About James Somerton's Apology To Me...
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- Опубликовано: 26 фев 2024
- So lets talk about James Somerton's recent apology to me as well as, separately, the people he plagarized.
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I’m glad he apologized to you, but I am repulsed by the fact that he hasn’t apologized to the people he stole $1.5k CAD from.
I wonder if he apologised specifically to Jessie because Jessie is the queer filmaker he aspires to be so he has ulterior motives.
I hope not, but it's weird that he keeps apologising to Jessie and Jessie only (without even adressing what he did wrong).
@@drawingsticks5333 This is definitely why he only apologized to Jessie. If anyone deserved a by-name apology in his video, it was Rachel Brands, but she's still not important enough.
@@drawingsticks5333 - Either that or he still harbours ambitions to get onto Nebula and thinks Jessie is his best way in.
Somerton is 100% naming Jesse just for clout.
Not to avila either
No one is obligated to forgive someone who issues an apology. Somerton is an established liar who has created an established environment of mistrust.
Yes exactly all because someone apologizes to you doesn't mean you have to forgive them
Some apologies are also lies + manipulations.
And doing it publicly to put pressure on Jessie to accept the apology. Honestly, I have the sneaking suspicion that James singled Jessie out because since she's kind and empathetic, he thinks she'll be more susceptible to his sob stories.
Hear, hear! A simple response: "!@#$ off, James!"
@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426Right if the apology felt sincere and wasn't filled with a million excuses about everything that people would probably feel differently about it. Even then no one's under an obligation to accept it but you would probably be more inclined to
Somerton fans: do you support the LGBTQ community?
Jessie; I'm literally trans
Somerton fans: She's dodging the question!!
they're dodging the anwser
I guess, to give them a very generous benefit of the doubt, some people can belong to a marginalised group but still do harm to that group as a whole
Saw a comment on Reddit that perfectly encapsulates my feelings on this apology video. "The more time he spends trying to explain the plagiarism, the angrier I get about the misinformation from Todd's video that he never acknowledges."
And... the misogyny.
He’ll probably blame the head injury…
Tbf, a lot, if not most, of the misinfo in Todd's video turned out to be from parts written by Nick.
He sort of addressed it by saying "me and nick were lied to by other people, our intent was not to lie"
So basically his go-to of blaming other people, not taking responsibility, and acting as if his supposed good intentions absolves him of the real life harm he caused.
@@Painocusdid it actually turn out that way? I know he claimed that, and Nick assembled the scripts, but do we know that Nick added in the random misogynistic tangents?
If he didn't apologize to Alexander Avila, despite his work being the one he stole from directly, among so many other people, then I have to believe he only named you at all to take advantage of your good will and from there gain good will from other queer folks to give him more grace. To me it felt so very disingenous.
Exactly. Because right now it smells like he's only apologizing to the bigger creators. Alexander deserves more than an apology, but that would be a good start.
*whisper* AND THE WHITE CREATORS. Honestly this checks out way too well tho, where's his apology to Avila, or Jes Tom, or any of the many other people he's harassed or stolen from?? He doesn't apologize to them, because he doesn't think they'll take his crocodile tears seriously.
There is such a thing as being too kind sometimes, and James Somerton is the best modern application for the Boy Who Cried Wolf story ever. Even if he WAS genuinely sorry or having a crisis, at this point? He's lied too many times. Why should anyone believe a word he says anymore? He's proven more than capable of lying about extremely serious topics when he had NO reason to. So why now, when its in his best interest to perform remorse, does anyone owe him good faith anymore, exactly?
Actually he didn’t apologize to Alex……he was still blocked James after he released the “apology”
Don't worry, he didn't apologize to Alexander because he didn't actually apologize to anybody. He spent 40 minutes explaining how he was actually the victim and he didn't do anything wrong, and then 3 minutes saying "but sorry anyway lol also going to monetize this video and start making more content lmao"
I am surprised Somerton did not pulled an ukulele
When James said “there are no queer creators on Nebula” what he really meant was “there are no cis gay white men on Nebula because those are the only queer people I care about”
YEP!!! you nailed it with this one king
I think you're being generous by assuming he cares about cis gay white men who aren't named James Somerton.
@@timothymclean Bingo. He really was saying "theres no James Sommerton on Nebula which is an outrage entirely not my responsiblity!"
@@brookeg5979 Exactly, honestly to me it's so transparent that the "gatekeeping" he has a problem with is just that he personally didn't get picked up by Nebula. His selfish and self-serving behaviour is the main tie between all of his actions throughout this video, he loves his tantrums masked as "Ah, I really must be the only bastion of queer content left" then erasing other queer creators.
Not quite. Somerton doesn't care about cis-gay men either. He wants to be the ONLY spokesperson for the LGBTQ community. Nobody else deserves it. It's why he's not really sorry about stealing other creators' work. He doesn't value anyone except himself. It's easy to spot a narcissist after 8 years of Trump refusing to shut up and go away.
"There's no black people, there's no queer content..." Someone should inform Kat Blaque that she's not on Nebula. Because she keeps uploading excellent vids to the platform there.
Just like a fake woke guy to try and use like. Unselfish Moral reasons to bolster his petty personal complaints about a thing...only for those very statements to reveal he doesn't keep up with or even know about a bunch of queer/nonwhite creators, or know what the hell he's talking about 😂😂
@margaretgibbs6673
I'm seeing this so often in recent years. Clearly the petty personal complaints were there first and they try to get other people to validate them by putting up a front of morality concerns for the greater good when in reality, they have made no effort to actually engage with whatever thing has prompted their hate boner, let alone in good faith.
She was literally the very first example that popped into my head when I found out he said that. I haven’t even watched a lot of her stuff yet (I’ve gone through a couple and I think there’s like 10 or more of her vids living in the middle of my watch later list), but it was a very glaring oversight. Like she checks both boxes and he just glosses over her existence because it’s inconvenient to his victim complex.
Also F.D Signifier is on Nebula if I'm not wrong
I don't think we should tell her, we're all better off with her here
He still hasn't apologised to the woman who discovered his theft and sent his fans after her. She was harassed so badly that she locked her twitter.
He has deleted Toddintheshadow's, Alex Avila's, and Dan Olsen's comments on his apology video because he didnt wanna look bad.
He claimed he stole people's work because he has ADHD which is just offensive
What did they say 😮 I missed it
Agreed. I have ADHD, and there is no way I could plagiarize that way, because I would not be able to remember sentences clearly enough to replicate them. I am constantly googling quotes, lyrics, and references, even just to tweet, to make sure I'm not completely mis-remembering the source material. There are TONNES of messages I've typed, then deleted because I can't find the source, or realized I was misremembering; and that's just social media, not a video essay.
@@jazwhoaskedforthis Todd asked about more stuff James lied about, Dan questioned how James could take patreon money to buy a new cam although he told his audience he needs more money or the channel shuts down and he'll be homeless, and Alex asked why James lied to his audience when he stole Alex' video and told everyone he "found a compilation"
@@delightmareIt should be noted that the thing Alex mentioned is precisely the thing that HBomb did an Ace Attorney-style beatdown over, using *his very own pictures* to prove that he did it. So it's not like it was some trivial detail.
That's like Elon Musk claiming that people don't like him cause he's autistic. Like, no, James, it's not the neurodivergence, you're just an asshole
Jessie you are not a bad person for being unsure and feel untrustworthy. Somerton has shown a repeated history of self victimization and lying. He is the perpetrator and if he really is sorry he should learn from this and accept the consequences.
