Just a polite request for people to please not spend years establishing themselves as icons of decency and generally reliable humans while secretly being complete cunts.
I'm looking at you Gaiman and Clarke. There are others. I'm probably not that perfect either, but I've never done that.
It's almost (not quite) worse than somebody you know is a total bastard. I mean, I'm never going to invest any love or sympathy in Andrew Tate or Elon Musk or Michelle Bachmann, or Sarah Palin. But when somebody works their socks off to establish a position in my heart, and backs that up with an addictive talent, and then turns out to be a cunt. Not just shit on what I hold dear, but weaken it?
There's something deeply messed up in our cultural dna or evolution that keeps producing these individuals, and I'm beginning to think this is not going to be survivable. :-((
“Event gives public the chance to experience round tables”
Noel Clarke, who was Mickey Smith in Dr Who, then wrote/directed/starred in the Kidulthood etc films then loads of other stuff. Accused by (at least) 25 women of verbal abuse, bullying and sexual harrassment. Clarke has made the classic stupid move of starting a legal case against the Guardian who first reported the accusations, but almost everything that has happened since has made the claims seem more likely. It's all in his wikipedia entry. Pretty nasty stuff.
I mean, it's pretty horrible that some people make other people go through this crap, but I don't especially care about Noel Clarke. I wasn't fussed about his Dr Who stuff and I've never watched any of the films. But he was building up a public profile of a decent person, doing worthwhile things. When this sort of shit happens it devalues it all publicly. It's ammunition and excuses for the barbarians who seem to be in the ascendent.
Ah right - I'd forgotten about him. Was actually thinking maybe something new had come to light about Arthur C, but thankfully not.
An artist I like (Yoann Lossel) has been working on a deluxe illustrated edition of Gaiman's American Gods, and has posted on his IG about feelings on the situation and how it has tainted his experiences and art.