Channel Awesome Was Not So Awesome

[DarkRula]

Is that from their latest attempt at apology? That's not even being mean. That's just downright being an egotistical villain with no respect for anyone that leaves them.
Months from now when this has all blown over I can see parodies being made where someone tries to leave and the person playing the CEO of Channel Awesome lifts a gun up and shoots the person as they leave without looking.

[Ashwalking Bat]

This is actually kinda ironic for me. Not because of what is happening, but I honestly thought this was random Youtube drama. But I never gave the actual issue the time of day. Though reading what has been posted here about it. I now have no reason to see it as pointless drama. I actually have been fading away from watching stuff from Channel Awesome and at this point, I think it maybe wise to hit that good old unsubscribe button. At least for me.

But shit, man. I hope the former cast for Channel Awesome are going to be alright after leaving such toxic conditions. If anything, I'm glad those that did get out when they did, are doing better.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Another producer might be leaving, we don't know yet. BattleGeekPlus have said they've reached a decision and will be announcing it during the weekend, so make of that what you will.

 

[Dr. Detective]

6 hours ago, DarkRula said:

Is that from their latest attempt at apology? That's not even being mean. That's just downright being an egotistical villain with no respect for anyone that leaves them.
Months from now when this has all blown over I can see parodies being made where someone tries to leave and the person playing the CEO of Channel Awesome lifts a gun up and shoots the person as they leave without looking.

Oh no, that latest thing wasn't an apology. They've dropped all pretense of that entirely. This new thing is just outright saying they're not in the wrong. They cherry-picked a few things that they thought they'd be able to respond accurately too and they don't really do that good a job of even that. Most of it is actually just reaffirming things that were already said but spun in a way that makes it seem like the accusations didn't actually address it. Like the fact that the anniversaries were all voluntary. Because the point of the document isn't just to be vindictive and the section about the anniversaries in particular is about outlining how unprofessional their conduct was during those, the fact that they were voluntary doesn't matter. They're basically saying "It doesn't matter that the production and development of these films was shoddy and awful because we said you didn't HAVE to come" when the entire point is to discuss the methods they used during the production and why they weren't any good. They came to those because they were affiliated with the site and wanted to be apart of the anniversary celebrating it. The Holly section of the document even explicitly states that they were all determined to finish Suburban Knights despite the problems plaguing it. They wanted to make it work, no one was denying that and no one said they were being forced to participate. They're dodging the actual allegations here in favor of defending against something that wasn't even the point.

Not everything in the document is meant to call them out as villains. Most of the anniversary stuff is them being called out as incompetent.

Then there's the most pathetic part of this latest update where they mention that Allison said that "not a single person wasn't miserable" and their response was to post a cropped, 33 second, out of context video where Allison says it “was a great production to be a part of. It was a lot of fun to be a part of this and Suburban Knights.” The reasons as to why they all wished to work together to finish it or why being proud of it might mean something different despite being miserable during it's production aren't addressed. She, Phelan, and Brad go into detail about it in their commentaries for the movies. They don't really hold back, which surprised me when I first saw their commentaries at the time but nowadays it's actually something I want to revisit. Suffice to say, I rewatched those movies since all this came out and I still enjoy them but mostly now because it reminds me of a nostalgic time where I could be ignorant of the follies of the site and just pretend this was a fun passion project where everyone was coming together to have a nice time.

In all of the commentaries, Lewis, Holly, Brad, Phelan, Allison, and Noah all had things to say about the project that didn't let up about how bad some of the behind the scenes stuff was, however, a lot of them were still ultimately positive and showed that they were proud to have accomplished what they did, in spite of the terrible management. They got to hang and be in a movie with all their friends that celebrated their union. 

It's also funny how the only commentary that had anything nice to say about the overly long and pointless Judge Dredd scene in To Boldly Flee was the one Doug did. Everyone else slammed it. The juxtaposition there is actually kind of fascinating.

Also, here's Sadpanda's late take on the Channel Awesome stuff. It's actually one of my favorites. I especially like the part where he talks about the opposite reactions Spoony and Doug had to his dry humor. It's amazing how opposite to everyone's sensibilities Doug is in everyone's accounts. It's actually not too surprising to find out Doug is this oblivious to stuff.

Spoony says, "Hey that was great!" but Doug is like "It'd be funnier if you act like a cartoon!" 

Like me. The Nostalgia Critic. 

Everybody act like me. It's always funnier that way.