Not to mention, from the apology video we got his (stated) feelings about doing something wrong to Jessie. We did not get a confession of what happened, nor any indication he's aware of the negative outcomes caused by him, nor an explanation of why he went about it. All we can do if we want to be really, really generous, is validate his feelings. He hasn't provided a full apology here, so there isn't a sensible way to accept and forgive him for it.
Of course, the reason he didn't bring those up is surely because he doesn't want to look bad, same reason he's always avoided all of the important critiques leveled against him, including in this latest apology video. But it is nice to give people benefit of the doubt as much as we can (without enabling abuse of other victims).
Just noting to OP, I know what you meant, but fwiw, I'd say "distrustful" instead of "untrustworthy", cos the former is not trusting someone, the latter is not being someone to trust (like Jimmy, actually).
I'm noting this only for clarity, not to hassle you! I'm totally with you! My only negative thoughts and feelings are toward Jimbo, whose video I couldn't watch more than 2 minutes of before stopping it in disgust, and I then found that he'd un-privated his other videos (the big ones that make money, like the one on "K//ing St//king"), which is sketchy as hell. Hope everyone checks their Patron status if applicable.
Thanks for the feedback sorry if I cause any confusion with my grammer😅. But yeah I think Somerton has himself to blame. He broke everyones trust and his actions really shows who he is a liar, a thief, etc.@mookinbabysealfurmittens
@@poenpotzu2865 lol your grammar is great! I was just nitpicking about which negative word regarding lack of trust in Jimbo that I'd personally prefer. Haha. I gotta laugh cos his newest shenanigans have been making me grumpy all day. Hmph! At him! You're cool. ^_^
@spooderderg4077 That _is_ true about English. Silly language, if you ask me, but it is what it is. (Malleable, for one.) Cheers!
The whole apology felt like a ad for Telos and his channel
All he knows how to do is market himself. That seems to be at the core of his pathological lying about his own actions - he can only present himself in the best possible way, whether that's deliberate or compulsive.
Marketing man strikes again
Humanity isn’t a commodity james.
@@littlereliefwhich is ironic because he is incapable of describing himself in a good light
hEs A mArKeTiNg ExPeRt
Yeah. I was at least willing to be open to a sincere apology that took accountability. And was disappointed again. It was more measured and he made some of the correct mouth noises. But it was utterly gross to hear him _again_ flog Patreon. Like buddy, none of this has any sincerity if you aren't willing to prove it through demonitizing everything and showing us what you can do from pure passion. But no. He's keeping the Telos money, keeping his Patreon, keeping his YT revenue with a "promise" to pass on some small portion of that to original creators. Somerton needs to go F himself asap.
There is so much queer content on Nebula that I almost thought it was specifically a queer platform
Any "apology video" that includes mention of future aspirations isn't an apology video. It's a PR statement.
Exactly. A fair adjective for the whole thing would be "corporate"
@@vaelethun Spot on. And I work in marketing and communications. I know a crisis communications statement when I see one. :P
"I am sorry that you are confused and that you may not want to talk to me every again, you'd be a great token to increase my credibility, and also, here's a detailed description of my history so you feel sorry for me and hopefully ignore all the bad things I did that I don't apologise for to the people I've wronged who I will also not mention in case someone wants to check something or wants to see the content of instead of mine. And here is what I want to do with MY content that is totally not plagiarised and I write myself. Have I mentioned that you shouldn't ask yourself why I didn't talk about anyone by name who I plagiarised and said to apologise to? Don't look into that. I totally reached out to at least one person, via a social media platform because contacting people on the internet is hard, which by the way is the reason I am completely unable to apologise to people I've plagiarised. I can also not list their channel names to credit them or anything. It's literally impossible! Watch my stuff!"
I can see why Jessie thinks the part about her is sincere. He might actually like her for her kindness.
But i can't give him that benefit of the doubt with the pattern of self centeredness and manipulation going on in every word he says and every action he takes without any exceptions that could hint at the possibility that he is ever sincere about anything besides his self pity that he weaponised to shield himself from responsibility. It also seems extremely disrespectful to his mother to use her as an excuse for plagiarism and not apologising.
"I look bad in your eyes, but bad stuff happened to me, I'm sorry that being exposed for taking my frustration out on people is so visible when I do it to you. I should know better than to target sincere people, but you're the only sincere person I know. Here's an hour of me talking about my plans for my content for the future and making excuses for why I plagiarised."
I don't think he knows what caring about another person means, or that he ever will.
James’s strategy this whole time is admit to a lesser crime and deflect deflect deflect sprinkled in with a loooot of self-pity excuses and then give a half assed apology.
He constantly acts like he's writing his own plea deal.
He did the same video "apology" as last time, only with higher production value and a different emotional crutch to make people feel sorry for him ( first is was "i almost k1ll3d myself", now is "oh yeah, and my m other died").
Basically, he learned nothing and cares for nothing other than himself and the money he wants to grift out of people.
@@TvTrollByIvy His mother died over a year ago tho??
@@TvTrollByIvyalso I have a mental disease that makes me plagerize.
@@brook_angelbrrruuuhhh him and that med student who carved her name into cadavers trying to say their ADHD made them do it when they obviously have other issues need to start a club
That single section where he goes on length about you and apologizes for "dragging you into this" had me screaming "You're still doing it, you're still dragging her into this" at my screen in vain.
James is impossibly tactless.
Mhmm!!! If he was actually sorry and changed his ways he’d have sent a private apology. It’s all still a game to him.
He wants the kudos for being apologetic and caring about Jessie so bad that he doesn’t actually care about how she feels.
"Tactless" is the merciful reading of that behavior. My reading was "Who's he playing to to try and pay his next bill".
@@sarahnkanu
Apparently he claims to have reached out to people, some of whom responded. It is blatantly clear Jessie was not among those he reached out to. Why not, if she is one he wishes to "especially" and "personally" apologize to? And when his apology to her would obviously be best served through honest dialogue, in private.
There are people with clear advice on how he should go about making amends. The initial call-out videos make some suggestions. He has taken none of the advice, reached out to no one who could say how to handle this if it is that he does not know how.
It feels like groveling and makes me uncomfortable.
It seems like whatever curation process Nebula uses worked exactly as intended and that really got under his skin
Common Nebula win
Common Nebula win
Common Nebula win
Common Nebula win
The way he seemed to panic a bit when he realized Jessie was in the chat said a lot
I felt that too
The immediate audible and visible backpedaling was laughable. What an absolute tool.
For me, it was when Jenny and Sarah said their piece in the chat, and James' eyes do that flutter thing people do when they're grasping for something to say. And when he said "some people are coming in here to make me look bad" I said "GIRL" so loud my dog looked up 😅 that is NOT what people say when they're innocent of the accusation.
I was wondering if I imagined that!
Jessie, it sounds like to me that James to trying to reach out to get allies from anywhere, and he has identified you are someone who might be susceptible to his manipulations because you are so kind and understanding. People like him prey off of people who always give people the benefit of the doubt. It’s ok to not be able to trust him, that’s what’s keeping you safe! Trust yourself, it’s ok to not trust someone who has proven themselves to be untrustworthy. It doesn’t make you a bad person.
I agree. He monetised his newest apology video and suggested people give to his own patreon so he can give money to Hbomberguy to compensate his victims. His patreon is all about making films again, which he never did. He just ived off the money he was given to make films. Nothing he has done suggests he can be trusted in any way.
Bingo
This.
I agree, and I think Jesse handled it in a measured way like she always does- even noting this possibility.
He focused on her because she is always so kind and measured - she recognizes the humanity in everyone, even those who've harmed her. This was a hail Mary to get her on his side. I'm happy she saw through it, while remaining true to her thoughtful nature. I wouldn't have expected her to fall for it anyway.
