The Spoony Situation. (Spoony Leaving Channel Awesome)

Wow I am really rising from the Grave to make this blog.

If you don't really know anything about internet reviewers or anything about this situation then you can skip this.

This comment by Doug Walker really shows that he has learned to use traditional media methods for smoothing over a situation like this.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs6q2u_doug-walker-on-spoony-connecticon-2012_people 

 Well it's all a bit odd. Only 2 things really could have happened in my opinion.  

1. There were more complaints from behind the scenes from people who were not comfortable with Spoony giving them creepy comments.  It doesn't seem possible that the few public comments on twitter and such could have possibly caused a fiasco like this.

I know from listening to the Pathfinder game that he was running that he seems to think it's OK to make BDSM jokes to females and sees nothing wrong with it (He made a BDSM comment to Iron Liz and then defended it when chat people were confused as to why he would say something like that).  In some circles on the internet it's fine to make comments like that is not the case for other places.

If this is the case then sadly Spoony has some real issues he needs to deal with before he can take full advantage of his comedic talents.  

2. What we saw on the internet was what happened.   In this case what happened would only make sense if someone who was in a position of power at Channel Awesome felt very strongly that Spoony's actions completely outweighed his contributions to the site.   (Which really makes no sense to me considering the "worst" statement that he made was a somewhat tame BDSM joke on twitter, especially one where the person it was aimed at didn't make a public complaint about it)

In addition bunch of fans stirred up by Lupa and Lord Kat's comments may have generated so many email complaints against Spoony that Doug Walker and the rest of the people in charge of the site had no idea how to deal with it.  This would make logical sense in how Spoony responded.   He made a joke, apologized for it and had no idea what the hell else he could do to deal with the issue.  But the complaints kept on coming into Channel awesome fueled by internet drama.

If this is the case then the people at Channel awesome really need to take another look at how they deal with situations like this.  Losing a talent like Spoony is a very serious issue and sets a precedent that anyone can leave the site if there are enough complaints. This is the same way that broadcast television got ruined through letter writing campaigns by religious special interest groups.  There is so much jealousy and hatred on the internet that just about anyone with a slight bit of a pull in any number of online communities can generate a ton of complaints about anyone.  Why would any business, especially one that deal with comedy, take complaints from practically anonymous people seriously?

I like Spoony's videos and would I like to think that choice number 1 wasn't what happened, but since everyone has been so political about the issue I have no proof of what actually went down.

Doug Walker's response in particular makes no sense at all unless Spoony was saying much worse things in private then what I saw on his twitter.  A reviewer who made his internet fame by making sarcastic snarky remarks can't tell off color jokes or make comments that could be considered "mean"?  This is holding up internet reviewers to a standard that US politicians can't even maintain.

Lupa backtracked a bit and said that Spoony wasn't a bully and Spoony told everyone that she wasn't the reason why he left the site. Perhaps her original article would have been better had she focused on someone who actually made multiple public rape jokes. (Like many of the contributors on Channel Awesome) Obviously her blog post didn't accomplish whatever her original intent was. (Unless her intent was to stir up enough drama to get Spoony to leave the site in which case it seems to have worked)

Unfortunately I don't think anyone will ever know what the hell actually happened.  The idea that a candid conversation between the Channel Awesome guys and Spoony somehow resulted in him leaving the site just doesn't make any sense to me.

There was money to be made and more importantly comedy to be made.

It's a very grim future for comedy if either political correctness or mental illness can destroy so much potential.

*Edit* Also a bunch of people made fake accounts and stuff  during this debacle so honestly it really smacks of certain online places making a concentrated effort to stir up trouble.  Jesus if Spoony was asked to leave channel 101 over an obvious internet smear campaign like this then I have no hope for the internet.