  

[Balding Spider]

Uh guys

Quote

I'm the woman that is being talked about in that chat log. I am not Jane Doe from the google doc....that's another person that he did this to, I know her and she didn't come forward for the same reason I didn't. We were, and still are, absolutely terrified of backlash. I understand that without more information, you can't prove that I'm just a nobody making shit up, but I'm not. I was told about this as early as last night, and after 5 years of being forced into silence, I cannot tell you how I'm feeling. People know now, they actually believe us now. The people I told about this, the very few, they knew I would not and could not lie about something like this. Because jane Doe did try to speak about it before, she told a fan site, she was then called a troll and "that's like accusing a puppy of murder". Because of that, and this is way before what he did to me, I knew I could never ever say anything without getting fucking crucified by these fucking psycho fans. He did a really good job of being the person to look up to and to trust, which is why no one would ever believe this. He took advantage of me when I was at the lowest point of my life, he knew exactly what he was doing. It was calculated. Then, he shot himself, and I (and the others) knew we could never ever talk about this, because he's not here anymore, and his widow could even sue us if she wanted. He has an elderly mother, and the thought of her knowing what happened made my heart break, so I kept silent. I talked to therapy for years, I still every now and again have nightmares of him and his face, and that horrific feeling of what he did to me, what he did to my body. I had to blacklist anything related to him on my twitter. Seeing his photo makes me sick. I hate that he killed himself, even with all of this, I never ever would be okay with that, it's a terrible thing that happened, and I wish he never did that, but I cannot be okay with the sexual assault that happened to me when I repeatedly said NO, and he waited until I passed out. So, anyone who refuses to believe this, that's your thing, but this happened, and I am not the only person, which is now obvious because of the Jane Doe thing. I just want you all to know that we were forced into silence for 5 years, because of this fucking crazy fans of CA who refuse to believe anything bad about them, including some of their own producers. I reached out to one of the women who released this google doc to anonymously say something about this, and I was ignored. She knew about it and did nothing. So, I'm glad that CA did this, even if it wasn't intentional. I have closure, in a way, kinda. After all this time. Thank you for reading.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChannelAwesome/comments/8bqrhw/whats_all_this_about_jewwario_now/dx961hc/?context=2

Uh... wow. Fuck

[Harkofthewaa]

Good God, it keeps getting worse. How long till we find out CA flat out had someone killed?

[Balding Spider]

Given the working conditions, long recording hours, and on set injuries it wouldn't be too surprising to find out some one had.

And now we have confirmation

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Harkofthewaa]

You know, CA's borderline delusional attitude to all this reminds me of a certain other individual.

Spoiler

But even then I think even Penders would do a better job running that madhouse than it's current overlords. And that's saying something.

 

[Tara]

1 hour ago, Harkofthewaa said:

Good God, it keeps getting worse. How long till we find out CA flat out had someone killed?

Some people speculate that the stessful work environment and subpar treatment was what led to JewWario taking his own life.  But that is all just speculation.

I'm really sad to hear about this situation, though.  I never followed JW closely, but he always presented himself as a kind, gentle man and I admired him for that greatly.  If he could really do those things to people, then... god.  Absolutely disgusting.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

According to Reddit, there's going to be a video version of the "response".

Wonder if they'll send Doug out to try plea for their innocence.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

2 hours ago, Balding Spider said:

Uh guys

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChannelAwesome/comments/8bqrhw/whats_all_this_about_jewwario_now/dx961hc/?context=2

Uh... wow. Fuck

Confused by the context of the release.  Did Channel Awesome themselves reveal this,  or did someone else get it from their chat logs on some occasion or know how?

Horrible news either way. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, Jovahexeon Omega-Sapphire said:

Confused by the context of the release.  Did Channel Awesome themselves reveal this,  or did someone else get it from their chat logs on some occasion or know how?

Horrible news either way. 

Basically - CA half-assed their posted chat-logs and forgot to blank out the dates, which reveal it to be around that time. Apparently they also forgot to remove a "J" at some point in there too so it wasn't much time before Reddit and Twitter figured it out.

On another note - Sage has apparently been confirmed to leave during a stream Marzgurl was doing.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

9 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Basically - CA half-assed their posted chat-logs and forgot to blank out the dates, which reveal it to be around that time. Apparently they also forgot to remove a "J" at some point in there too so it wasn't much time before Reddit and Twitter figured it out.

Uh oh. And Jewwario had the gall to mention what he did in those logs???

This just keeps piling on the crud meter from CA.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

And another has left.

[Tara]

15 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Basically - CA half-assed their posted chat-logs and forgot to blank out the dates, which reveal it to be around that time. Apparently they also forgot to remove a "J" at some point in there too so it wasn't much time before Reddit and Twitter figured it ou

In their defense, if they had blanked out the timestamps, the logs would have looked even more suspicious.  Though that's the problem with Channel Awesome.  They're in a position where the only way to combat accusations is to show chat logs that reveal even WORSE offenses.  It really can't be understated what a mess they've made for themselves.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

So, let's talk about this gem from the response, shall we?

Quote

The Producer Contract for Channel Awesome 3rd Anniversary Film Participation also outlined the following terms and conditions for those who did agree to participate, including:
• Participation was voluntary
• Crossovers were never required

That's all fine and dandy.... until you see the picture of the contract they posted within the response:

Yeah,  turns out any crossovers filmed during the shooting duration were under direct property of CA. Quite candid of them too leave that detail out. :U

So much for convenience and good will to employees. Geez. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

CA is officially down to four producers left, including NC. Brad, Blockbuster Buster, and GuruLarry is left.

