Not too just throw another Log on the Fire, but... When working with a difficult client years back, the person being of Jewish descent, Jeff actually said to them "I know where to get zyklon-b." Whether or not he actually did it, he told the story and joked about it.
1/26/2018 R.R. (regarding the SPWF panel):
Well, this flips the switch.As a subject near and dear to my heart, This Is Infuriating."Came up with" myass.After what all we (redacted) had to go thru to get our Flirting and Dating panel up and running, this kack-handed corruption is the exact perception that we had to allay in people's minds.I gotta go regain some equilibrium right now, this is, to quote a friend, "peeing on my thing" and I'm waay out of my zone right now.
R.E.:
I remember one year going to a SPWF panel that sounded from its title like a discussion on Victorian courtship practices, but in reality was a “dating” panel that got very Nice Guy Syndrome heavy.
D.C.:
Owes a substantial amount of money, broke agreements, unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances, threats of character assassination, and has attempted to ruin two events I've co-produced. That's what this garbage human has done to me.
J.O.:
I stopped going to his events about five years ago. I know too many people with too many serious stories to keep supporting Jeff or his events.
It makes me sad, because there are vendors and performers I would love to see and support, and I miss having more access to steampunk. But treating people well, treating staff, volunteers, and guests well, is important. And I try to gently have these conversations with people who want to go to JME, because sometimes it's the only community they have, or maintaining that level of commitment to principles can be emotionally difficult. But they should know, they need to know, that if they see something that doesn't look right, or experience something uncomfortable at the event, that what they're seeing is real, that they're not alone, and that people will believe them.
A.S., referring to Wicked 2013:
Also known as "The one where someone dosed a water cooler, and the burners were handing out spiked water bottles".
D.C., referring to above situation, Wicked 2013:
I'm one of the witness. It was MDMA. I know because they we're going around offering it to people at the dance party I was DJing.
An ambulance had to be called as well for someone who drank out of the spiked water cooler.
Myself and others had attempted to make JME staff aware about what had happened. We were met with indifference and in one case outright praise that it happened. Because. It's "not a con unless someone gets sent to the hospital".
K.B.:
Hell, he had to fire his whole security team several years ago because they were giving out drugs. To your friends, okay. To general con-goers? No. How long was that knowingly happening before they were stopped?
Kali (me):
I am not remotely surprised at that. I've known security folks there who were still in their security shirts and high as a kite.
Oh yes... I was offered poppers... at JME events... by staff. No thanks.Separate comment:
The first few years I was involved with said company, it was "volunteer X hrs and get in free" (usually X = approx 8 ). I paid my transportation and hotel. Then it became "work 24 hrs and get a discount on your ticket." That's when I NOPE'd on out (this is also riiiiight around when other friends of mine stopped working with this company). There have been (are?) some quite abrasive and mean-spirited people who work with/for this company, and I will not be placed in the same room as them for various reasons.
T.W.:
Only one head EMT (Noah) was remotely kink friendly. Everyone else gave me a ridiculously hard time to do my job, stigmatized and snarked at my students, and actively got in the way of doing good service (removing someone's staples with needlenose pliars and then preventing their staff from taking my EMT-specific class the next year).Later comment:
My whole experience with JME events was me trying to drive home consent & healthy kink, and getting either blown off or flattered in the hopes I'd bring more dungeon furniture.
Fucking nightmare.
G.C.:
Well, I was going to post separately ... but he's the guy whose quote to the media was "White Power", did a staff taco party and made references to taking a performer of color and making them into a pinata, and referenced them on the radio as Mr. Brown. And that doesn't even go into the stalking of a patron, the attempts at forced proselytization, and the physical threatening of fellow staff members when called upon his actions.
Separate comment:
He soaked my family for thousands of dollars, me for thousands of hours of unpaid work, and my friends for even more. As soon as his events started being profitable, he cut me off, savaged my reputation in the event world, and betrayed many of my confidences. He also set me up as the fall guy for many policies he created, which were blamed on me. He's done worse in this vein to others.
In addition, he has broken countless contracts with employees, vendors, venues, and others, has been accused of sexual misconduct on several occasions, he has had his staff manufacture (sometimes unknowingly) allegations of consent violations against people he doesn't like, while keeping known consent violators on staff and as performers. He's also used [name redacted] as his unwitting hatchet person to let people know that they couldn't work with him rather than tell them himself.
