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[EviLore]

Warren Ellis was a successful comic author turned screenwriter. I enjoyed many of his works back in the day, like Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Nextwave, and many of his smaller indie titles. He's clearly an eccentric guy with an interest in the dark underbelly of society, the occult, etc., but that can be an asset to an author.

A few years back I heard that he was cancelled from writing the popular Netflix Castlevania series he created, due to sexual misconduct allegations, but I didn't look into it. Since the latest Castlevania season seems to be floundering and on the road to cancellation, my curiosity was piqued about what actually happened to Ellis that got him ostracized.

Wikipedia cites this:

In June 2020, several people (including musician Meredith Yayanos, artist Zoetica Ebb, and photographer Jhayne Holmes) publicly accused Ellis of sexual coercion and manipulation, in having engaged in simultaneous relationships with several of them without the others' knowledge.[126][127][128][129][130] The Daily Beast reported that "by 19 June, over 60 women had joined a group organized by Holmes, all of them accusing Ellis of a largely consistent pattern of behavior".[130] The Guardian later reported that "roughly 100 women have come forward, while 33 of them have composed written statements, supported by emails and text messages, which have been seen by The Guardian".[131] These testimonials were posted together on a new website, SoManyofUs.com, in July 2020 and contain accounts of "manipulation, gaslighting, coercion, and other forms of emotional abuse".[131][132]

Ellis responded, writing that he had not considered that others would see him as having "a position of power and privilege", and that "I have hurt many people that I had no intention of hurting. I am culpable. I take responsibility for my mistakes. I will do better and for that, I apologize."[129][128] DC Comics subsequently announced that, at Ellis's request, a two-page story written by him would not be included in an upcoming anthology.[133][134][132] Ellis ended his long-running email newsletter, which he had published under various titles since 1995.[135]

In mid-July 2020, The Guardian reported "Ellis responded to these accounts with self-pity and what seemed to be genuine contrition. [...] Ellis insists that the problem was relationship trouble, 'not predatory behaviour', but concedes that '[t]here is a differing of perception here, and I've been listening to it'. He said he was going to try therapy on the advice of friends".[131] The Hollywood Reporter later reported Ellis would not be returning to Castlevania for subsequent seasons and that a planned Batman comic would no longer be moving forward.[136]

In June 2021, a week after Ben Templesmith announced that he would be reteaming with Ellis for new issues of Fell, Image Comics announced that they would not be publishing the series following negative reaction from within the industry.[137] An update on SoManyofUs.com informed that Ellis reached out to the collective which created the site. He wrote that he was made aware of the offer of a mediated dialogue and that he would be available to begin a conversation.[138] After having closed his newsletter in June 2020, he used it again to inform his subscribers about this development.

In an update in January 2022, SoManyofUs.com reported that their members have been in a mediated dialogue with Ellis since August 2021 and that they were making progress in a guided transformative justice process.[139] In February 2022, Ellis relaunched his newsletter, in which he linked to the SoManyofUs.com update and website.[140] On January 19, 2023, SoManyOfUs.com once again updated the site, alleging that Ellis "took none of the steps we hoped he would", stating "we do not anticipate our involvement in any progress he might make in the future."[141]

Basically, women came forward claiming that he manipulated them and subjected them to various forms of emotional abuse, e.g., "gaslighting." Not to say that such things don't happen or that they can't be hurtful, but they're entirely dependent on someone's feelings being hurt, which the other party can't necessarily control no matter how they act. Relationships cause pain. Arguably not reasonable grounds for ostracizing someone from society and preventing them from working ever again, but it depends on the details I suppose.

Regardless, 60 women created a website together, somanyofus.com , to catalogue the alleged emotional abuses and manipulations. This seems a bit strange to begin with, but it must be serious then, like Diddy level serious. But, since most people stop at the headline, let's actually have a look at the website and its testimonials.

The first one I clicked on, and it's a doozy:

CW: descriptions of physical assault, mention of online bullying

I had little contact with Warren Ellis directly. My story presents the beginning of a clear pattern, the power and influence he could wield, the toxicity of his cult of personality, and the destruction left in his wake. This is not about quid pro quo. It is about manipulation, institutional rot, and my own naive complicity.

I was perfect for Warren’s scene. I was raised by a Narcissist, I am on the shallow end of the autism spectrum, and I was objectified, sexualized, and sexually abused in childhood. All of these factors erode a sense of self and warp normal understandings of proper boundaries, sexual or otherwise. These factors also make me, and those like me, the specific kind of vulnerable person Warren would target.

