scene.
Whereas Lindsay was made and was involved in vidoes whose entire substance was one big rape joke.
She made a "Rape Rap" and was in a Spooning with Spoony episode, but the transformation scene is worth mentioning?

 

[Natemans]

I just saw their response.

I hope they try to apologize and.......

OH FOR FUCK SAKES!!!!





Well, they're screwed for good. Aaaaand Joe left. Yep, they're finished.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Eh, channel awesome always came across as an amateurish venture from the start. While I'm certain a lot of the issues raised are genuine, and channel awesome will probably sink now, I'm also just tired of the bandwagoning hate going on at the same time. I've seen so many people give their "takes", or try to add to the conversation (my personal favourite being a charming young woman who spent about 3 minutes talking about how Doug is the "fucking cringe king") that I feel numb to both sides.

 

[Terminal Blue]

She made a "Rape Rap" and was in a Spooning with Spoony episode, but the transformation scene is worth mentioning?

Look, I'm not going to die on this hill, because I think Lindsey has been quite open about having said and done some stupid shit which she regrets and the rape rap is.. uncomfortable, in retrospect. But to be fair, there is a really big reason why it's different.

It's written on the premise that rape is bad.

Like, it's pretty unambiguous about the fact that rape is bad. The "joke" (and it's not a very funny joke) is that this guy is rapping about being a rapist and that this is shocking and horrifying for everyone present (including, presumably, the audience). It's pretty bog standard taboo humour. It's literally the same joke Brad Jones makes all the time, for example (since a lot of the movies he watch have rape in them) and has never been called out on by Lindsey or anyone else. The rape rap is more laboured and obnoxious than Brad's schtick, but it's still basically the same joke.

If you read the original script for the transformation sequence provided in the document, you'll notice that the "joke" isn't that rape is shocking or taboo, it's that rape itself is funny. That the position of someone being helpless to prevent someone having implied (and not subtly implied, like directly referenced by other characters) sex with them is, in and of itself, hilarious.

As the script itself puts it "resistance is.. comical".

If anything, I think you can probably take this as a sign that Lindsey's standards on this issue were, at the time at least, not that clear-cut, and she clearly didn't have a problem with edgy humour provided the audience was laughing along with and not at victims (which I disagree with, but it's at least a stance). The fact that this scene made her uncomfortable in spite of that should perhaps be a warning of just how bad it is. I mean, it's pretty bad.. the rape rape may be uncomfortable, but that script made me vomit in my mouth.

I mean, you're right. The person I actually feel sorry for in that particular situation, more than anyone, is Lewis. I don't like his content, I don't watch his show and I don't think he's particularly good, but he's always been very clear cut that he believes rape is a serious issue, it's not something to joke about or to be handled trivially. Casting him as a comedy rapist seems.. mean.. to be honest.. just mean. I don't even think it's intentional meanness, it just illustrates that they really had no idea who these people they'd chosen to host and collaborate with actually were.

 

[CaitSeith]

So if they did apologize and say "we're sorry for everything! We apologize from the very depths of our soul for all that's happened!" that's just admitting that it's all true.

Because proving themselves right is the most important goal right now, isn't it? That surely will stop the hemorragy of content creators who are the reason people visit their channel... oh wait! It won't!

They've already been sentenced in the court of public opinion, and in these courts there's no appeal.

Public opinion, schmublic opinion. In their situation, that "court" is irrelevant as crap!

 

[Rednog]

Snip

I don't know if I'm missing it or what, but I've looked over the google doc a few times and I went back to look at Lindsay's and Linkara's sections and I don't see the script for the original lines?

Edit: Ended up just googling it...
Uhh sure, I guess. I don't know I honestly still don't see it as a "rape scene". I see it just as a shitty/cringy joke (about the same garabge quality as the rest of the film), but to go to the point that it's so revolting you vomited from it?
The joke is she's being assimilated/turned into a cyborg and FilmBrain is stupid enough to think that it's sounds of sex. But at least as far as I can tell there's no actual implication that he is actually raping her behind the door. The other characters are under the impression that they're having consensual sex.

 

[sXeth]

I mean, you're right. The person I actually feel sorry for in that particular situation, more than anyone, is Lewis. I don't like his content, I don't watch his show and I don't think he's particularly good, but he's always been very clear cut that he believes rape is a serious issue, it's not something to joke about or to be handled trivially. Casting him as a comedy rapist seems.. mean.. to be honest.. just mean. I don't even think it's intentional meanness, it just illustrates that they really had no idea who these people they'd chosen to host and collaborate with actually were.

It's a minor notation, and obviously Lewis still played the character, but that was specifically an evil robot and not his Linkara character.

Though aside from the script apparently reading "rape noises" that's not really the context of the scene. Film Brain is a moron that thinks they're having regular (or consensual anyways) sex is the main "joke" to it, and the actuality is Borg assimilation or whatever.

 

[Drathnoxis]

So if they did apologize and say "we're sorry for everything! We apologize from the very depths of our soul for all that's happened!" that's just admitting that it's all true.

