Channel Awesome has been experiencing a mass exodus recently, with producers walking away from the online media company for its alleged poor treatment of its contributors. Now Channel Awesome has officially responded to these allegations, though rather than providing the apology that many had hoped for, they have instead sought to debunk the accusations leveled at them, calling their former producers “disgruntled individuals with vindictive intentions.”
In a lengthy blog post, Channel Awesome — most notable for being the home of Doug Walker’s ‘Nostalgia Critic’ character, and also being co-run by Rob Walker and Mike Michaud — pitches “accusations” against “facts,” attempting to prove the allegations made against them as false. This saw them including chatlogs of conversations with former Channel Awesome affiliates such as Holly Brown and Lindsay Ellis, though the blog post predominantly focusing on the complaints of women wasn’t well-received:
if multiple women accuse your company of an atmosphere of sexism, they’re probably lying bitches, so it’s a good idea to get their female peers to refute them on a public forum. because one person’s experience totally negates multiple others’.
you know. IN GENERAL.
— Lindsay Ellis (@thelindsayellis) April 12, 2018
The post addressed complaints compiled in the “Not So Awesome” Google Doc, that features contributions from a variety of former Channel Awesome contributors. The post notes that “[Channel Awesome] cannot address all 73 plus pages of accusations against us in this forum, but we will address the most egregious now.”
Among Channel Awesome’s retorts to its critics, they include a video of Allison Pregler — known online as ‘Obscurus Lupa’ — saying that one of the site’s anniversary specials “was a great production to be a part of,” as a way of countering her later comments that “not a single person wasn’t miserable” during the filming of the special. Pregler responded:
“Look! In a post-TBF documentary meant to be on the DVD we never bothered giving her, Allison said it was great to be part of this production! Take THAT, dweebos! *posts to Vimeo*”
-Channel Awesome CEO— Allison Pregler (@Obscurus_Lupa) April 12, 2018
This latest response follows Channel Awesome’s previous tweet acknowledging the controversy, in which they were criticized for telling those who had submitted to the “Not So Awesome” document: “We sincerely regret you felt that way.”
Many have responded negatively to the new Channel Awesome post, continuing to criticize the company for failing to issue a proper apology addressing the exhaustive number of issues expressed by its former contributors:
Stoked to see Channel Awesome’s third and somehow even worse response next week
— Jenny Nicholson (@JennyENicholson) April 12, 2018
The comments section beneath the post indicates that Channel Awesome’s community is also displeased with the post. “Goodbye for the final time,” the top comment reads. “It’s funny, most of these “accusations” attempt to not be petty, but that’s all you ever seem to come off as Mike.”
“This is embarrassing. And shameful,” another commenter wrote. “This is in every way how NOT to address the accusations.”
It’s unclear how Channel Awesome will progress from here. With prominent staples of the site such as Linkara and Film Brain having opted to no longer work with the company following these allegations, it seems that its response has served to further alienate its audience.