The more someone with honest intentions tries to bring the conversation back to real issues, the more the person with self-serving intentions will try to deflect and manipulate. You have nothing to feel bad about, Jessie. You handled things with grace.
If he didn't reach out to you privately-only posted this video-then *none* of this was sincere. *None* of it is true accountability.
I can't imagine the complex feelings you're going through from being so tangled up in this situation, but as an outsider? This seems like a blatantly cynical attempt to restore his standing, *not* a true apology or a genuine attempt to make amends to you.
Seriously. Frankly, a personal apology like this in a video is just, dumb? If Jessie didn't watch the video (because she didn't know it existed, or decided not to watch it because it'd suck to), then the apology would reach everybody *except* Jessie. It's blatantly performative to his audience to try and win some goodwill from whatever remaining fans he has, not to actually try and mend bridges or undo harm.
It's also telling that of all the people he chooses to apologise to, it's a relatively large creator with a sizeable audience that a lot of people know and respect. Smaller creators aren't getting publicly apologised to in his video, who are very conveniently, the creators anybody watching the video is least likely to know about.
Absolutely this. Springing this on Jessie with no warning is just another example of his selfishness and manipulative nature.
@@JanSenChengI agree completely
An apology like this is just PR, and an attempt to pave a way back into his followers hearts. If he was sincere he would have just spoken to Jesse directly and not needed to make a big show about it.
If you want to apologize you don’t do it indirectly. It really doesn’t make any sense to do that.
Next time I have to apologize to my partner I’ll send a written apology to my friend Anthony, he’s a nice guy maybe he’ll relay the message.
I don’t know, maybe I’m too old and it’s a new generation thing.
Not only does her not mention ToddInTheShadows, but he has apparently deleted Todds comment addressing the misinformation as being more than stuff he improperly fact checked.
So funny to see how obvious he is...when it comes to the person he just plain did something horrible to (calling the POLICE, on a TRANS WOMAN, for *no good reason aside from daring to say something he said wasn't true*) and someone who's well known for being more charitable than most would even to enemies, he turns on the crocodile tears and tries to whine about how remorseful he is. When it comes to ppl calling out his plagiarism, and people who he (correctly) suspects aren't gonna even entertain him, just keep reminding him of all the stuff he's never admitted to? Blocked and ignored. He won't even engage with Todd or Folding Ideas or hbomberguy or Alexander Avila...because he has nothing to say. Nothing that they'd believe, and he knows it.
Oh, Jessie-- I'm a fellow character in this story, and your experience with James tracks so closely with mine. For what it's worth, I'm grappling with very similar feelings. Sending you all my love and solidarity.
very sorry you have to deal with the business clown being present in your life. wishing you well (and hopefully he won't bother you anymore, too. not holding my breath, though.)
You were the author that was harassed because queer people thought you were a straight person and you were writing queer stories, right? The author of Love, Simon? I'm so sorry that you went through all of that. Our community can be toxically gatekeep-y at times, and I'm sorry you got caught in that toxicity and harassed. I'm also sorry James did you suuuper dirty. I hope you have a happy life.
Oh hey, it's Becky Albertalli! I don’t know if you'll ever read this but Love, Simon is a favourite of my sister and mine. She loved the film so much she bought a copy of the book. This whole situation with James is complicated and from the looks of it might get even more complicated, but... Thanks for everything, and I am sorry about everything you went through. Wishing you all the success in the world.
so sorry you had to experience all this, your books were so important to me when i was younger, as an aspiring writer and queer teen it meant a lot to see myself represented in a YA novel at a time when most of the stories i came across weren't really resonant with my experience.
Loved when he said "the people in this stream seem to just be coming here to try and make me look bad?" meanwhile the most lukewarm polite criticisms I've ever seen on the Internet pop up lmao "Help! People are repeating my actions and words back at me and it's making me look bad! Somebody stop them!"
"Could you please stop kicking the back of my chair?"
"Help! Help! I'm being attacked!"
“To try to make me look bad” James, babe, nobody has to TRY. You’ve made YOURSELF look bad pretty damn effectively - and people pointing that out isn’t an attack.
He was deleting comments left and right on the video, too. Todd in the Shadows made a good one calling him out for his crap, and James deleted it
Somerton is a child who gets upset because he gets told off for misbehaving and throws a tantrum.
i've said it before and i'll say it again: if Somerton actually, truly cared about queer culture and queer history, he would have been continually screeching about his sources and all the information he had 'gathered in his research' for his videos, since queer history is being erased *as we speak* in the US especially. if he truly cared he would have been infodumping all over the place in an effort to help baby queers understand where we come from and how far we've gone. but instead he did exactly what jas been done to us for generations: he helped to erase our collective past, our art, our songs and stories and history and identity. he minimised and all but obliterated what trans women of colour have done for us, what lesbians have done for us, the advancements that the 'boring milquetoast whitebread queers' have done for us. how *dare* he. and then he wants to come back round and behave as if he is somehow still relevant? his opinion on anything is neither required nor desired.
to be quite honest, you have far more class and patience than i ever would have when it comes to this man, Jessie. i hope this is the last time you feel you have to address this issue and that you're well shut of it.
White male gays will lean into their whiteness and maleness to diminish everyone else and use all the tools of the patriarchy for their personal benefit. He's also leaning into societal expectations that wounded men will be coddled by bringing up every bad thing that ever happened in his life. James wants a pity party focused on him to distract from his own bad actions.
He also managed to erase two transmasc creators like ND Stevenson and Rebecca Sugar, because they didn't fit his narrative that "afabs/women have it better".
Wanting it or not, he erased a bunch of identities in such a delicate moment of history. I don't think I could even forgive him.
Edit: he also stole from Alexander Avila, that is also transmasc.
I think James just doesn't respect the queer community, he doesn't respect us and expected us to not say anything.
Ah but he forgor
@@lordarthur2165 Apparently Avila not only has NOT gotten an apology but also it's still blocked by Somerton.
@@drawingsticks5333 yes, I know that. As a trans man, this hurts so much, we are already erased and invisible even in the queer community, so doing this is so... Messed up.
The thing I find hilarious James somerton complaining that he couldn't get on nebula was that if he had just shut up and got on with his life h bomber guy probably never would have noticed him. His tweets about nebula not being a queer friendly space is what got Hbomber guys producer Kat to notice him, like the eye of Sauron turning towards the ring.
Which is the exact same thing Illuminaughtii did. If I had a nickel…
Honestly, considering the James' misoginy and contempt for women that he failed to adress on both his apologies it makes me wonder if the story of a woman allegedly saying that she would falsely acuse him of SA isn't coming in part from this belief misoginistic men tend to have that women just go around falsely accusing any men they don't like of being rapists
SO agree with you here!!
me too! he claims to have a message from this “accuser” so why wouldn’t he show it? and to reiterate jessie, why would a woman falsely claim a famously gay man SA’d her? i will of course take this back with proof but like…. he’s a serial liar folks
@@ratgurl1 Only thing I'd point out here is that it's perfectly understandable to not show a message like this to the public, and sexuality doesn't _necessarily_ play a role in assault, since it's primarily an act of power rather than attraction. But yeah James is lying his ass off
@@juniperrodley9843 upon reflection i definitely agree that anyone can SH anyone and that (non-r*pe) SA of women by gay men is actually pretty common. in terms of r*pe, the power vs. sexuality thing is really only evident in the victimization of pre-pubescent children and “straight” men assaulting other men, not in any cases of an (out before trial) gay man attacking a woman that i could find. that being said, i’d support an actual allegation with that dynamic if one were to come out.
