The Youtube Sexual Assault Scandal

Tom Milsom
Mike Lombardo
Alex Day
Ed Blann
Tom McLean
Josh Macedo
Kelly Montoya
Danny Hooper
Alex Carpenter
Adam Roach
Luke Conard
Corey Vidal
Travis Neumeyer
Alex Odam

Gregory Jackson

Stephen Purcell

Bryon Beaubien

Harry Gilliat

Ricky Richards

Sam Pepper

Jason Viohni Sampson

Neil Johnson

Destery Smith

King Russell

Know any of these names? I know it's a lot, but are any of them familiar? These are all youtubers, some of them very prominent. And all of them have been accused of sexual assault, some by multiple people. And many of these allegations have turned out to be true. 

These assaults have been going on for years, but for some reason, the stories are just coming out this year. I've seen videos created about early as March and as late as a week ago. But no matter when the stories came out, even if it was old news, this is something we should never forget and never stop talking about because a good number of these criminals are still walking free! Some not even under investigation and they are still uploading videos on their youtube channels with fans and supporters. It's disgusting.

I know the story about Mike Lombardo happened in 2012. I watched a video made by a girl he was being sexually inappropriate to when she was a minor and the FBI found tons of child pornography on his computer and he is now serving five years in prison. So yay for that, but what about these other guys? This isn't over, people. These guys have been doing this for years to fans, fans-to-friends, and close friends and some of them are still doing it. They must be stopped.

Video about Mike Lombardo

All these stories came to light basically because of Sam Pepper and the "prank" video he made. Don't know what I'm talking about? I don't really want to take the time to explain because I have a lot say so watch this:

Anyway, I don't for one second believe this was "social experiment" as Sam claims. You don't sexually assault people to bring awareness to sexual assault. That's just not how it's done. As you heard if you watched the video (and if you didn't then you may not know) after he came out (after his video was taken down by youtube and people were calling him out on sexual assault) and said it was a "social experiment" many, many, many girls, some very young (13, 14, 15) came forward and said that they had been sexually abused, harassed and assaulted by him on various occasions.

I don't know if you watched any of the testimonials from girls about Sam Pepper that lacigreen linked to in her video, but you really should. Here are a couple of them:

This last video I am leaving as a link because it is much more explicit than these other three, but it is so, so, so, so, so important that these stories are heard and spread around until Sam Pepper and these other abusers are behind bars and even after that because this issue needs to be taken more seriously. Sam Pepper is abusing, and in some cases violently raping underage girls, fans of his. This has to stop. He is a criminal and being a youtube star/celebrity does not excuse him from being a rapist.

Anonymous video 

So, when all these allegations started coming out about Sam Pepper, other girls came forward with sexual assault allegations against all these other youtubers as well. Tons and tons of stories were coming in, some turned out to be false, but many did not. 

Here is a masterpost that was created many of the allegations and responses and was continually updated as more information was discovered:

Masterpost

Take some time to look through that if you want and see what you think. 

To me, this was overwhelming as I was learning all this information within a couple of days. Some of these youtubers I subscribed to and really liked and I was shocked to discover all this. I know some of them made responses to these allegations. The ones I have read/watched so far are Alex Day and Luke Conard.  They can be found in the masterpost but if you don't feel like searching through it, here you go:

Luke Conard

First Response

Second Response

Alex Day

One Defense

Another Response

Defending on Facebook

Another Response

Defending Another Perpetrator

Video Response

So, as is quite obvious, Alex has had a bit more to say than Luke and I have yet to go through all the other posts. I started with these because they are the two I was most familiar with. If you've read those responses/defenses I suggest you next take a look at this post. It was written by a probation officer who works "almost exclusively" with domestic violence cases and her insight is invaluable in this area. There is one part of her post I want to draw your attention to, and it is where she describes how perpetrators of domestic violence typically defend themselves:

When confronted with the full details of their actions - which sometimes include my summarizing it back to them, or even, if warranted, reading it to them from the police report, most of my offenders have reacted with disgust and repulsion - not at themselves, but at the suggestion that they would be capable of doing any what I had described. This is because of a mis perception of their own actions. They tend to honestly believe that what they are doing was warranted, fair, and not wrong. I don’t doubt that every person who walks into my office sincerely believes or believed at one point that what they were doing is okay. THE BELIEF DOES NOT MAKE IT SO

Most offenders know better than to directly blame the victim in my office. But these are some examples of some of the things that I’ve heard:

• "People make mistakes."
• "There are two sides to every story."
• "Not every relationship works."
• "I know how terrible [being dumped/abused/heartbroken] feels"
• "[Name of victim] is important to me."
• "[Their conviction, the fact that they were charged] is confusing" (because they’ve done nothing to warrant it)
• "I wish they had said something to me" about the abuse, how the abuse made them feel, etcetera.