And that's just scratching the surface.
C.K.:
I will say this a thousand times don't do anything for this man. He makes promises to people then brakes them. Now I will give you my own personal experience with him. He asked me and my dad to build him furniture for gke2. We did and all we asked for in return was two comped rooms and to be comped into the event. The night I was supposed to go set everything up I get a phone call from my dad telling me not to come. There's no comped room for us and they are only going to comp us into the event. Now mind you this is the night before the event so nether me or my dad have a way of getting a room. If your not going to comp our room tell us a few months in advance so we can book them. On top of that don't think you event that would only cost me and my wife 300 for the both of us and a 150 for my dad is worth the 4 months of time that me and my dad put into making all this stuff for you. On top of that we did it on our own time. Just to let everyone know I work from 8 am till 5 pm and my dad works even longer and is on call a lot because he does oil heat and ac for a living.
N.C.:
Lied to me repeatedly about vending at his shows. For YEARS. In addition, he’s owed my father almost $2,000 for years, now. Says can’t pay it until Dad writes up an invoice. And he KNOWS Dad just went through non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which partly manifested in a brain tumour, making reading and writing nearly impossible. He fucking KNOWS this. When I brought it up to him again? He actually said, “I know our friendship won’t survive what you think of me.” Threw it under the bus IMMEDIATELY.
And his vendor coordinator follows in the same vein. I got to the point where I wouldn’t answer the phone when he called because I wanted everything recorded on voicemail. He’d say one thing one day and another a few days later, and deny he’d ever changed his tack. Sometimes, he’d do it in the same conversation. Not to mention the mansplaining, condescension, and hey! Even gaslighting!
And his vendor coordinator follows in the same vein. I got to the point where I wouldn’t answer the phone when he called because I wanted everything recorded on voicemail. He’d say one thing one day and another a few days later, and deny he’d ever changed his tack. Sometimes, he’d do it in the same conversation. Not to mention the mansplaining, condescension, and hey! Even gaslighting!
...I may still be a little annoyed.
J.H.:
It's a tale as old as time.A new team of young upstarts in subculture and kink communities that have come to a show and make friends, get laid, see shows, dance, and have a time. They find their way onto the team to make the show happen... when a failing occurs, they are cast out, made pariah by the owner.
Thankfully though, there is a new team of young upstarts in subculture and kink communities that have come to a show and make friends, get laid, see shows, dance, and have a time. They find their way onto the team to make the show happen... when a failing occurs, they are cast out, made pariah by the owner.
Thankfully though, there is a new team of young upstarts in subculture and kink communities that have come to a show and make friends, get laid, see shows, dance, and have a time. They find their way onto the team to make the show happen... when a failing occurs, they are cast out, made pariah by the owner.
....a tale as old as time...
In my long tenure as JME onagain offagain employ - I have watched at least 4 teams of people come and go... all blamed for all that went wrong when the next team arrives.
Thankfully though, there is a new team of young upstarts in subculture and kink communities that have come to a show and make friends, get laid, see shows, dance, and have a time. They find their way onto the team to make the show happen... when a failing occurs, they are cast out, made pariah by the owner.
Thankfully though, there is a new team of young upstarts in subculture and kink communities that have come to a show and make friends, get laid, see shows, dance, and have a time. They find their way onto the team to make the show happen... when a failing occurs, they are cast out, made pariah by the owner.
....a tale as old as time...
In my long tenure as JME onagain offagain employ - I have watched at least 4 teams of people come and go... all blamed for all that went wrong when the next team arrives.
Want to be the next pariah... sign on up.G.S.:
for what it’s worth, he was hitting on me constantly the whole time I worked for him knowing full well that I was with you and that our relationship was not open. I would just play dumb and pretend I didn’t get that he was making a pass and I made sure never to be alone or inebriated with him. Also, bastard never fucking paid me for a goddamn thing.
L.M.:
I’ll put it this way. Many broken promises as usual. He completely took advantage of my willingness to do absolutely anything that needed done, set me up to fail so I’d look bad, had me work long shifts with no relief in sight then threw me in a room with at least 7 other people where I had to literally sleep on the floor, get maybe 1 meal a day (if I was lucky) and that’s just the major points. Nevermind the psychological abuse & repercussions just being associated (however briefly) but that’s all I’ll say publicly. I’ve mostly succeeded putting it all behind me & don’t have the spoons to mentally deal with going into more detail.