while i would agree with you about sharing messages of an allegation, i don’t agree when one is accusing a (theoretical) SA/SH allegation of being knowingly untrue. in his tweet, he put IN QUOTES that this person said they were alleging it to “kill [his] channel” - you can’t put something in quotes if it wasn’t said, and if it WAS said, he has textual evidence of malicious intent. i don’t understand why you think it would be uncomfortable to share a redacted screen shot if he’s comfortable “quoting” it directly? especially with an SH accusation that could lose you followers and credibility before you have the chance to respond, i’d think any person with evidence that a false malicious attack was coming would share it preemptively… maybe that’s too presumptive of me but he’s a lying liar anyway so whateva.
basically i generally agree with you and really appreciate the nuance you shared, but this isn’t a normal SA/SH allegation situation :/
@@juniperrodley9843 Yeah, I agree with this. Also he's trying to apologize to Jessie, so he would only need to show it to Jessie... But it would mean he needed to be honest enough with his apology to talk one on one with her and have accountability. Both of which we know won't happen; first one because he already choose to put her on the spotlight like this and second one because... I mean, just look at the new stuff that surfaced about the comments being deleted when pointing things he wants to hide and the fact that he hasn't even contacted hbomberguy's team...
I think you hit the nail on the head when you asked "Did he just mention me as a way to bring up the death threats?"
Plagiarism and even accusations of plagiarism would probably be a big reason why Nebula didn’t put him on their platform; it’s just too much liability on Nebula’s part.
I hope that is the reason! Good on nebula for doing due diligence
If it wasn't it was definitely James doing the DARVO, where he was like "If I join nebula, I'm gonna get caught. So I should villainize them now so I can seem above reproach still."
@@haleyspenceholy shit you might be right
would explain why he doesn’t connect on that discord server and why he says he was “left on read” instead of claiming he was flat out denied
His "apology video" includes specific easily provable lies (I can give examples). He is trying to use your kindness to his advantage, it's very clear he addressed you specifically because you give people grace and at the same time are quite well-known. He's such a slimy manipulative pathological liar, ugh.
Not to be part of "the drama" but I don't want to watch James's video and I'm curious. What are your examples?
@@witchcraft2264 He repeated the lie that he got the permission to adapt Tinker Belles & Evil Queens before publishing the video again. He also tried to say that he added all the sources to opening credits of Deep Cuts, which is just not true.
@@witchcraft2264 there were more, but after these two at the beginning I just could not take anything he said in the "apology" seriously
@@annas6865 yeah fair
@@witchcraft2264he also pretends like if he'd just cited his sources the videos would have been fine as they are. As if verbatim reading aloud someone else's work is good somehow.
He also ignores all the misinformation in his videos. Cause a lot of the time when he does add something to his stolen script it's.... Wrong and possibly bigoted.
I found it frustrating that he has reframed Telos as his childhood dream. I funded it as a community project about representation, that was how he originally framed it. He originally sold it as *our* dreams. Now it's *his* dream.
It feels to me like the whole reason he apologized to you specifically is that you're living the life he wants. You're an incredible video essayist and you're in the process of creating what promises to be an amazing movie. This feels like trying to bandage over what he's hoping will be a career networking opportunity for him as he moves into filmmaking. Maybe that's cynical of me, but that's how I read it.
THIS!!! Phenomenally astute observation, never even thought of that but you’re so right.
Yes!! I really raised an eyebrow at his insinuation that there was a lost friendship or something there, like he's trying to ride Jessie's coattails or something.
This. All of this right here.
I just wonder what he could possibly see for his own supposed future in film. I recognize, factually, that he isn't planning ahead in any logical way; he steals and lies to fulfill immediate emotional needs, regardless of the inevitable consequences. At the same time, I just can't wrap my head around it. How someone can be looking to make movies when they just got their whole career razed for compulsive plagiarism.
Oooh, insightful take. Good catch
His apology was manipulative and atrocious. He showed a lack of understanding of his actual harm and I totally took his mention of you at the beginning as using you. He’s using how we view you in the community, and your empathy. It’s gross I wouldn’t give him the time of day
So gross. Made my skin crawl, vaguely triggering as someone who’s been abused and manipilated. And let me say my spidey sense for that is still not great, so it must be pretty overt.
James and the Giant Victim-Complex tbh. No one is owed forgiveness. The more he "explains" himself, the more pissed off I get. He's 100% trying to hook into your good heart as his redemption
I can't believe he used an apology video to claim he created the 'Roblox Oof', that's wild 😭
His mother is very proud
I’m an elder millennial queer at 35. When I first went to college as a poor kid, I’d never had a computer. In one of my first college classes, I remembered at the last minute they wanted essays double spaced. Not familiar with how to use goddamn Microsoft word, I selected the whole essay and changed the spacing, not realizing it would make my properly cited quotations ALSO double spaced, when quotes are always supposed to be single spaced.
For that I got an official warning for plagiarism from the college, even though everything was properly cited and they acknowledged it was a mistake- but that’s how seriously they took it.
So when the first accusations happened against James, I assumed it was something like that and was willing to give a lot of grace for the learning curve of a new medium like a video essay.
I’m sure LOTS of people were willing to extend a lot of grace. I stopped watching before the drama because I didn’t love the tone of his videos and did detect some misogynistic overtones… but the extent of what he was doing once it was revealed was so shocking.
We’re literally a community whose existence has been blotted out of history- both for self protection of queer people, like burning their letters, to official censorship.
I think it’s completely justified to just walk away from any further engagement. Maybe he still has a personal growth curve ahead of him- I hope so- but he doesn’t need, and maybe wouldn’t benefit from, a lot of public airspace moving forward while he does it.
It makes me incredibly angry to see him preying on your kind and open nature. He says you’re one of the nicest people he’s ever encountered blah blah blah and then goes into this pathetic screed about how is laziness and greediness was actually just his way of trying to be inclusive and that he’s weewy sawwy. It’s so transparent and manipulative. 😡
Oh my word that is so creepy and manipulative. Please do not ever be alone in conversation with him, I think he is actively seeking someone who is "kind" enough to forgive him and let him manipulate them. This is so scary. Please be careful. Please reach out to friends who will help you hold the line and keep him out.
Also, I would recommend recording any conversation you have either with him or with anyone representing him going forward. He has proven himself to be a liar and gaslighter, and he is continuing to do so in that most recent apology video. He absolutely cannot be trusted going forward.
Imagine she records him, puts a paragraph of what he said on Google and its from another stolen article
It did seem manipulative in that the only apologies he gave by name were the "kindest person he knows" and a dead man. Seems like he was looking for easy targets, one who he thought wouldn't speak up, and another who can't.
The thing to me about James's apology is I have to wonder: is it really an apology to the people he harmed by plagiarism, or is it an apology to his audience with the hopes that they'll "take him back"?
Well, since he absolutely did NOT apologize to the creators he plagiarized from, it strikes me as step one on the way back to money-grab town via his Patreon.
Deeeeeefinitely the latter. I don't buy this for a nanosecond.
James Summerton the kind of guy who makes me genuinely consider that The Boy Who Cried Wolf actually might have some educational value.
Never tell the same lie twice?
@@steveng.clinard1766 Not now, Garak! :P
The fact he wasn't willing to offer an apology AT ALL until enough people held him to account for his actions, combined with the fact that his apology came with a story about how your audience treated him, makes the apology hollow regardless of any facts he presented. I'm so sorry you're being used as a pawn in his attempt at rehabilitation in the community.