Because proving themselves right is the most important goal right now, isn't it? That surely will stop the hemorragy of content creators who are the reason people visit their channel... oh wait! It won't!

They've already been sentenced in the court of public opinion, and in these courts there's no appeal.

Public opinion, schmublic opinion. In their situation, that "court" is irrelevant as crap!

Well if you look at it from the perspective that CA is effectively killed anyway, you might as well try and defend yourself. It's only fair that both sides get to give their version of events. People don't like that because they've already decided what's true and who is right.

What could they have done, at this point, that would stop the hemorrhaging of content creators? You honestly think a simple apology would cut it? Even heartfelt groveling would be met with "you had years to apologize and make things right. You're only apologizing because you got outed." I don't think there is anything they can do at this point to save the site.

And how is public opinion irrelevant? Everybody is fleeing the site because the public opinion has turned against them so rapidly. If the Google doc was released and nobody cared, do you think they would have lost such a massive amount of contributors in such a short time? I don't think so. Everybody is leaving the site because it's bad press to remain affiliated with Channel Awesome. Allegations are all you need to sink someone.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Jesus fucking Christ things just keep getting worse and worse, don't they? It's bad enough that someone I respected turned out to be a bad person, now it turns out that even more reviewers I liked were possibly just as bad... this is making it near-impossible for me to watch any of their videos again... I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

 

[runic knight]

Looks like former contributor Dan Olson commented on the jewwario thing too

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaoIGL7X4AA7nNc.jpg:large

Really scummy to basically say he didn't want to address the topic because of the GG crowd though, considering gamergate didn't even exist til 7 months later. But I suppose it just wasn't worth it at the time to be outing the fact the company's management knew and covered that shit up while he and his friends were still working there. I mean, not like that could have prevented other possible issues down the line or would have been relevant to the interests of the people visiting the site about what sort of management they supported or anything.

On a lighter note, it seems gury larry has been the last one to vote himself off the island, as apparently brad has said in a discord he is leaving already, and removed the links from his twitter

 

[Natemans]

Guru Larry is the only one left on the site.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Now Guru Larry is claiming he's the last one left [https://twitter.com/LarryBundyJr/status/984642322649485314]. I can't confirm what he's said personally, I'm not on Brad's discord, Linkara hasn't said anything publicly about BBB and apparently BBB wouldn't know a twitter if it kicked him in the arse.

It's entirely possible Larry is trolling all of us, but what if he said is true....well then, that's it I reckon. It's the Nostalgia Critic page now, I can't see Channel Awesome picking itself back up at all now. I can't help but feel sorry for the Walkers, their entire livelihood looks to have completely subsided beneath them in the space of a week. That can't be good for the psyche.

Edit: I would mention that they haven't updated the site, but it's like 2AM in Chicago ATM, so I guess we'll find out for sure in a couple hours.

TBF, it sounds like they brought it on themselves. If you can't get a handle of management level abuse of its workers, don't complain when the business begins crumbling about your ears. It's a disaster of their own accord. It's not like a cyclone ripping apart your warehouse in a freak storm.

The lesson here isn't that it's sad that an enterprise folds up because of latent problems of exploitation or abuse, it's that management have a vested interest in running a tight ship.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Oh most definitely, I'm not suggesting that it's anything other than their own fault. I suppose it's more pity than anything else, that they destroyed 10 years work in a week through their own ineptitude.

Ehhh ... one of the reasons why I don't like working with artists is because of the egocentrism that inherently comes from making a living from performing/visual artistry. When you get artists running teams of artists, and then trying to monetize it, you really do need classic structures of HR and individual team leadership.

Channel Awesome seems no different than Andy Warhol's The Factory... in fact eerily similar in terms of the abuse of individual workers and the complete erosion of boundaries of excess.

 

[Rednog]

Honestly at this point with the JewWario reveal, everyone involved with Channel Awesome in that era, both creators and management can all go fuck themselves. They are all absolutely unredeemable garbage human beings.

They knew that he had been accused of rape and being a sexual predator, and yet no one called the cops. He ran around for a full year before he killed himself. None of the people who knew did anything, they all sat by. But yet so many of them grandstand about social justice and harassment against women. Yet fell silent when their female fans were potentially put in danger, where the fuck was their need for justice then.

And for those that didn't know for years, they still found out before the document was released. And yet they still pretended he was a fallen saint and celebrated his fucking birthday two days ago despite knowing and used his name for sympathy. And yet even though all this dropped like a bomb shell none of them are fucking addressing it; Linkara, Lupa, Holly (who for sure knew about it the whole time), Lindsay all fucking dead silent, just retweeting about how much people think CA sucks. They were all full of energy talking shit and demanding answers from CA, but now that people are asking answers from them fucking nothing.

And worse yet, despite knowing all this about their friend they didn't decide to just drop it from the doc, instead they tried to obfuscate it and turn their dead friend into a weapon against CA. Absolute quality people right there. But I guess it's more important to complain about not getting craft services than outing a sexual predator.