And considering GuruLarry said the only reason he's still on the site is it doesn't matter because they don't act like he contributes much anyway, that means only Brad and Blockbuster Buster remains.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

29 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Omega-Sapphire said:

So, let's talk about this gem from the response, shall we?

That's all fine and dandy.... until you see the picture of the contract they posted within the response:

Yeah,  turns out any crossovers filmed during the shooting duration were under direct property of CA. Quite candid of them too leave that detail out. :U

So much for convenience and good will to employees. Geez. 

Whoopsie. Turns out that was the only the case for Suburban Knights. And by that,  I mean crossovers not being urged out of them. 

According to Linkara with To Boldly Flee,  

Apparently that's when asking got a bit "heavy handed" to say the least. 

[Dr. Detective]

Hearing that thing about JewWario is really fucking with me now. This was bad before but it got so dark, I feel like I'm witnessing a horror movie twist play out before me.

All of a sudden, hearing the guy's voice in these old videos is making me shudder. 

[Mad Convoy]

Yikes.

I've held on off posting about this whole thing because, well, let's face it, "Fuckity fuck mcfuck fuck these assholes are motherfucking fuckers" followed by an embedded Youtube video of a Big Time Rush song called "The Giant Turd" is probably not considered sufficiently contributive conduct on the SSMB forums. Well, that and I haven't been able to look at the document in full yet. More on why later. 

But yeah, this is awful and heartbreaking. So many people I respected and admired have turned out to be complete assholes, and it seems the corrupt folks at Channel Awesome have just added themselves to that list. JewWario being a shameless serial rapist, Iron Liz being treated like a slave... jesus christ, this is the kind of stuff that would be put in a parody of edgy horror movies, but its all real and its not funny in the slightest. And like, maybe Doug and Rob Walker didn't actively participate, but they knew about most of if not all this shit and did nothing at all to even attempt to stop it. They could have. They certainly had the position and influence to. The socially anxious pushover thing is only so much of an excuse, given that even the most anxious people have things that upset them enough to grant them the temporary confidence to do stuff they'd ordinarily avoid at all costs. But they didn't. Far as I'm concerned, that makes them as complicit as Michaud and the others in doing and hiding these horrible deeds.

I hope this goes beyond the internet. Normally I'm reticent to encourage this kind of stuff-- after all the internet tends to take an exaggerative and guilty-until-proven-innocent approach to controversy, and that's considered a violation of human rights in any judicial system worth respecting for good reason. But nah, the evidence is there, illegal and harmful stuff went on under the surface at CA and its every bit as bad as the internet is making it out to be. This ought to go beyond hauling CA and its corrupt members off the internet. They need to get hauled into the courts for criminal trials and lawsuits.

I think if I read the actual document in full as opposed to condensed social media accounts of the events I might literally vomit and have trouble sleeping, and that wouldn't be very healthy. A part of me just wants to brain bleach this trainwreck and go on like CA never existed, but yet at the same time there are lessons to be taken from this and an impetus to do thing to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future... Its really difficult and upsetting. Ugh...

[Nix]

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Hearing that thing about JewWario is really fucking with me now. This was bad before but it got so dark, I feel like I'm witnessing a horror movie twist play out before me.

All of a sudden, hearing the guy's voice in these old videos is making me shudder. 

Seriously.  Out of all of the people who the "groomer" could've been, it was literally the worst possible one.  I didn't follow him too closely, but I've seen him in videos enough to have his suicide fuck me up a bit, and this really fucking hurts.

I've felt physically ill ever since I came back home and read about it.  Absolutely horrifying.

[Tara]

A Twitter thread by Guru Larry indicates that Brad Jones has deleted Channel Awesome from his twitter tags, indicating his probable (though not yet confirmed) intent on leaving the site, leaving Larry as the only off-site contributor.

 

This is absolutely outstanding

 

 

 

 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

22 hours ago, Jovahexeon Omega-Sapphire said:

And there goes another one of the CA giants.

I'd been waiting to hear from him on that.

In other news:

Dang, that's quite a drop off!

https://subscribercounter.com/channel/UCiH828EtgQjTyNIMH6YiOSw

https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/achannelthatsawesome/realtime

And it's still going! At this rate,  their subscriber count is going to be well below 1 million by the end of this week!

[Balding Spider]

Just a warning folks. Do not, I repeat Do NOT go to Channel Awesomes forums. The Mods are gone and someones gone around posting pictures of beheadings and other disgusting images.

 

[Johnny Boy]

Hoo boy, hearing what Jean wario really rocked me to my core. I hope Blockbuster Buster gets the hell out of CA since he’s one of my favorite producers on that site.