Somerton framed me replying to someone else on Twitter about his ace video & telling them that he's probably not open to their efforts to educate him on ace experiences by QTing me & framing this as a death threat, so I think his definition of "death threat" is "said something that wasn't praising me" (this was my first introduction to him, fyi). I can only imagine how he takes all the dunking about his casual misogyny, N*zi fetish, & terrible sartorial choices that others have done if his standard for "death threat" is that low.
Notice not only the inconsistencies in his story of what this alleged fan was reported to the police for but also his reluctance to explicitly state or even show what he actually accused you of. Playing the victim and then blaming the fact you couldn't speak to this person because of police recommendation, but being willing to tweet at the time accusing them of inciting someone to go after you? You're right to not believe him until you see the police report.
On the other hand, finding inconsistencies in a recounted story is not unusual. HBomb did a very good job of showing how James essentially took stream time to "rehearse" his lies, solidifying the story details more and more each time he repeated it.
I remember Hbomberguy saying that James is sexist and a misogynist and now he is saying a woman is falsely accusing him of assult, futhering the narrative of women doing that to ruin innocent mens life. And then he has the nerve to use Jessie as a way to bring up the supposed threats
i don't know you directly but every single mutual that we have in common has talked at length about your patience, kindness, bravery and wisdom. frankly, it felt like the sentence "jessie is an incredibly kind person" was the only true thing in Somerton's apology.
Oh boy, did Nebula dodge a bullet.
I wonder why someone who has no journalism standards might appreciate a forum without gatekeepers
That’s a fuckin great point, I hadn’t even thought about that angle
Something in James' newer, more comprehensive apology video that rang the alarm bells in my head was how, when he was talking about developing The Final Girl as a full, how defensive and snippy he got when responding to the implication that he'd stolen the premise. This was the same tone and language he'd busted out when people had pointed out that he'd wholesale remade The Celluloid Closet; sure there are things such as tropes in cinema, and unavoidable cultural juggernauts, but stealing and remaking them verbatim is still frowned upon. Illegal even. I feel like there's a word for that... it's on the tip of my tongue...
To me, another interesting thing about that part was that he fixated on the fact that "The final girl" is a horror trope and so no one could blame him for plagiarism of something a lot of horror movies have... But people weren't comparing the premises bc they thought he couldn't use the trope of a final girl. With him being a known serial plagiarist, stating that "final girl support group" was one of his favorites and the fact that the movie he announced was about a final girl dealing with bullshit years later just to discover someone close was behind it... It does seem kinda suspect when we can't analyse the script to see if there's similarities.
@@juniawetmann1311 He says the plot doesn't resemble The Final Girl Support Group, but Mack Attack covered his apology and points out that while the plot doesn't resemble FGSG, it *does* resemble the plot of the book Final Girls by Riley Sager. Down to the "10 years later" hook.
@@SirThinks2Much Yeah, I think I confused both plots when commenting whjsjjwjwjah (my memory is also bad but I promise I only commit minor mistakes while commenting not plagiarism)
What's doubly funny is that there was a minor fight some year ago where people where discussing if Hendrix plagiarized Sager or not. So like, if even Hendrix's blurb was similar enough to raise some eyebrows it's so funny of James to even think people wouldn't bat an eye considering the whole ordeal.
Jessie, when I was growing up, my dad worked as a TV producer at a regional PBS station in a mid-sized town in upstate NY. He used to tell this joke about the entertainment business: "the most important thing in this business is _sincerity_ ... once you can fake that, you're golden!" It was something like that anyway, I'm pretty sure it's just an old joke; I just don't remember his source from when he'd tell it. I feel like your comment that James seemed sincere in your calmer, considered re-view of his "measured response" is a testament to what an optimistic, patient and compassionate person you are. As a cynical person, I find that beautiful. I also think your request to see the police report before forgiving him suggests that you have enough experience w people taking advantage of your purity of heart that you are not naive. Im relieved to see that.
Somerton's "measured response" may have contained expressions of genuine regret, but it was not an apology, it was market research. You frequently show in your work/engaging online that you want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt as far and as long as you can. If james wants to make a comeback, he could probably use some allies within the RUclips space, and you'd be a great one, which is why I'm glad you have more sene that to "try to give him another chance." (Also, apologizing to Avila in this video would force him to remind his audience of something truly f-ed up he did, which would complicate any comeback attempt. Twitter drama, while it can escalate bizarrely out of proportion, almost always sounds silly to an outsider after the fact!)
I really appreciate James posting the video though, it reminded me to unsubscribe! I also don't want him to hurt himself or come to harm, but I think a quiet life doing something useful but well out of the public eye would seem to best best for Mr Somerton and probably for other creatives as well.
Tommy Tallarico came up with that joke of course
Fortunately for us, Hbomberguy included an analysis of these apologies we can use a lens to view this through:
-spends a lot of time rationalizing his actions rather than apologizing
-Doesn't own up to the full scope of what he did and focuses exclusively on the easier to explain stuff and the most public grivences
-mischaracterizes why some people are mad at him
-Continues to speak about how he was victimized in the fallout.
Yup, this is pretty textbook "apologize so I can keep my career" stuff, I don't believe his sincerity.
An apology where he is trying to garner sympathy for his suffering would've been much harder to buy if in it he included all the times he lied about his suffering. Jessie isn't the first person James tried to get in trouble for an audience member sending him death threats, and his apologies routinely come up short in acknowledging that he repeatedly sicced his audience on people that criticized him.
Bingo. I've been a fan of his channel for a while but was off RUclips until recently, so I'm getting a crash course on all this James Somerton stuff and I'm disappointed in him and yet enthralled with this unraveling.
"Yup, this is pretty textbook "apologize so I can keep my career" stuff, I don't believe his sincerity." Well said, PpP-dr1od.
That pretty much sums up the reason he put out an - in my understanding - sincere attempt to apologize to Jesse.
This way the apology does not cost him a dime. Admitting the plagiarism and apologizing for it would come at a price in terms of his carrer. Which is the reason he didn't name any creator he plagiarized from.
I listened to The Ace Couple describe this experience along with the episode of NDA with Lindsay Ellis that sparked him freaking out about Nebula, and he's just entirely in the wrong. You did your best with a bad moment, Jessie. Thanks for continuing to advocate for community when some people are out for their own liberation and self enrichment only.
Does anyone else feel weird learning that he had a great home life and supportive parents? Maybe he never did it intentionally, but from the way he always talked about queers facing rejection from family, to my recollection, he used terms "we" and "us" and that gave me the false impression of him as someone who had suffered that kind of rejection himself. Like James, I have a great family situation, but I have a lot of friends who don't, and him larping their experiences makes me feel very uncomfortable. Then again, maybe those were never actually _his_ words and stories.
I am still in the closet but do have at least two relatives who know.
There isn’t anything ‘wrong’ with putting yourself in the same camp as those who are currently suffering in more visible ways. It is all about allowing them to know that you are there for them and that there IS a possibility of stability and love, even if it doesn’t come from family or the past. Your troubles and struggles, while not as severe as others, are still valid and do not make you any less queer.
James being gay and having a stable upbringing is not the issue; the issue is him stealing from others who he figures he can copy from in order to be seen as a filmmaker and essayist.
This is fascinating because it’s a recap of a genuinely kind person engaging in 100% good faith with a guy who’s a master manipulator. I’m honestly really upset on Jessie’s behalf because she tried really hard to support and promote James, like if I was a creator I’d want someone like Jessie in my corner. Idk watching him cynically try to gaslight her into thinking she’s the bully is infuriating. He clearly tried to take advantage of her kindness and it’s awful.
Jessie and James are going through it 😢💀
@@baydiac Meowth, that’s right!