I was first introduced to the Warren Ellis Forum (WEF) at age 24. Warren found and replied to every single comment I made on the messageboard. The more vulnerable my post, the more attention/praise I recieved. It felt protective. I was a fan, and giddy with glee to have his attention. To find a whole community of comic geeks with whom I could relate was incredible to my nerdy self, and as someone who wanted to be part of the comics world, I was thrilled at the amazing opportunity to socialize with people working in the industry.

The WEF bar drinkups were legendary. Our hedonism was designed to be documented, fueled by a rivalry between NYC and LA. Developing and then digitizing photographs to be viewed on the forum as soon as possible was vital to the unwritten social contract, and we presented it all to him in tribute. Makeouts, licking, cleavage, and being drunkenly lecherous party people; it was all on display, and I fit right in. I instigated a performative three-way girl kiss one night, which was rewarded by being drawn into the background of Transmetropolitan. When one of our crew showed up to the bar early, chatted up a girl, left with her, bedded her, and then got BACK to the bar just in time for his girlfriend to arrive, he was considered an accomplished hero and we smirkingly admired the boldness of his infidelity. When I drunkenly told one of the comic book writers that I’d never had a real lapdance, he whisked us away from our WEF drink-up to a seedy stripclub and bought me some time in the champagne lounge. When that same fellow heard about my worsening and mysterious health, he offered to treat me to a full workup and physical by his personal doctor, giving me his credit card to do so. The bill was over $1000.

I was learning how the comics world worked, and those were my lessons.

Early on in my WEF experience, I started dating a fellow female forum member. She had red hair, a penchant for corsets, and a 24 hour live webcam feed, which she said was a kind of art project. She was also one of Warren's favorites. She had met him before, and even got her own cameo in Transmet. As soon as she and I were involved, the special attention I had been receiving from Warren on the messageboards ground to a halt.

Our new romance progressed quickly, and soon she and I moved in together with a fellow WEFer, let’s call him “Sam”. Disaster shortly followed. When we refused to pay Sam’s months-overdue utility bills, he called on a violent family member to handle things. We were naked and in bed when, without warning, our locked bedroom door was busted down by a furious man who screamed “GET OUT!” while he threw our belongings at us. When he dragged our mattress across the room in a rage, I was clinging to it, frozen in shock and trembling in terror, while my girlfriend called the police. All in all, pretty traumatic.

The next day, the top post of the Warren Ellis Forum was Warren himself calling out Sam's actions and barring him from the forum. The messageboard went wild, thirsty to avenge the WEF’s token lipstick lesbians.The owner of the comic book store at which Sam worked was reportedly so afraid of an angry mob arriving at his door, that he gave Sam a paid vacation day to stay home, and begged Warren to end the madness. Elsewhere on the forum someone started an apartment fund for us (long before the age of GoFundMe), and within days, we had around $1500 to help us relocate. When we arrived at the home of our generous temporary host (of WEF status) in Brooklyn, Warren even called (on the actual phone) to make sure we were ok.

Warren Ellis was powerful and made everything better. To be in Warren's good graces meant something profound. It felt like safety. To have that kind of community and connection was a support I’d never known.

When we moved into our new studio apartment (found thanks to our WEF connections) my girlfriend finally set up her 24 hour webcam again. Since we lived together now, I was part of the "art project" too. I was raised around art and nudity, so it didn’t seem too strange to me.

I knew Warren had watched the webcam before, but every act of intimacy between us was immediately followed by checking the computer to see if he had been watching. He was ever present in our lives; to what extent was vague and unspoken. Direct questioning was met with furious denials.

For the entirety of our relationship, my girlfriend wrote lovelorn/lustful missives to or about Warren on her website. Not only was she sexually describing me to him in a number of her public blog posts, but she did so using the exact same words and phrases that I now know he used on his women (addicted, hypnotizing, my muse, archaic magic, etc).

She would get jealous if I sat at the computer topless. She would turn on me suddenly and lash out publicly about private matters, distorting the truth and misrepresenting my health issues as drug addiction. At the time, I couldn’t understand why, or where her rage came from.

Prominent WEFers visited us from other cities like delegates of nerdom. When a young woman asked to use one of our computers to check in with Warren, the picture started to become more clear. There was something familiar in her frenzied energy from catching Warren’s eye; the immediacy of her need to contact him. My girlfriend recognized it, having been in that position herself, and said something to that effect. That is the moment when I first realized how things worked with Warren Ellis. He emotionally and sexually possessed women over the internet. My girlfriend was his, but had moved on to this woman as his next conquest (since confirmed by that young woman).

