Allow me to clear the cobwebs.
I haven't been on this blog for three years, and I haven't posted a review in four, but I feel that this place is the perfect place to think about this whole situation.
To recap, many former contributors to Channel Awesome, including Allison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa), Kaylyn Saucedo (MarzGurl), and Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara), among others, have come forward with their various complaints with the company. They have compiled their complaints and stories in a google doc. Among the complaints were anonymous testimonials from victims of a sexual offender who was a former contributor. Channel Awesome responded with a statement in which they say "we sincerely regret you feel that way", a phrase which has become a meme for being a non-apology. Then Channel Awesome went on the offensive with a rebuttal post which most former contributors have called out for being full of vitriol and weak defenses. In the rebuttal involving the sexual offender, who was supposed to be unnamed per the wishes of the victims, CA supplied screenshots of a text conversation where they discuss firing the offender. While they blocked out the offenders name, they forgot to block out the timestamps, so it wasn't hard to figure out which contributor had left the site at the time listed on the screenshot. When the truth came out, it was confirmed by the contributors of the google doc. The offender was Justin Carmical (JewWario), a contributor who had committed suicide in 2014.
Taking a step back, and looking at the monstrous paragraph above, it's hard to comprehend how things have escalated. If you read the Not So Awesome google doc, you will notice most of the complaints involve the behavior of CEO Mike Michaud. His verbal abuse, his being consistently hard-to-reach. But most of it has been overshadowed by the news of JewWario.
I am not intending this to just be a nutshell regurgitation of the past few weeks. Mostly, this post is intended to help me process this whole situation, because looking at the progress of this slow-motion trainwreck has been both sobering and shattering.
I'm having trouble figuring out where to go from here. I've been watching the Nostalgia Critic for ten years. I was there (as a fan) through the feud with the Angry Video Game Nerd, through the 1st Anniversary Brawl, through Kickassia, through Suburban Knights, through To Boldly Flee, through the Critic's retirement, Demo Reel, the return of the Critic, Spoony leaving, Justin's suicide, the departures of half the big contributors, the 10th Anniversary of the Critic.
Along the way, I (very inconsistently) made reviews of my own, hoping to someday be a part of the site. In 2014, I, along with so many others, sent in my last review as an audition, hoping that being selected would reinvigorate my love of making these reviews. On the night I received my rejection letter, I was devastated. It was one more disappointment in a period of my life full of depression and anxiety. I had to work my ass off to get to where I am now, emotionally, from that low point. And to find out that it would've been even worse, had I been selected, is soul crushing. Knowing me at that time, I would've been a contributor who either a) didn't upload regularly and still managed to stay on the site because of Michaud's apathy, or b) uploaded regularly until I missed one deadline, and then get unceremoniously booted. All that work to build myself back up from that rejection, for nothing.
And then the JewWario stuff came to light. That all puts this into a more disgusting light. I cannot possibly imagine what the victims and those who knew him are going through.
So, where does this leave us? Once everything is all said and done, where do we go? After something that has been a part of your life has been tainted, what else can be done once you've purged all things related to it from your system? Who knows?
For myself, I'll continue to work on my writing and my schoolwork. If you read through all this...catharsis, I thank you.
On this blog, I close this chapter of my life. And this is where I leave you.
Goodnight.
- Christie
I haven't been on this blog for three years, and I haven't posted a review in four, but I feel that this place is the perfect place to think about this whole situation.
To recap, many former contributors to Channel Awesome, including Allison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa), Kaylyn Saucedo (MarzGurl), and Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara), among others, have come forward with their various complaints with the company. They have compiled their complaints and stories in a google doc. Among the complaints were anonymous testimonials from victims of a sexual offender who was a former contributor. Channel Awesome responded with a statement in which they say "we sincerely regret you feel that way", a phrase which has become a meme for being a non-apology. Then Channel Awesome went on the offensive with a rebuttal post which most former contributors have called out for being full of vitriol and weak defenses. In the rebuttal involving the sexual offender, who was supposed to be unnamed per the wishes of the victims, CA supplied screenshots of a text conversation where they discuss firing the offender. While they blocked out the offenders name, they forgot to block out the timestamps, so it wasn't hard to figure out which contributor had left the site at the time listed on the screenshot. When the truth came out, it was confirmed by the contributors of the google doc. The offender was Justin Carmical (JewWario), a contributor who had committed suicide in 2014.
Taking a step back, and looking at the monstrous paragraph above, it's hard to comprehend how things have escalated. If you read the Not So Awesome google doc, you will notice most of the complaints involve the behavior of CEO Mike Michaud. His verbal abuse, his being consistently hard-to-reach. But most of it has been overshadowed by the news of JewWario.
I am not intending this to just be a nutshell regurgitation of the past few weeks. Mostly, this post is intended to help me process this whole situation, because looking at the progress of this slow-motion trainwreck has been both sobering and shattering.
I'm having trouble figuring out where to go from here. I've been watching the Nostalgia Critic for ten years. I was there (as a fan) through the feud with the Angry Video Game Nerd, through the 1st Anniversary Brawl, through Kickassia, through Suburban Knights, through To Boldly Flee, through the Critic's retirement, Demo Reel, the return of the Critic, Spoony leaving, Justin's suicide, the departures of half the big contributors, the 10th Anniversary of the Critic.
Along the way, I (very inconsistently) made reviews of my own, hoping to someday be a part of the site. In 2014, I, along with so many others, sent in my last review as an audition, hoping that being selected would reinvigorate my love of making these reviews. On the night I received my rejection letter, I was devastated. It was one more disappointment in a period of my life full of depression and anxiety. I had to work my ass off to get to where I am now, emotionally, from that low point. And to find out that it would've been even worse, had I been selected, is soul crushing. Knowing me at that time, I would've been a contributor who either a) didn't upload regularly and still managed to stay on the site because of Michaud's apathy, or b) uploaded regularly until I missed one deadline, and then get unceremoniously booted. All that work to build myself back up from that rejection, for nothing.
And then the JewWario stuff came to light. That all puts this into a more disgusting light. I cannot possibly imagine what the victims and those who knew him are going through.
So, where does this leave us? Once everything is all said and done, where do we go? After something that has been a part of your life has been tainted, what else can be done once you've purged all things related to it from your system? Who knows?
For myself, I'll continue to work on my writing and my schoolwork. If you read through all this...catharsis, I thank you.
On this blog, I close this chapter of my life. And this is where I leave you.
Goodnight.
- Christie
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