 They will also dwell on small details (the miscommunications prior to the event, for example, rather than the assault itself), rationalize behaviour by claiming that they didn’t understand it was abuse, and apologizing for ‘misunderstanding’ rather than for ‘doing.’

If you hadn't noticed, pretty much every single one of the things she mentioned can be found between both Luke's and Alex's "apologies". Almost word for word. And if you watched Alex Day's 30-minute video about "his side of the story" there is an excellent video response that I think everyone should see. 

The bottom line about these responses is that they are avoiding the real issue, avoiding accepting responsibility and trying to manipulate us, the public, to believe their ignorant innocence. And let's be honest, some of them sound very genuine. But these guys weren't able to manipulate people into sex because they are bad at manipulation.

But if you watch the video above (and I highly suggest you do) it really helps to show how insincere Alex's video is and how is he's definitely not saying he didn't manipulate or coerce people into doing sexual things. I mean, even without this response to Alex, we can see in these peoples' own words that these things happened and their only mistake was they "didn't understand it was wrong" or that the person "didn't want to." 

And that really aggravates me. Alex Day and Luke Conard are not the only perpetrators coming out with responses but they are all very similar in nature. Let's talk about that.

None of these men were under 21 when they initially targeted these girls, many of whom were under 16 when the relationships began. And that right there, even if nothing else happened, is enough to get you arrested. You are adults dating children and you don't have to be a genius to know it's wrong and disgusting. But let's pretend for a minute that all these relationships are perfectly consensual and the girls aren't manipulated or pressured into anything. Even in this scenario, if the girl is a minor, she cannot legally give you consent. Which means if she consents and you engage in sexual acts then you are committing statutory rape and you should go to jail. But that's just a hypothetical situation to illustrate that even if these experiences had been consensual, most of you would still be guilty.

It sickens me to hear these men say they didn't realize they were being manipulative or that the girls felt pressured. That's a load of crap. I hope you read the post Alex Day wrote about consent because there are some specific things he wrote in there that I would like to address.

*Warning: As I am taking these passages directly from Alex's post, there will be some language

Until yesterday, I thought that I had had only appropriate, though occasionally manipulative relationships with women. However, the model of consent that I followed, not that I specifically thought about it at the time - was that only “no” meant “no.” That is not what consent is.

The result of that belief that ‘only no means no’, is that I spent a long part of my life doing shitty things to good people and barely ever realising or acknowledging that I was doing the shitty things.

I don't really want to spend the time to pick every little thing apart, but I really feel it's important that everyone see what Alex is saying here. Honestly, the very first sentence makes no sens to me: "I had had only appropriate, though occasionally manipulative relationships with women". This sentence is contradicting itself. "only appropriate though occasionally manipulative"? It can't be appropriate and manipulative. Manipulative cancels appropriate out. If you had only appropriate relationships, they would never have been manipulative so I don't understand what he means by that. 

The next part I want to address is where, in the above paragraph, he states "However, the model of consent that I followed was that only “no” meant “no.” That is not what consent is." So basically Alex figured that if a girl clearly didn't want to have sex with him but didn't say the word no, then she was consenting. I'm not buying it. He was an adult at the time of these assaults, he knew they didn't want it and he did it anyway. And now he's admitting that his warped and disgusting view of consent wasn't consent as if saying it was all a misunderstanding makes it okay. That is unacceptable. If you don't know what consent is, you should not be having sex. Period. 