A.W.:
I'm sitting over here stewing about some things, stories I've shared and receipts I've kept.A.C. (referencing A.W.):
Three women were ignored when they made a formal complaint about one of his 'top performers.' It took me threatening to blacklist JME from having legitimate burlesque for him to ban the offender. And it took a year. I also have receipts on him crying his male tears over having to ban a friend for rape and sexual assault. I'll be posting my full story tomorrow and more details here, so everything seems to be in one place. It might mean my assaulter comes for me in the process, but if we're all outing JME, I feel like its worth it.
To add to what [A.W.] said - one of the women reporting was a staff member who worked in performance coordination (myself) & the other two were performers.
The postponement of banning this individual forced at least me to be in direct contact with the individual in a professional capacity after having been assaulted by him.
Not to mention that the assaulter was performing on a main stage between the two hotels which meant that if you wanted to (or had to for work) travel between the two hotels at that point you were unable to avoid being exposed to his performance.
Not to mention that the assaulter was performing on a main stage between the two hotels which meant that if you wanted to (or had to for work) travel between the two hotels at that point you were unable to avoid being exposed to his performance.
Safe space my ass.
V.H.:
I've kept pretty quiet through the years because, quite frankly, I came out relatively unscathed. But I can back up so much of this.
My piece in this puzzle-of-fuckery:
I was there at the very beginning. First Wicked Faire, mainly in charge of 'decorating'. You know. Decorating giant spaces with absolutely no budget what-so-ever. So, yeah, I can fully put in my two cents about the time and effort I did to make things and obtain things and put it all together, without much in the way of compensation.
The last event I bothered to participate in was whatever Wicked had Freezepop play, where I stopped in, said hi to friends, threw some bags of supplies around, and peaced the hell out.
Partially, I left because of the way Jeff ran things. The things I made for the events were not stored the way I requested and not cared for or looked after. I think I was only ever compensated with a few meals, reimbursement money under $50, and two completely random porn DVDs. (Uh... thanks, but... no?) I could see the writing on the wall right quick-- there WASN'T money to pay the staff. I was a college kid and had other shit to do. It was not worth it. (Fun fact-- I think Jeff's PARENTS were actually the ones to pay for one of those meals of mine, so I'm not even going to count that as him.)
And partially I left because of the staff at the time. It was, with a few wonderful, beautiful exceptions, an incestuous mess of drama. A lot of us were very new to things like kink and polyamory. A lot of the older, charismatic men involved took advantage of that. (Jeff only ever casually propositioned me, and my immediate shutdown thankfully kept away repeated attemps.) This was where a lot of those predators I've seen mentioned in other comments first got the scent and started sniffing around, I do believe.
(Come to think of it, there was an instance of someone kissing me non-consentually and asking to tie me up with ethernet cable, which I had actually forgotten about until seeing the person's name mentioned in one of these threads. I'm really good at brushing shit off and moving on, and my response at the time was to flee, then avoid him. From what I read this morning, this person eventually got kicked out.)
A friend of mine was repeatedly made to feel uncomfortable, to the point where she stopped attending anything. That whole "you're a girl, so you must be a sub, which means I can boss you around even though I don't know you" garbage that so many of the people attending and involved seemed to have. Not cool.
All-in-all, the events had some good ideas, some good themes, and some good people struggling to make it all work, but if the management at the top is garbage, there's only so much to be done.
Now and then, I'd get a message offering passes or whatever if I came back and volunteered for a while. Big ol' hell no to that.
And a funny side story because it still makes me laugh:Long after I got out, Jeff PMed me about some outdoor event he was running. He wanted me to bring my horses* to pull a wagon or some shit.Ha. Hahahahaha. Hahahahahahaha. Nope.
*Young, barely-trained to be ridden, with no experience pulling at all. But, you know, horses! they can do all those things that you see horses doing in movies, right?
D.M.:
In the early days, I had someone tell me tales of doom regarding Jeff and his events. I asked around, couldn’t verify any stories, talked to Jeff and his security staff (still have those emails wherein security was discussed and taken seriously). This was maybe second year of Wicked?
Stopped supporting his events after the Halloween wicked faire, because the organization was squiffy and the t shirts I purchased were never received. I asked that the money be donated to Gil’s fundraiser at the time, which didn’t happen.