Not sure I'd call him a master manipulator but he's certainly a selfish, self victimising and manipulative person.
I get what you mean though, it's cruelly ironic that Jessie, with her honest effort of shining light on other queer creators, supported James who has only ever erased and lamp shaded other queer creators and writers. He never pushed any of his viewers to find the wider queer landscape on youtube, in fact doing the opposite and making them feel as if there was barely anyone.
I agree 1000000% Jessie is just too kind IMO
@@regulargoat7259 woooobbuffet!
Jessie one thing I noticed was how vague James was when apologizing to you. You know what he's apologizing for because you know firsthand what he did, and I now know what he said and did because you told me but I'd never be able to figure it out by watching his apology video and that's deeply frustrating to me. I sort of see this as the flip side of admitting to plagiarism but not naming the people he stole from (except for the guy who was dead and therefore couldn't press charges against him).
Y'know, the story about his dead mother. That it's out of place. It definitely is, because that's not recent. I can understand that grief over a lost parent is something you don't really get over, but he's been bringing this story up for three years now.
Do I get to start thinking about the Major General from Pirates of Penzance?
I'd be weary of anything stated by a habitual liar, including apologies. He knew what he was doing, he knows what he's doing now. Boundaries are necessary and a police report is a boundary.
You're absolutely not a bad person for wanting proof. I don't know if it's the same for you, but I'm autistic and once someone has lied to me (or I've caught them in too many lies to others) my social cues get all fucked up. I don't know what to think, I want to give people the benefit of the doubt but I also don't want to get lied to or manipulated! It's awful, it's stressful and tbh I find it very cruel. The minimum someone can do it's to offer proof as an olive branch.
I hope you're okay. I kinda saw you struggling a little bit there and it reminded me of the times I've felt confused by other people's actions and by not being able to parse that information. Maybe I misread you, but the thing is, is a shitty situation, I hope you're okay and lots of love to you 💕
Oh god, people pointing out that James is trying to manipulate you it's making me feel like shit because that thought didn't even go through my mind 😂 I need to be far away from people, I suck at reading them, Jeez 😂
@noctap0d I don't want to dismiss the additional factors from your experience as a person with autism, but we ALL get fooled. Manipulative people are just good at what they do, and they're "on" all day, every day, whereas the rest of us mostly go about our lives, which you can't do if you're hyper fixated on whether every person you meet has a dastardly agenda when they wish you a nice day. I say this as someone whose inner smoke alarm is often stuck on "do not trust" for CPTSD reasons, which makes me wrong most of the time and gets in the way of just living.
Ever notice how people in the comments and even panels of "experts" are great at identifying manipulation by behavioural analysis AFTER it's been discovered in some more pedestrian way? Even the neurotypicals are really only great at predicting the past 😅
@@valerielevasseur8674 That's not dismissive at all. It actually helped me feel less silly tbh. You made me remember that Elizabeth Holmes manipulated people with a lot of power, influence and money, most of them seemingly neurotypical, so yeah 😅 I just have to be cautious and remember to talk this things with other people who can help me to sort out this kind of stuff 💕☺️
Nebula is a **curator** platform. They are supposed to be "gatekeepy". That word is so overused and has morphed into meaninglessness.
The thing about "gatekeeping" is that sometimes there are gates around things for a reason.
@@northstarjakobsExactly, we can't look at "gatekeeping" and say that nothing should be gatekept because thats not true - there are some things that need to be gatekept, the problem is when like the majority is gatekeeping something from the minority, but if the minority is like "hey this is a thing for queer/black/hispanic/disabled/etc people only" - sure thats gatekeeping but its needed because its the minority keeping something from the majority that they've never had
like a platform saying "we only host queer POC" or "we only host queer people" because that specific group, specifically queer POC is often pushed out and not highlighted at all, they are allowed to gatekeep who gets in and who doesnt
it seems like when someone realizes that they dont have access to 100% of everything like they're used to (straight people, white people, men, the majority of something etc), then all of the sudden "gatekeeping" is bad rather than seen as necessary
He really didn't expect Nebula people to actually come on his stream and debunk some of his claims, huh?
yeah he was GOING IN on nebula until Jessie came in and he melted #pathetic
I don't think he really expects anything. James is a compulsive liar-be that a valid psychological diagnosis or a simple descriptor of a personal flaw, it's clearly a proper description for him. He lies to feed his moment-to-moment emotional needs with no regard or even consideration for the consequences.
His nebula breakdown is genuinely funny to me, because literally the reason I subscribed to nebula was because of queer and black youtubers :))
excluding collaborative productions, I think the only white straight creator I follow on there is legal eagle.
"I'm a big fan of independent artists because they don't have the backing of a large conglomerate to come after me with legal action when I steal from them."
Shaking with rage
EDIT: Also, his comments are starting to fill up with sockpuppet accounts cheering him on and driving up engagement on the video. Anyone wanna take a guess about their politics and reasons for offering their "support" at the moment, given that he's no friend of his own side?
Reckon he's a few months away from becoming Turning Point's resident "one of the few good gays"...?
@@jamesdominguez7685 Heh, something like that. I foresee a lot of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" activity from faceless supporters who are more angry about transness than gayness at the moment, and it's not a pretty picture. The internet's so predictable.
@@jamesdominguez7685 He already pointed out who were the boring gays in the 80's so his collab with Matt Walsh should come as a surprise to absolutely noone.
As someone who watched James Somerton before I knew about the plagiarism, it makes me uncomfortable to hear him talking about going forward. I found out that all the things I loved watching him for weren’t even made by him. Why would I want to engage with him anymore?
My theory on Nebula is that he wanted to be there, knew it was semi-expected due the type of content and platform he had, but also knew that it would bring a whole other level of scrutiny that he wouldn't be able to withstand. So he played a "poor me" card with ongoing implications that Nebula wasn't dealing honestly or was blackballing him for nefarious reasons etc. I wasn't on for the live stream shown here, but others where Nebula was discussed and he very much explained that he was doing everything he could to get there, which was not true. Somerton knew he was sitting on a time bomb with his content and did everything he could (aside from fixing the issues) to deflect and avoid people and platforms that could potentially begin scrutinizing and holding him accountable.
James Somerton should’ve plagiarized his apologies as well, because his own work is EMBARRASSING.
"There are no excuses for my actions" he says, after spending more than half of his video making excuses
It is NEVER an obligation of the aggrieved person to accept any apology ever. Read “On Repentance and Repair” by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg. She talks all about how fucked up our Christian based apology morals are and counterposes it with healthy Jewish based ones
ayo! i’ve seen you in other comment sections and want to say a. great taste in channels and b. woohoo intersectional Jewish squad!!! keep it real, Dr. Anarchy 69 ❤️
Your profile picture slaps, I'm gonna check that book out sometime
There are three reasons I don't believe James's apology.
1. James didn't attempt to apologize privately. The best way to show that he is sincere is to handle things personally. I understand he made some public statements that he felt the need to correct them but privately acknowledging that he is sorry seems like one of the first steps towards accountability. As other comments have already mentioned, a public apology is self serving because at the heart of it, a public apology seeks forgiveness from the public rather than those name dropped in the apology.
2. James continues to seek for sympathy in the middle of the apology by elaborating that the threats were coming from someone who lived in close proximity to him. There is NO need to elaborate further than "I was wrong to blame Jessie for the action of a viewer". The only thing that slipping this detail in does is attempt to establish that the audience should think that this threat is more credible and thus we feel worse for him if this is true.