"The result of that belief that ‘only no means no’, is that I spent a long part of my life doing shitty things to good people and barely ever realising or acknowledging that I was doing the shitty things." Right here, he's basically admitting that he sexually assaulted lots of women. Because he says right here that the result of him ignoring the laws of consent is that I spent a long part of my life doing shitty things to good people and barely ever realising or acknowledging that I was doing the shitty things. If you hurt people as a result of ignoring what sexual consent is, then that means you are pressuring people into sexual situations that they don't want to be a part of.

So, really, the first paragraph of his post is an admission of guilt and enough to get him arrested. That's really all we need to see but he goes on, digging his own grave.

In my sexual experiences with people, nobody ever outright told me “NO, STOP” or pushed me away, or I’d immediately have stopped doing whatever we were doing

So, to Alex, simply not wanting to do it isn't enough. They need to outright say, "NO, STOP" or push him away for him to take their discomfort/resistance seriously. And notices he phrases it like "I would have immediately stopped doing whatever WE were doing." If the girl is saying "NO, STOP" or pushing you away, what in the world makes you believe that this is something you two are doing together and not something you are forcing upon her?

Either way, Alex, if you are old enough for sex, you are absolutely old enough to know that the absence of a no is not consent. A woman is not an object you can just do anything you want to unless she says no. She must give you permission before anything is done.

But there were clearly times where I would try to initiate something, because I thought the other person wanted it, and I trusted my own read of the situation (“they agreed to stay over/they said they wanted it earlier/etc”) rather than paying attention to what the other person was doing and saying in that moment. That’s where I massively fucked up.

 Again, practically admitting he committed sexual assault. This paragraph makes me seriously angry. He is telling us that he violated these women and trying to make it sound like he just make a little mistake but now knows better for next time. "I would try to initiate something, because I thought the other person wanted it". There are several things wrong with that sentence. You never, never, never initiate sex because you think the other person wants it. You make sure the other person wants it by asking them. And, most importantly, you RESPECT THEIR ANSWER! And it's just common sense that we can't judge what other people want, especially if we don't take the time to find it out.

"I trusted my own read of the situation (“they agreed to stay over/they said they wanted it earlier/etc”) rather than paying attention to what the other person was doing and saying in that moment." Agreeing to stay over is not consenting to have sex. Saying earlier that they want it is not consenting to have sex, or saying go ahead whenever you're ready. The part he ignored was the only part that mattered! If the other person does not agree in that moment, then they are not consenting. And if you ignore what they are saying in that moment, it is sexual assault. And by Alex's own words, that's what he did.

"That’s where I massively fucked up." Uh, yeah, to put it lightly. But, in actuality, that's where you committed sexual assault. That's where you violated young women. That's where you did something illegal. That's where you committed a crime that should put you in jail. That's where you pressured young women into sexual situations they were uncomfortable with and emotionally damaged them and some of them are still dealing with it. You can't make it less important or less of a sexual assault by saying, "whoops, my bad."

I know it seems like I'm mostly targeting Alex Day here, but he is the only one who wrote a post on consent to try and defend himself. His view of consent was basically if he could convince himself that the girl wanted it, despite what she said or how she behaved, then that was consent. That is disgusting and just what I would expect someone who commits sexual assault to say.

And just to make something clear here, when talking about consent, because apparently it's confusing to understand that it's only consent if the person agrees in the moment, it doesn't make it consent just because they don't say no. You don't automatically have the right to touch someone sexually unless they tell you not to. You automatically do not have consent. Consent is something you are given by the other person, it's not something you have unless otherwise stated.

For people who don't understand, if someone says they don't want to have sex, they don't want to have sex. End of story. There's no secret desire, they're not saying no because they want you to keep asking them until you wear them down. No is no and that's that. Even if you think the other person wants it but they just don't know it, you leave them alone. Consent isn't wanting it, it's agreeing to it. Even if someone does secretly want it, if they tell you no, you don't have consent. And if you try to convince someone they want it, that's sexual harassment. If you have to convince someone tp have sex with you, that's not consent. And if they agree only after you've been harassing them, that doesn't mean you unlocked their secret desire, it means you pressured and manipulated them until they felt they didn't have a choice anymore.

If someone is uncomfortable with it and clearly doesn't want it, then that means you don't have consent and it's not happening. No matter what you think you know about them. You see, with consent, it doesn't matter what you "know", it doesn't matter what you want, it matters what they tell you. And if you don't pay attention to that and go ahead and do what you wanted to do anyway, that's sexual assault.