Now, I look back and wonder: Did my girlfriend date me to keep him from pursuing me? Did she see me as her competition? As a prop? Was I supposed to keep him interested in the webcam, or drive him from her heart? Regardless, I was never told the truth, rendering my ability to make informed consent impossible. That violation literally makes me feel ill when I think on it. I was so young and sweet.

My father's childhood friend took me out for drinks on my Christmas Eve birthday. He got me wasted, tried to make out with me, and put his hand down my shirt. When I returned home a crying wreck, my girlfriend nearly broke up with me for ruining Christmas with my drama. She blamed me for the situation, and told me I should know better, because that’s how men are. When you turn to them in comfort, they take what they want.

I bought her a new corset for Christmas that year.

The day after our one year anniversary, my girlfriend attacked me with physical violence, leaving me with scratches across my face and a fat bottom lip. I fled to the tiny bathroom, and she followed. She cornered me, my back against the wall, and began taunting me, her face inches from my own, trying to goad me into hitting her back. I'd never been hit. I'd never been in a fight in my life. I was terrified.

I publicly shared what happened, but due to what I assume is a combination of sexism and adherence to social hierarchy, no one seemed to care. She was far more popular than I, to put it plainly, and the WEF community that had been so meaningful to me wasn’t interested in my claims. By not choosing sides, they chose her.

The WEF closed down a few months later. There were still social outings of the NYC WEF crowd, but seeing them (and her) made me feel shaken and worthless, so I stopped. I didn’t feel I could trust anyone. I was suddenly without any of the friends or connections that I had developed over the previous year and a half. She never admitted to nor apologized for what she did to me. Instead, she cyberbullied me; thought it funny to publicly post a nude image of me from the cam days, and spread rumors about me. She remained in the bosom of the comics scene while I floundered to stay afloat without a support system, watching my health crumble.

I left behind the world of comics for the most part after all that. I still have severe anxiety attacks when I come across her online. I still have difficulty reading/watching the works of people that were part of our WEF scene. I did not hold Warren himself to the same standard. I did not expect him to worry himself with our lowly mortal issues.

Three years later, when I lived with an ex-bouncer who picked me up by the neck and assaulted me, it didn’t occur to me that anyone would care that I was again attacked. I thought that there must be something about my voice that drove people to violence.

I lurked around the online world of Warren Ellis through the various online tribes over the years. I still felt fearful and small, but the original WEF people had mostly moved on. As scarred as it had left me, my experience with the forum was the most I’d ever had a sense of community, and my poor health was increasingly isolating. Warren had an uncanny ability to gather interesting people, and it hardly had anything to do with comics anymore. He made you want to be anointed with his approval, to be part of his inner circle.

Because of what I’d experienced in the WEF days, the pattern became very apparent to me in every subsequent community he created. The Self Portrait Image Thread? A way to spot the cool and attractive people. The Saturday Night Open Mic, when he'd invite anyone to write about whatever they liked? A way to find the connection, the way in. That woman he's currently promoting all over the place? Probably his latest chosen one. Reading his works, it was plain to see that new women were being inserted in his comics, again and again, as tribute.

Over the past two decades, Warren Ellis has repeatedly promoted my art projects. He’s referred to me as his “old friend”. When I sent him a selfie for his FotoFridays, he called me a “brazen hussy”, and it made me smile. I used his description of me as my website tagline for years. Knowing what I knew and suspecting what I suspected, I was still quite thankful for his help and support in the past. So much so, that I went to a book signing seven years ago, and got a photo taken with the man himself.

More recent times have brought a change of perspective and a reassessing of the past. Just a few months ago, I warned a mutual friend what I knew and what I suspected of Warren’s poor serial treatment of women. She questioned him about my claims, so he told her beautiful lies, because that’s what he does. And because he is the charming, cunning, and influential Warren Ellis, she wants to believe him. So did I.

The current avalanche of public accusation against Warren is as disturbing as it is revelatory. Until now, I had no idea how truly dark and manipulative he was, nor how voracious. That being said, to be told that Warren has been grooming women for sexual relationships under dubious pretense in nefarious ways is the opposite of shocking news. The Warren Ellis Forum was the 00’s nerdy internet version of the erudite 1970’s party at the Playboy Mansion. To be stunned that Warren Ellis has been taking part in predatory behavior is to be surprised that people were having cocaine fueled orgies in the infamous grotto. Anyone astonished to hear these allegations is bathing deeply in denial, and/or is inexorably attached to the coattails Warren so liberally drags behind him.