3. James is a proven liar. As pointed out in the your video, the escalation from falsely accused of SA, to non-living status threats, to they live close to me so its a credible threat fits the escalation patterns of a lie. That chances that someone who lives close to a content creator making threats seems entirely unprecedented and statistically impossible. I understand that stalkers exist but typically they move from where they live to where the content creator lives whereas James frames this as someone who already lives close to them. I will be very interested to see what the internet sleuths find when searching for public police records after the investigation concludes. My prediction is that there is no investigation and will be no police records as this entire situation is so unlikely, the only reasonable thought in my mind is that it is entirely fabricated.
Thank you for attending my ted talk.
The problem with you Jessie (hang on with me for a second, I promise this isn't bad), is you have a good heart.
James has shown he lies consistently, about everything online all the time.
You, and some other people (myself included) want and see humanity in people, the "good". This is an incredible trait, PLEASE DONT LOSE IT.
I want James to be telling the truth, I do, but the reality is: chances are he's not. It stinks, it does... but we gotta kinda.. wash our hands of his dialect, until proven otherwise.
And yes Canada has police reports, you (James in this case) can ask the Court of King's bench (weird to say king, used to be queen) to get it.
Wait, is James Somerton Canadian?
I feel ashamed of my country. Again.
"May god bless and keep [Somerton] - far away from us."
Disagree. A good heart isn't a problem with her. The willingness to exploit a good heart is a problem with James.
@@renatocorvaro6924 I swear, about 70% of the RUclipsrs that I watch turn out to be Canadian sooner or later. And yes, pronouncing the word "about" almost always gives it away.
@@bananawitchcraft I don't know what you're talking aboot eh.
The whole "death threat" thing is just such a hoary old cliché now, and I hate the cynical bastard that it's made me into. I hate that how easy it is for anyone to use it to derail a conversation that should be basically entirely about the shitty thing they did. And I hate that, because we're not all terrible cynical people, we don't *want* to be dismissive of what is almost certainly a tactic rather than the truth, just in case. Maybe we need some kind of "Godwin's Law" for death threats, where unless they're in some way relevant, we just collectively agree to not bring them up.
EXACTLY! existing as an opinionated person on the internet will get you death threats, so when it’s invoked by every. single. creator. who finds themself in hot water, it really loses all impact. even if JS wasnt a serial liar and emotional manipulator it wouldn’t excuse him, much less the VERY SUSPICIOUS invocation of a “false SA threat” that he apparently got in writing but hasn’t showed… ughh so frustrating
@@ratgurl1 - Don't get me wrong: we shouldn't be accepting death threats as a fact of life or anything. And if someone's facing a campaign of abuse, that's a valid talking point.
But if it's one response out of tens or hundreds of thousands who would have seen something, I think it's right to be able to say that it's an outlier. Like, if someone said "0.01% of people will send a death threat to anyone they don't like", we'd probably think that seems low if anything.
@@FTZPLTC i agree with you but unfortunately i think we might have to take internet threats as a fact of life? obviously abuse campaigns run by people with platforms, doxxing, stalking, or substantiated threats are completely different situations, but tossing personal opinions onto a public platform with nearly no barrier to entry is going to get reactions from a wide breadth of people.
take my fear of walking alone at night as an analogy: it’s not my fault in the least if i’m attacked, but i also understand that not every stranger on the street is rational and empathetic, so my decisions have to be impacted by that understanding.
sorry if i’m too cynical… if i could snap my fingers and change human behavior i would, but there would probably be some higher priorities than youtube comment sections
@@ratgurl1Fair enough. I do think it's important to call out the "it's normal, get over it" mentality of some because, like... I've never had a death threat, ever, and I run my mouth all the time everywhere. So when people tell me that they're just a fact of life, my immediate reaction is to think that they do it and they want it to be "normal" so that it's okay for them to do it.
Anyway, this has drifted away from what I was getting at. I guess I'm just hoping that we can choose to ignore death threats when they're brought up to disrupt the flow of a conversation, without being seen as callous or indifferent. We can care about two things and it will always be dishonest for anyone to infer that we can't just because we focus on one at a given time.
Honestly, I grew up online and am not super moved by death threats. There's a range, for sure. Credible vs not so credible. Sometimes people are just like "go kys" or "I'll throw u in traffic" but there's no real follow through or potential. I frankly don't believe a word he says, so if he says he got death threats, I'd actually be curious to see if they were sock puppet accounts he made himself. Because the death threats are so convenient as empathy bait and he's not above making false threats towards himself to detract from his real actions. The same way I don't totally believe he attempted to commit. That's what happens when you become so untrustworthy and slimy though. So I don't believe he was really trying to commit, I don't believe he got death threats, and I don't believe any of his apologies are anything but a sad attempt to avoid having to get a real world job again.
There’s a certain type of cis man who acts like false SA allegations are the boogie man, waiting behind every corner coming to take them down. (Usually skeletons in their closet, but that’s beside the point) I think it’s interesting that he now uses false SA allegations as the threat against him, while also he didn’t mention the criticisms of his misogyny ANYWHERE in his apology video.
What I find funny, not funny haha more funny huh, is that he seems to think people will warn you before making an allegation, true or false.
What this screams to me is that in the coming months there's going to be an SA allegation and he's priming his audience to immediately discount it.
Wait, he titled his apology about plagerism "A Measured Response", a catchphrase of the youtuber who caught him who has a whole playlist titled that?
He can't even apologize without stealing more?
In hindsight, I dont think he's sorry, considering he faked a suicide then posted hole on an alt right after
I think you're absolutely right to be suspicious, given that this whole scandal has involved him lying about these exact topics.
Also... given his pattern of misogyny, I am REALLY questioning that story about some unnamed woman making a false SA report about him. Was she also a straight white teenage girl, Mr. Somerton? Did she also say Yuri On Ice wasn't gay enough? Jesus christ.
Anyway, best wishes to Jessie, hopefully this guy keeps your name out of his mouth after this!
11:21 It's very cool to hear that James was a fan of "independent content creators" who were so independent that he could plagiarize from them without being noticed.
I'm so sorry for that awful treatment and the callous glossing over. You remain one of the absolute real ones, so kind and sound in the circumstances. - N
I'd feel very manipulated by that apology personally.
Love and Light to you.
his persecution complex is truly on another level. kudos to you jessie for being soooo fair, grounded, and level-headed. you rock!!!
Every time you play a clip of him in this, it makes my skin positively crawl.
Appreciate your comments on this Jessie.
My assumption with anything from Somerton is the same I approach with with my depression. Depression lies, always.
Somerton has not showen he is a trustworthy person. Therefore, the assumption should be he is lying.
Additionally, I would assume that this specific apology targeted at you is specific to help rehab the damage
I liked his videos too. I supported him. I shared he videos. I will never trust anything he saying about anything again.
Protect your mental health first and foremost.
Hugs.
Exactly
his previous behaviour suggests he’s capable of photoshopping a police report tbh
100% but he sucks enough he will probably use an old logo or something 😂 like that TikToker did.
Oh ffs! Keep an eye out for the same handful of people who are popping up on every JS reaction video to simply type 'murderer' or 'congrats on the body count' or some stupid such thing, just to troll and bait comments. Just ignore these people and don't fall for it.
Nothing has been confirmed yet. At last report James was still active on his private Facebook. So I think it's highly likely that he's still alive and hopefully getting help that he needs right now.
And even if the most unfortunate outcome _has_ happened, in no way is that the fault of Jesse any of these people who called him out on his bad behavior, and I suspect all these people posting 'murderer' and the like _know_ that, they're just trying to bait people.