In the grand scheme, they are minor reasons to not support an event. I’m horrified by how bad things got, and I’m very sad that the warnings told to me in early 2000 ended up being correct. At the time, I did everything I could do to be sure these were safe events to support.😕
A.S.:
I literally had to call the cops at SPWF last year because things were dangerous and I had no way to contact security, and the hotel staff tried to let a stranger in my room. Not only did this stranger have a free badge they were given a VIP badge instead of a press badge as they should have been given by Jeff's hand. It's a toxic environment there, and it's unfortunate because the events are fun, I have good memories, and I've met many close friends there. On the other hand if I had not been the hypervigilant person I am I could have been the victim of theft, assault or worse dead.
S.G.:
The performance community called him out last year for his exploitation tactics for hiring performers. His argument was giving people a chance to get their name out there and give them an audience. Why on earth would you want to stock your event with amateur performers? People are paying good money to attend an event with amateur performers as their entertainment? Why wouldn't you want to offer quality performances for your attendees? If you can't pay your acts, don't have them. Simple as that. Not all performers aren't paid, but a majority aren't. And that's still not okay.
C.T.:
The troupe I am in danced at three Wicked Faires over the years. We stopped because we realized that for all of our time and effort, we weren't appreciated and we were never, ever going to get paid. Three to five sets a weekend we were dancing, and we were lucky if we got food (which I have to commend the green room food staff because they tried so hard with no budget). SPWF, the last time I was there I did a panel and played with a band; it was for comped entry at least and I shared a room with friends. But last year I decided not to go at all; and I am glad I didn't.
J.F.:
Hell the last time I was there, I was a presenter. I was told after doing my presentation that I was required to volunteer the remaining days of the con or I would have to pay full price for my badge
[INITIALS REDACTED 1]
If this is the person I think it is, he performed nonconsensual acts on me when I was underage (I think I was 16) that left me in tears. Anyhow it was a long time ago but definitely not a sign of good character.Also, there seems to be a trend in conferences to not pay presenters. We work hard, and time and knowledge are valuable. Respect artists/instructors by compensating them for their time. Or any workers. Time + work = compensation. Period. That is so disrespectful of his staff.
M.V.:
He directly lied to vendors at multiple events, and repeatedly ignored concerns about safety and security of vendor areas. He went so far as to expressly paint vendors who took exception to his behavior as being bad actors and tried to turn vendors against each other.[INITIALS REDACTED 2]
Could tell stories for days, but beyond no spoons for that. Until today forgot about the the rooming situation when I came to work an event early, told I had space in a room the night before it started and that I would be alone. Got there to be told I didn't, and instead was told I was staying with a bunch of college aged guy volunteers I didn't know and would be the only girl. I wasn't working Circuit Six that event, and after my panic and anxiety attack stopped was able to find room with a crew member who saved my butt. not even gonna get into the false promises, no pay, lies, made out to be a liar when I was repeatedly sexually assaulted and nearly raped at events and then mocked for a long time following....nope. don't fucking touch it with anything
I got him a lot of performers who were very well known. Nothing ever in return. I was told "I owe you my first born child" and that's a direct quote for introducing him to [name] who went on to do a bunch of events. [He] was and is my friend and at the time I didn't know any better.
Yup. It was madeto be "oh she's being dramatic and she's young and emotional". Ask webs people and they'll probably say something else becaus it was made out to be something that it wasn't and made me look like a whiny babyI.B.:
I’m honestly shocked this guy is still around. Hasn’t he also screwed over several venues to the point where they won’t have his ventures back?T.W.:
I’ve known him since college. 20 goddamned years ago when he was running late might showings of a certain film. And I witnessed things that made me aware he was worse than scum from day one. I would warn people about him, get laughed off, and then sometime later, “you were totally right.”
Unfortunately, there seems to be a never ending supply of people who are new to the scene, get swept in by his charisma, and then get chewed up and spit out.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a never ending supply of people who are new to the scene, get swept in by his charisma, and then get chewed up and spit out.
I’m honestly shocked this guy is still around. Hasn’t he also screwed over several venues to the point where they won’t have his ventures back?
I’ve known him since college. 20 goddamned years ago when he was running late might showings of a certain film. And I witnessed things that made me aware he was worse than scum from day one. I would warn people about him, get laughed off, and then sometime later, “you were totally right.”
Unfortunately, there seems to be a never ending supply of people who are new to the scene, get swept in by his charisma, and then get chewed up and spit out.
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