And that’s how he hides his tracks.

...What in the world? I don't know if I can even comment. Read it and let me know what you think.

Another one:

CW: mention of illness, mention of rape

Warren Ellis first messaged me on Friendster around April 2004. I was 27. He already followed me on LiveJournal. We spoke daily through 2007 over email and met twice in person. I was an admin of his forum The Engine from 2005 to 2007. Its end coincided with his withdrawal of attention from me. After his sudden and unexplained rejection, we spoke perhaps four more times through 2009.

At first, I was thrilled and humbled that a personal hero whose work had been incredibly influential would take note of me. But I learned that to be an interesting person in my hero’s eyes, I must be a sexual creature. There was no mistaking it for a mentorship or equal relationship; the sexual content he demanded overwhelmed the wisdom he shared.

Sex was ultimately what he wanted, as virtually all conversations veered there eventually. Once, I mentioned a medical appointment for some worrisome ovarian cysts. As an ovarian cancer survivor, check-ups were always terrifying ordeals. His next response was a sexually explicit order. The tone change felt like whiplash, but a positive response felt like a duty. I recall being frequently exhausted by the obligation to respond positively.

Why young women?​

Our emails show that Warren provided emotional support during my tempestuous engagement and its subsequent end, and I do appreciate that he gave me comfort during a tumultuous time. However, in retrospect I find it uncomfortable rather than admirable: a married man with an internationally lauded career who playacts fascination with a 20-something woman’s tumultuous love life is probably not doing so out of the goodness of his heart. Who has the time for the soap opera drama of a 27-year-old other than people in that same tumult? When I look at the endless emails detailing my dramas (My crush’s housemate’s girlfriend read his email! I hope my boyfriend proposes!) it exhausts me, and I am the person most inclined to indulge my dramas. There is nothing inherently interesting about it to a 36-year-old man.

What I got​

What did I get out of it?

First, I was given a moderator position on the Engine. I think I was reasonably good at it, but I don’t pretend that the honor wasn’t bestowed as a favor (or perhaps to keep me quiet). It probably wasn’t my diplomatic experience or my technical prowess (I had neither).

Second, I occasionally got comic scripts in my inbox to read before the issues were out.

Third, I got the feeling of being special and worthy — but (spoiler alert) we all know that that doesn’t come from outside affirmation, right?

The final and very best thing that came from this relationship was being embedded in the Engine, where I met vibrant people who loved comics like I did. I had found friends, encouragement, and appreciation, but unfortunately participation in this society was conditional upon serving its leader and nexus. He demanded adoration and attention from us all; it was part of his cultivated online personality. But for young women, remaining part of the group was often contingent upon our responses to additional sexual coercion.

Bluebeard’s other wives​

I never thought I was the only one. It made sense that the other beautiful women splashed across his website and featured in his podcasts and volunteering to maintain his forums were in online or meatspace relationships with him, too. He was careful not to confirm my speculations:

A clearer pattern emerged when he spoke negatively of “shy” women. He painted anxiety as a negative, mockable condition and slapped the diagnosis on women who hadn’t dropped everything to wait on him. I no longer believe they were anxious. I believe (and have confirmed with one of them) that they simply didn’t take his bait, and he recast them as having “the social skills of an eel” or “paralyzed with shyness most of the time” to undermine their agency and encourage those of us who were more gullible to disbelieve these women.

Additionally, I have always felt uncomfortable at the careful scheduling that brought me to his hotel room at Toronto Comic-Con in 2005. He texted about continual delays, making me feel like a game piece. Naively, it took me weeks to realize that I wasn’t the only one in that room that night. I have since connected with two other women who also visited that room. Those of us who were there were not informed of the assembly line nature of his evening. To unethically withhold that information means that full and informed consent was impossible.

The emotional fallout​

Warren Ellis never had any control over any part of my professional life, my career, or my income. I realize now how extremely fortunate I was in this.

But to this day, I still suffer emotional fallout from Warren’s attention and abandonment. It made the descent into invisible middle age much harder. I internalized the Warren-given impression that all I'd had to offer was now-faded beauty, which was insufficient to retain a place in this man’s world, and that I must truly be a mediocre forgettable beast to deserve such a sudden removal from his orbit. It was hard. It hurt.