One of the other youtubers who were accused is Jason Viohni Sampson and I believe his youtube channel is Veeoneye. When he was 20 he got a 15 year old girl drunk and then had sex with her. As I said before, that's statutory rape. He made a video where he admitted this.

 Jason admitting to rape

In this video he is excusing it by saying he was young and immature, he made some mistakes just like everybody does, no one ever told him rape was wrong, blah, blah, blah. If you rape someone, you're not making an honest mistake that anyone would make, you're committing a violent crime which is a conscious decision. Rape is not something you shrug off as a mistake. You sexually violated a child and that "mistake" should put you in prison for life because you are a sex offender and a criminal. I don't believe for one second you didn't know rape was wrong. You were 20 years old. Anyone with half a brain knows it's wrong. No one ever straight out told me rape was wrong either but that's just something you know because you live in a world with people. My parents never sat me down and said, "Rape is wrong." But I didn't need them to. I figured it out on my own. It's not that hard. But even if you don't know it's wrong, that doesn't make you innocent or less guilty of rape. Rape is rape and he deserves to be in jail.

Not understanding consent doesn't make you innocent of assault. And many of these youtubers have come forward saying they made a mistake. No, no you did not "make a mistake." Sexual assault is not a mistake. Rape is not a mistake. It's a crime. You knew what you were doing. You knew you didn't have consent. That's a choice. Don't try to minimize the massive wrong you did by calling it a mistake.

The last thing I want to say is that there are so many victims of the crimes these men committed and many of them were 15 year old girls. This has been going on for years and people are only coming forward this year to tell people what these adult men did to them. And it's because they are afraid. They are afraid of being judged and blamed by us. And I understand why they are afraid because victim shaming is a real thing. And it's awful. We need to be after the men who violated these girls rather than the girls who got violated. They are not to blame for the actions of others. They are not to blame for being sexually assaulted. The one to blame is the one who committed the crime.

Please don't grow silent about this. These men need to be put behind bars where they belong.

Frozen is Overrated

I'm sorry that I'm not sorry that I don't like Frozen. I may be the only person in the world who feels this way about it, but, seriously, I don't get all the hype about it. It was worse than your average film.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I had high expectations for this film what with it being referred to as "the greatest Disney film since The Lion King." - The Daily Beast. That's certainly saying something, so why wouldn't I have high expectations? Before I saw it, I hadn't heard a single bad word about it. EVERYONE absolutely loved it. Let It Go was being parodied and covered everyday. My Facebook account was going crazy with everyone saying what a good film it was. My family adores it. I love Disney, so why wouldn't I see it?

I was pretty excited to see it, actually. Really looking forward to it. I think that's the main reason I dislike it so much. I was expecting a really great film and I got Frozen. Frozen is pretty bad for a Disney movie. I mean, I know what Disney is capable of and Frozen isn't up to their standards.

And, though, logically, I know there must be at least one other person out there who doesn't like Frozen, it feels like I'm the only person in the world who missed what made it such an amazing movie. And it's not like I just don't like it. I have my reasons.

1. Plot, Plot, Plot
The plot in Frozen is weak, to say the least. It unfolds so clumsily, hopping from scene to scene as if the filmmakers forgot about the concept of transitions. Every scene is a movie is supposed to advance the plot in some way. If it doesn't advance the plot, it needs to be thrown out and Frozen had several scenes that could have been kept out. It was a sloppy movie and had random action sequences, not because it made sense with the plot, but because the movie needed some action.

2. Who's the Villain, Again?
Did anyone else notice Frozen had no villain song? Think about it. A Disney movie with no villain song! And, no Love is an Open Door does not count even though Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez say it's the villain song disguised as a love song. All that says to me is that "We didn't feel like writing another song so we're just going to put two songs into one." No way is Love is an Open Door a villain song. Even if there are different ways to interpret some of the lines. So, sorry kids. No bad guy song. I'm sorry, but squishing two songs together is just lazy. But, I guess, to be honest, there's no real villain in the movie anyway. And now you're all saying "Of course there is! Prince Hans is the villain, duh!" Um, okay. He's the villain for the last ten minutes of the movie but if was really a villain, there should have been some foreshadowing, some sort of hint, some kind of something leading up to this plot twist! At first, we're led to believe that Elsa's powers are the antagonist of the film, then we start thinking that maybe this goofy duke guy is our villain, but no, just a goofy duke. Then, surprise, it's Hans! At the end of the movie, we get our villain. But it didn't seem planned. It seemed like the movie makers realized they didn't have a villain and had to squeeze one in somewhere. And I'm sure it was the plan the whole time, but it just didn't look that way. It should have been more obvious to us viewers that something was up with Hans.