And with regard to Jesse, specifically. James even went out of his way to mention how nice she was and that none of what he claims happened was her doing. And she has specifically, multiple times, told people not to harass him or attack him and she also let him know that she was available to talk and to reach out to, both before and after his most recent apology video... and he didn't.
So just....STFU trolls. Seriously.
The most sus part to me is a queer person calling the police in Toronto.
I'm glad you're asking to see the police reports because I don't believe a word of anything he says and I am 100 percent expecting him to come up with some kind of excuse.
What gets me is that at the start he said that he had been reaching out privately to apologise and then he brought you up. It really gave the impression that you had received one of the private apologies and have accepted it and that's where the how kind you are was coming from and so he wanted to also to it publicly. And because you are named in a vague enough way to give the impression of hey Jessie has given her blessings she accepted my private apology so this next 40 mins has legitimatsy
Damn, Jessie’s really a nice person ain’t she? What an understanding and kind way to go about this fiasco.
Holy shit, he did it again. He actually deleted the second apology. He seems very keen to burn literally every bridge he can find on the way out, I literally do not understand what is going on inside his head
More than that, he rebranded and is uploading videos again.
Did he delete his channel?
@@yessica5231No, he renamed it to James of Telos.
Jessie, in the years that I've been subscribed to you, I've already really liked you and respected you, but this video of yours solidifies my deepest admiration even further. Thank you for your heart. Your compassion with James about this awful situation shows me just how much your heart is truly good and kind. You are a person that I'd want to be true friends with, no doubt about that. Your feelings in this matter are valid. You have done more than enough with your leniency and tolerance with him, in giving him the benefit of the doubt. However, a short 40min video where he weakly apologizes for years of plagiarism and theft is not enough to atone for what he's done; it lacks sincerity. If he hadn't been caught, he would've continued on this path without shame. He's clearly untrustworthy and attempting to manipulate things back into his favor. And that's sad. I used to enjoy his videos, but I had no idea he'd been plagiarizing other creators. That's unacceptable to me as a writer. It doesn't make you a bad person for not trusting him; you are under no obligation to trust him, even if his apology was genuine. People have to sincerely rebuild trust they've destroyed and James is clearly showing us all that he doesn't intend to do so. Thank you, Jessie. I hope you live long and prosper. 💕
If I remember correctly, Wiskus has in some context (probably his podcast) stated that attempting to weaponize your audience to get into Nebula is a definite no-no and the person or channel won't be considered under any circumstances. So, yes, he was blacklisted.
I'm glad you posted a reaction to this. I REFUSE to watch his video. I may only be one view and one comment but even that boosts his algorithm and I will not participate in any more content he makes.
His apology to Jessie was so vague, how can one accept it? He purposefully misunderstood Jessie's tweets and made no mention of Jessie's support to get him on Nebula yet in his "apology" he only mentions that Jessie tried to mitigate his unwarranted frustrations. He fails miserably in taking any responsibility for his actions. He has not even begun to change, always self-serving.
Hello, fledgling creator here. I'd like to supply the context that the producer James accused of "fanning the flames" during the situation between you was Kat Lo, homberguy's producer. She was attempting to document James' wrongdoings and while at the time no one knew, it was likely for hbomb's upcoming video. I know this because I was one of the people involved in that situation and I mistakenly defended James from Kat thinking she was misinformed and spreading falsehoods.
I used to follow both you and James on Twitter (though I've left most social media now for anxiety-related reasons) and was thus made aware of the situation, which brought me a ton of distress as I was a fan of both your work and respected you both as people at the time (and you still; I love your videos!). I was unfortunately misled by James and believed most of what he said at face value, so when Kat started speaking from a different perspective I assumed she was getting the facts wrong. Along with many other people, I chimed in to try and correct her. I realized after our tweets and replies began to gain traction that it was leading to Kat facing harassment, which I tried to direct my followers (though I didn't have many) not to do and attempted to backtrack on. I moved on with my day afterward and didn't think much of the interaction for the next year or so.
Cut to December of 2023 and hbomb's video comes out. In the aftermath I have found myself feeling disgusted and ashamed of myself for being misled and placing my trust in a lying plagiarist. I still feel terrible about any harassment Kat received that I unfortunately believe I contributed to. I did send her an email apologizing for my role and thanking her for her diligent research and dedication to standing up for the queer community, as that means the world to me as a bisexual enby. I'm not sure if it was ever read, but I do hope she's aware of what an incredible person she is and the fact that the internet needs more like her.
Hearing your account of what happened makes me even more disgusted with how James willingly misrepresented the situation and deceived so many of us. I'm now at the point where I'm trying to channel my shame toward myself for believing him toward productive goals, but I have to say much of that shame has transitioned into anger against him for... well, everything. For what it's worth, I'm deeply sorry for how he treated you and the stress he caused. You (like Kat and hbomb) are an amazing person and I greatly admire the work you do the passion felt in your videos. At the end of the day, I just hope this whole situation leads to better solidarity and community between queer people on RUclips AND Nebula. That's all I have to say; thanks for reading and best wishes!
Jessie, I think you're showing more grace than I would under the circumstances. I am admittedly a cranky old cootessa who is losing patience with people who try to squirm away from responsibility.
Jessie you are an incredibly kind and warm person, and your generousity towards James here is commendable, but frankly he doesn't deserve it.
If your apology involes lying about what you’re apologising for, that's not an apology. He apologises for "pulling you into his anger", but he didn't do that. He lashed out at you and sicced his audience on you with multiple false claims to distract from the mounting *accurate* claims of misconduct he was receiving.
The fact that this all started with you calling him out for erasing and ignoring people of colour, and then he *didn't apologise* to the people of colour he harmed is just...
The man is evil. There's no other way to put it. There can be no forgiveness because he does not regret what he did. He regrets being caught.
This video is a great example of how to respond to an issue fairly and professionally. I think that you are a class act and I wish that people on the internet would learn from your teachings.
I find it absolutely insidious that he frames Nebula not wanting to work with him as shutting down queer voices in soite of the fact that Telos Studios has announced several feature length films all of which plageurized from queer creators.
James, Maybe dont lie about a mental health crisis on twitter because you were called out for the plageurism and abuse?
So I feel like I've been following the current James Somerton story arc pretty closely, but I missed a lot of the details of what specifically he did to you. I saw the beginning of his video, which included his apology to you, but I didn't get far past him seeming like he just really wanted to get back into making content like normal. When I saw that you had posted about it, I was excited to see what you had to say and then realized "holy shit, I watched his whole apology and still don't really know what he did."...like, he just never specifically says it, and that kinda tells me a whole fucking lot about James' priorities.
There is something skeevy about only mentioning you directly in the apology, and not the dozens of people he plagiarized. It feels like by adressing you and the death threath, it puts this pressure to respond and to even forgive him.
I don't know what his intention is with all of this. Is hard to trust anything he says, especially when he's vague about his actions, and seem to have a thousand of excuses for them.
Why he's even trying to come back to the internet with an apology rather than just disappearing in to offline obscurity is beyond me.
He lacks the self-awareness to realize how badly he's fucked up.
Probably because he doesn't want to get a different job...
The fact that you had to explain the whole situation because he didn't bother to do it says a lot.
approx 15:00 weird that James *knew* Jessie was OUT WITH FRIENDS & decided to hop on to talk about her. Weird coincidence. Huh.
I wondered that too
Maybe Nebula didn't want his content if they realized he'd been lying? It certainly didn't have anything to do with him being gay.
I really appreciate the way you put in the time to produce receipts and show us that you said what you say you said. It's so easy for RUclips to feel like a cult of personality and they said vs they said.
Context is important and if someone has repeatedly lied about things it's totally normal and rational to have difficulty trusting them.