#ChangetheChannel

[Skynet]

For those out of the loop Channel Awesome is a long-running website which hosts a variety of media reviewers, from the Nostalgia Critic to Linkara's Atop the Fourth Wall. It has had many contributors come and go, although a chain reaction of former contributor's grievances came to the fore and compiled by them in a very wordy Google Document:

Link to the Google Document.

There's quite a lot of people, around 20, and the allegations range from shady business practices, a hostile work environment engendered by the CEO Mike Michaud's aggressive and sexist behavior, and one of the content creators being a sexual predator whose behavior was overlooked.

In response Channel Awesome wrote a rebuttal to the document which many people found poorly-worded, to say the least.

Around this time two mass exoduses of content creators left the site. As of this posting the only person still remaining is Guru Larry/Larry Bundy Jr, who is far from defending them and has cracked jokes to the effect of "going out like gentleman on the sinking Titanic."

One of the new revelations out of the affair was in publishing screenshots as a rebuttal inadvertently revealed the identity of the sexual predator: Justin Carmichael, aka Jew Wario, a man who committed suicide for unknown reasons back in 2014.



I followed quite a few people on that site recently, and besides YouTube they were my other major pop culture site I visited regularly back around 2012-2014. This news is disheartening, to say the least. 2016 was the year in which many beloved icons died physically, now 2017-2018 seems to be the years in which our heroes die metaphorically. :(

There's been a lot of discussion, but I've had trouble verifying the wheat from the chaff and would rather not spam links.

What are people's thoughts on this?

[Skynet]

I found a spreadsheet for where to find your favorite creators along with their Patreons now that they're no longer on CA.

[Deamonbane]

As a long time Nostalgia Critic fan, I'm feeling kinda stupid right now.

[Oniya]

As a long time Nostalgia Critic fan, I'm feeling kinda stupid right now.

Yeah, Little Oni watched him a lot (on YT, not CA), and he even did a convention in our town a couple of years back.  I haven't seen her watching him recently, but a lot of the other content creators are the sorts of things that she would have been interested in.  I read that whole GoogleDoc, and the level of mismanagement alone was a real trainwreck.

[Lustful Bride]

Yeah, Little Oni watched him a lot (on YT, not CA), and he even did a convention in our town a couple of years back.  I haven't seen her watching him recently, but a lot of the other content creators are the sorts of things that she would have been interested in.  I read that whole GoogleDoc, and the level of mismanagement alone was a real trainwreck.

Wasn't most of the mismanagement due to someone else and not so much Walker? I cant remember the other person's name. But if all of the document is true then it feels as if the two Walker brothers were burying their heads in the sand and ignoring all the problems around them.

[Oniya]

Mike Michaud seems to be the top offender - but neither of the Walkers were doing much to help the situation.  A number of the complaints involved the way that content providers were promoted, and it doesn't seem that Doug's 'shout outs' were particularly enthusiastic.  (If you deliver a shout out in the tone that he usually uses for his content, it's not really a glowing recommendation.)

[WindFish]

What's with YouTubers turning out to be scummy people?

Channel Awesome was my life source back in college. I'd watch them religiously, and I even enjoyed the anniversary specials even if they could get cringey at times. I wasn't too happy when the Nostalgia Critic was retired and I couldn't even make it through an episode of Demo Reel. It was at that point I kinda fell off the CA bandwagon, but I did watch the NC when Doug brought him back, but not as often as I used to. There was a significant decline in quality when he started reviewing movies that were still in theaters with those clipless reviews. #ChangeTheChannel was the final straw for me. I couldn't support someone who mistreated his friends and was complicit in other serious abuses.

The main problem seems to be Mike Michaud (the CEO), but the Walkers have been very complicit. Burying their heads in the sand is not helping to win them any favors.

This is a perfect example of how a company should not do public relations. CA keeps on shooting itself in the foot.

The good thing about #ChangeTheChannel is that it allowed me to rediscover some of the other producers. I have a backlog of Allison and Lindsay's stuff to watch, and I've been binge watching MikeJ's Infomercialism series.

[Skynet]

And now it's hit semi-mainstream news as an article on Salon.

I like how the heading is showing Doug Walker cringing to an image of Jack & Jill.

[LisztesFerenc]

  I've heard that Doug has quite Channel Awesome, and the last review posted was a pre-recorded one by Mike Michaud (who legally owns the Nostalgia Critic character). Not sure if its true, but either way, I think its the beginning of the end. Doug quitting would make the whole process smoother, and allow him to have some dignity in the end.

[Skynet]

  I've heard that Doug has quite Channel Awesome, and the last review posted was a pre-recorded one by Mike Michaud (who legally owns the Nostalgia Critic character). Not sure if its true, but either way, I think its the beginning of the end. Doug quitting would make the whole process smoother, and allow him to have some dignity in the end.

I wouldn't put it past Mike Michaud to put on the suit and tie to (ineffectively) milk the NC cash cow.

[WindFish]

And now it's hit semi-mainstream news as an article on Salon.

I like how the heading is showing Doug Walker cringing to an image of Jack & Jill.

They don't call him the Cringe King for nothing. It's good to see that this story is attracting more media attention, but I don't expect an apology from CA anytime soon. I don't think Mike Michaud is capable of it.

And considering that YouTube has eased up on their copyright rules, and with Amazon becoming a popular video hosting service, is there even a point to Channel Awesome anymore?

[Oniya]

So - Little Oni says I'm over-analyzing this, but YouTube artist NateWantsToBattle has just released a new album called 'Paid in Exposure' - a title that he came up with in March (when the Channel Awesome drama exploded).  Coincidence?  Who knows.

[Skynet]

So - Little Oni says I'm over-analyzing this, but YouTube artist NateWantsToBattle has just released a new album called 'Paid in Exposure' - a title that he came up with in March (when the Channel Awesome drama exploded).  Coincidence?  Who knows.

Paid in Exposure/Publicity has been a saying that's been going around for quite a while. Particularly in industries which have little oversight or are small and obscure enough that they can get away with convincing people to contribute labor "for the love of the hobby." This was particularly noxious in the art industry; there was a FB group for RPG mapmakers which had to incorporate a rule for would-be hirers not to ask for free labor.

Jim Sterling had a good video on the subject which can be applied to a lot of things.

[Oniya]

It was more the timing of the whole thing that caught my eye.  I know that the Oatmeal did a strip on it years back ('Wow, that's a lot of exposure bucks!  Thanks!'), and it might very well just be coincidence in this case as well.

[Missy]

If someone is going to pay me in "exposure/publicity" then I had better be getting a share of the profits in the meantime, of the profits.

[Skynet]

An hour and a half long documentary about the troubles of Channel Awesome has been released for free on YouTube.

I'm in the process of watching it as of this posting, so I cannot comment on it overall yet.