I believe Warren Ellis perpetuated a dangerous belief that women have no value beyond youth and beauty. When you're young and clever you KNOW you're special; we are all raised to believe that. Warren told us what we secretly hoped and believed: that we were lovely, precious, and worthy. So to lose it all and realize with a jolt that no, everything you thought people liked about you was only skin-deep is to feel unpersonned. That is why so many girls and women believed him; we had no reason not to believe we did matter. And for the women whose careers were tied into his recommendations — I just can't imagine what they went through.

Additionally, I lost all my online support for a long time. Feeling rejected post-Engine, I did not feel comfortable re-entering comic-related forums. LiveJournal was not a safe space because Warren was a follower: both his ability to see my activity, and his disappearance from activity on my journal, made me feel I no longer had a writing home.

In 2014, still reeling with the effect of losing my online communities and internalizing Warren’s abandonment as a judgment on my worth, I penned an Engine retrospective. On the surface it’s a reasonable look at the Engine years. The good that came from it always felt at odds with how much hurt I took in its wake, and this autopsy was part of my therapeutic exploration. But I’m sorry that I wrote a fawning piece. At the time I was trying to convince myself that it had all been worth it. Sometimes it is, sometimes not. I’ve realized that I can’t bury the bad under the good forever.

It wasn’t until Katie stood up and named Warren’s behaviors that I saw a chance to heal the hurt I carried. In hearing other women’s stories, I’ve recognized my own wounds and have been able to give names to pain I thought I alone felt.

It doesn’t have to be rape to be wrong​

Wisdom and age look back on these as red flags and yes, I agree; it is simple now to say “I should have known then.” I learned my lesson. And now I speak up so other young women have more tools at their disposal to recognize red flags in their own lives. I also speak up now to identify the systems and patterns that propped up this misbehavior.

I am not sure some men fully understand the way that women are subject to a raw deal: participation in society, being treated like a real person, is so often contingent on performative sexuality.

How do we fix this?​

It’s hard to know what to do to dismantle sick systems. Ellis’s public harem presented a blueprint for others’ behavior. “Get big enough,” it invited, “and you too will deserve your own sparkling audience of sexy young women.” This behavior provided a model and smokescreen for destructive patterns built atop the idea of women as currency. We cannot allow that to continue.

Here’s my suggestion: ask where the others are. If you see a man who builds an army of young and beautiful female-identifying people around him, ask why. If sexuality is lauded above other virtues, ask why. Skills, charisma, wisdom, and worth are found in all ages, genders, and levels, so where are they? If people are aging out of his army, what does that tell you about how he perceives their value? How do you fight the insidious social programming on display?

....??? So, some kind of cabal of ex-lovers who self-describe as his harem, and in some cases were his forum moderators (!!), with a seemingly major interest in creative writing, got together to cancel him for not expressing interest in them anymore? And it was super effective.

It seems he created his own mess with this powderkeg of interpersonal escapades, but phew, it's a strange world out there.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Dude I got halfway through the 1st testimonial and, what?!? I thought it was gonna be the typical lecherous older guy is creepy thing (which it probably is) but then it's just a self described party scene.

Sounds like everyone was horny. People got feelings hurt. No one acts like an adult and then the blaming starts.

Using autism as an excuse too is suspect.

 

[Mistake]

Reminds me of that viral facebook group "are we dating the same guy," where basically they trash unbeknownst men and their reputations through perceived wrongs done to them.

Seems to me they're both at fault. They're attracted to him and he's a philanderer. Of course they won't like it when the next girl in line gets the attention

 

[calistan]

They say never meet your heroes, but in Warren Ellis's case it should have been never meet your fans.

 

[Punished Miku]

I still suffer emotional fallout from Warren’s attention and abandonment. It made the descent into invisible middle age much harder. I internalized the Warren-given impression that all I'd had to offer was now-faded beauty, which was insufficient to retain a place in this man’s world, and that I must truly be a mediocre forgettable beast to deserve such a sudden removal from his orbit. It was hard. It hurt.

lol.

 

[FingerBang]

"Emotional abuse, gaslighting," and so on are not crimes. Did the guy rape anyone? Did the guy do anything illegal to lose his job(s) and have his reputation tarnished?
This is "MUH FEELINGS WERE HURT" all over again. "It doesn’t have to be rape to be wrong." As always, these women are not responsible for anything. It's the dirty man who used the right words to get in bed with them and then didn't stay for the long-term relationship that they wanted. The man gave them positions of power, and they couldn't say no because they were only young adults!