3. Kristoff
Kristoff is a nice enough character but completely unessential to the plot. Usually that means you need to get rid of the character. I mean, all he did was help Anna through a couple of situations, but, let's be honest, if he hadn't been there, she still would have been fine. He served no purpose other than to be the love interest. If they really wanted to keep him in the movie, they should have made his role significant to the over-all plot. As it is, he was just kind of there most of the time.

4. Could You Please Make it a Little More Obvious That Frozen is a Progressive Film?
Hopefully, you caught the sarcasm in that. Frozen is shoving in our faces how progressive they are, making almost no effort with the story and plot just to make sure we all get that they're saying "women don't need no man." Give your audience some credit. We get what you're saying without spelling it out for us. Tangled is a progressive film with a strong female character who can obviously take care of herself but the movie is so much better because they didn't shove it in our face.

5. The Music
Everyone is going absolutely crazy over the music in this film and it's not even that great! Compare the music with any other Disney film and hopefully you'll see what I mean. The music had less effort and just wasn't great. It was just basically pop and it wasn't memorable. Let it Go was the best song in the film, sure, but that's not saying much. Let it Go is overrated and doesn't hold a candle to other Disney songs. Are we really going to say Let it Go is up there with Part of Your World, I Just Can't Wait to Be King and A Whole New World?

6. What is up With Elsa?
 The character of Elsa is just a big huge mess. I mean, what happened there? So she hurts her sister once when they are kids and the only solution is to lock herself in her room for ten years, completely ignoring her sister's existence? Anyone else think that was a bit dramatic? Her family could have worked on trying to control the power, but, no, they just lock their seven or eight year old daughter in her room and let her deal with it. And then, ten years later, she comes out for the coronation, and is absolutely no better at controlling her power. It's even worse than when she was young, so obviously, living inside her room and ignoring her sister isn't the solution (and where did these powers come from, anyway?) Then stuff happens and she has to run away and build herself an ice castle high up on a mountain. She must be really self absorbed because she didn't even realize she froze over the entire kingdom and when she did find out, she didn't care much. I thought the whole reason she was locking herself away from her sister is that she didn't want to hurt her, but she obviously doesn't mind casting her out into the cold, high up on a mountain where she is likely to freeze to death or sending her to live in a kingdom where she'll freeze to death. She also creates like a ten foot monster to throw her out which could easily have killed her. I don't get the thought process here.

7. Cliché Ending
This movie made me role my eyes at the ending. They were so busy trying not to be cliché and their ending couldn't have been any more cliché. What's more cliché than love being the answer? "Love" will control her power. Elsa literally laughs when she realizes love is the solution as if she's saying, "Duh! Of course it's love! How did I not figure that out?" Which means the whole movie didn't even need to exist. It took her ten years to find out love was the answer. And then it's just "Of course! I guess I didn't have to hide in my room and ignore my sister for ten years, or run away and build myself an ice castle." It's so annoyingly simple you wonder why it took them that long to get it. I guess everyone in the movie is just dumb. And then, get this, her entire life she hasn't had any control over these powers of hers and now that she realizes love is the answer (to what question, I'm not sure) she has perfect control. No practice necessary. Trying hard to control them her whole life with no success. Was she just an unloving person until the realization hit her? She didn't seem very unloving to me. I just don't get it. 

Well, those are my main reasons for Frozen being a terrible Disney movie. And, like I said, I know most people don't feel this way, but I honestly can't stand to hear another person say how great it is without putting my opinion out there. It makes me want to tear my hair out to hear people calling it the greatest Disney movie ever. And I really haven't had an opportunity to share my distaste for the film because everyone I know loves it and no one wants to hear a film they love be criticized like this. But now I've done it and getting it off my chest feels nice.

The All Women's Talk website posted an article about why Frozen is the best Disney movie ever made and, I kid you not, these are the reasons:

1. There are tear jerking moments
2. The visuals are perfect
3. Olaf is hilarious
4. Anna is relatable
5. There is a lesson to be learned
6. The plot is engaging
7. The music is catchy

Really? Those sound like reasons you personally like the movie, not why it tops every other Disney movie ever made. If I hadn't said it wasn't talking about Frozen, would you even know? What Disney movie does that list not describe?

I could use this exact same list and apply it to any other Disney film. Watch. This is my argument for why The Lion King is the best Disney movie ever made.

1. There are tear jerking moments
2. The visuals are perfect
3. Timon and Pumbaa are hilarious
4. Simba is relatable
5. There is a lesson to be learned
6. The plot is engaging
7. The music is catchy

So how does this list, when applied to Frozen, make it better than other Disney movie? That's quite a claim, backed up very poorly.

But, anyway, you are free to think what you want, but don't call it the best Disney movie ever made unless you have better reasons why.

Bieber Arrested

Wow, Justin Bieber was arrested. Anyone surprised by this? I'm not. Not one bit. The little tyke was bound to be arrested sooner or later what with the behavior he's been exhibiting recently. It's usually the type of behavior that ends up getting people arrested. Guess he's learning celebrities aren't above the law.

Guys, I'm not a fan of Justin Bieber. Never have been, never will be. I don't follow stories about him because I don't care for him. I only know about this arrest because the internet has been blowing up about it. I don't know if this is his first or second arrest, but I do know he deserved the arrest.

Anyone who drives drunk, resists arrest, drives without a valid license, and is racing his vehicle deserves to be arrested. I don't care how much money they have or how famous they are. Not to mention he was on drugs at the time.

He and his racing partner were driving at least 30 miles above the speed limit in a residential area! That is dangerous and stupid.

So now that we got that covered and we all understand it's a bad thing to do, let's move on to what I'm really talking about: our reaction. That's right, folks. The way we have reacted to this not shocking news is ridiculous.

So this photo has made lot of people angry. Does it make you angry? People are upset he had the guts to compare himself to Michael Jackson. But, is he he really? Does posting a photo of him and MJ mean he's comparing their music? Not really. If anything, he's comparing their release from prison. And everyone's whining about it! They're mad he "compared" himself to Michael Jackson who was being released from prison for charges of child molestation.

Honestly, I think it's silly to be mad about this. Who really cares? This is hardly important.

Here's a picture of his mugshot, though, where he's giving us all a big old grin. Now, I don't want to judge or anything, maybe the kid is just used to smiling in front of a camera and did so without thinking....but, still. It's a mugshot. He is guilty of endangering the lives of others and he's grinning about it.

Bieber does such a great job of showing how not to behave when getting arrested and how to not to pose when getting a mugshot. I wonder what's going through his mind. Is he trying to show us all he doesn't care? Because he absolutely should care and learn a very important from all this.

One of the worst parts of this whole mess is the beliebers. It's really disgusting how they've reacted to this, coming out and vowing to support him no matter what. Look kids, you can be a fan of this dude's music as long as you want, but we do not ever support drunk driving no matter who is doing it! And we don't support people's decisions to be a jerk, either.

There were was a horrible tweet by @justegirlthings "joking'" about how they would always support him even to the day he decided to shoot up a school. Absolutely disgusting. It's bad enough to support someone for driving drunk but when you go as far to even "joke" about supporting them when they shoot up a school, there's a real problem. #FreeBieber was actually a trending topic. You beliebers just don't get it.

Justin Bieber did something wrong. It was very bad and extremely dangerous. We don't want to free people who do those things. We want them to be arrested so they don't kill anyone. I don't care if he's your favorite singer, he's subject to the same laws you and I are and he must abide by them.

Let me put it this way for those of you who still don't get it: If my favorite celebrity did something as stupid as drunk driving, I might still enjoy their talent, but I would definitely not support their decision. I would want them to be arrested and to accept the harsh and rightfully deserved consequences of doing something so dangerous.

You're free to listen to his music, but do you really want to support drunk driving? What does that say about you?

Thank god he's quitting music, though. I've had enough of him. Just wanted to throw that in there.