Don't get me wrong, the guy is probably a piece of shit. We've had plenty of artists who were pieces of shit in the past. I've been a piece of shit with some women too, and I know sometimes you do it because your dick has a stronger pull than your morals. But we should draw the line at what is legal and illegal and go from there. Especially when art is involved, or we're doomed to an even bleaker era of entertainment.

 

[EviLore]

"Emotional abuse, gaslighting," and so on are not crimes. Did the guy rape anyone? Did the guy do anything illegal to lose his job(s) and have his reputation tarnished?
This is "MUH FEELINGS WERE HURT" all over again. "It doesn’t have to be rape to be wrong." As always, these women are not responsible for anything. It's the dirty man who used the right words to get in bed with them and then didn't stay for the long-term relationship that they wanted. The man gave them positions of power, and they couldn't say no because they were only young adults!

Don't get me wrong, the guy is probably a piece of shit. We've had plenty of artists who were pieces of shit in the past. I've been a piece of shit with some women too, and I know sometimes you do it because your dick has a stronger pull than your morals. But we should draw the line at what is legal and illegal and go from there. Especially when art is involved, or we're doomed to an even bleaker era of entertainment.

In the second testimonial, the email exchange used as evidence against him is the opposite of gaslighting. He was upfront that she wasn’t the only woman he was talking to. Which should be obvious to anyone interacting with a famous guy they’re not in a relationship with, that they’ve sought after as a groupie/fangirl.

 

[Big Baller]

 

[kruis]

So what happened was that Ellis was a glib talker who succesfully talked dozens of women into having sex with him and now they're mad at him for having been easily duped.

There's no #metoo here at all.

 

[AJUMP23]

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

I think I read about these around the time he was canceled, or was there another guy who got canceled just because he was hooking up with multiple people? I can believe people being so soft they'd describe someone as a demon for not committing to them and them alone, even though they created false expectations for themselves, but it's so odd everyone just goes along with the so called abuse and "injustice" to such an extent that it winds up ruining someone's life; that seems like the real gaslighting to me.

 

[DKehoe]

Gaslighting is one of those terms that seems to have lost all meaning for some people.

 

[Queso de Grande]

It sucks he didn’t get the finish his Wildstorm reboot before all this came out.

 

[jason10mm]

A bunch of dudes got swept up in the #metoo wave for basically meeting women, having the sex, and then dumping them. Or being a jerk if they woman didn't say yes. But very few actual predators were in that mix, it was just a way for scorned women to get even.

Sure, some legit monsters like Harvey weinstein or bill cosby went down, but most were just guys too successful and recognizable so they were vulnerable to a slander attack.

 

[CGNoire]

Warren Ellis was a successful comic author turned screenwriter. I enjoyed many of his works back in the day, like Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Nextwave, and many of his smaller indie titles. He's clearly an eccentric guy with an interest in the dark underbelly of society, the occult, etc., but that can be an asset to an author.

A few years back I heard that he was cancelled from writing the popular Netflix Castlevania series he created, due to sexual misconduct allegations, but I didn't look into it. Since the latest Castlevania season seems to be floundering and on the road to cancellation, my curiosity was piqued about what actually happened to Ellis that got him ostracized.

Wikipedia cites this:



Basically, women came forward claiming that he manipulated them and subjected them to various forms of emotional abuse, e.g., "gaslighting." Not to say that such things don't happen or that they can't be hurtful, but they're entirely dependent on someone's feelings being hurt, which the other party can't necessarily control no matter how they act. Relationships cause pain. Arguably not reasonable grounds for ostracizing someone from society and preventing them from working ever again, but it depends on the details I suppose.

Regardless, 60 women created a website together, somanyofus.com , to catalogue the alleged emotional abuses and manipulations. This seems a bit strange to begin with, but it must be serious then, like Diddy level serious. But, since most people stop at the headline, let's actually have a look at the website and its testimonials.

The first one I clicked on, and it's a doozy:



...What in the world? I don't know if I can even comment. Read it and let me know what you think.

Another one:




....??? So, some kind of cabal of ex-lovers who self-describe as his harem, and in some cases were his forum moderators (!!), with a seemingly major interest in creative writing, got together to cancel him for not expressing interest in them anymore? And it was super effective.

It seems he created his own mess with this powderkeg of interpersonal escapades, but phew, it's a strange world out there.

Yep read up on this situation back in 22. Shit sucks the guys work is fantastic. I hope he bounces back.