YouTuber Adam Blampied, Formerly of WhatCulture, Apologises for Misogynistic and Manipulating Behaviour
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| Img: WhatCulture.com |
Within his statement Blampied admitted to, on several
occasions, manipulating his female fans into sending him explicit images of
themselves via online channels. He reportedly pressured these women into
performing acts that many where uncomfortable with, persistently messaging
until he got what he craved. As if this situation wasn’t ugly enough, he also
engaged in these activities while in an established relationship – he falsely
claimed to the aforementioned fans that this was an “open” relationship, but
has now admitted this too was a lie.
You can view Blampied’s full statement in the following
tweet:
A statement, and an apology: pic.twitter.com/33IWeXOSzA— Adam Blampied (@AdamTheBlampied) 25 October 2017
I must admit, as a long-time fan of both WhatCulture’s
channel and Blampied himself, as well as many of his ‘Cultaholic’ colleagues,
this news came as something of a shock for me. Sadly this is far from the first
report of a prominent YouTube personality taking advantage of their position to
facilitate the exploitation of their fans, usually young females – which perhaps
indicates a larger problem throughout an industry in which direct communication
between presenters and fans is not only desired, but expected. What isn’t
expected however is for said contact to devolve into such misogynistic and damaging
behaviour.
Blampied followed up his statement with a series of tweets
in which he urged his fans and followers not to judge or attack the women who
have since come forward, and to instead place the blame upon him and not
attempt to defend his actions.
“I’m going to go away after this,” wrote Blampied. “I just
wanted to say one more thing. Please don’t attack the women for speaking out.
“They have been hurt, by me. There has been enough hurt.
Please don’t post something that could harm people who have a right to their
anger.
“The purpose of this was not to get points, and any praise
for bravery is well off the mark.
“People being supportive is one thing, but please don’t
publicly leap to my defence on this. My behaviour does not warrant it.
“I just wanted you all to know, so that I never hurt anyone
again. Please be kind and understanding to the women. More than I was.”
Despite Blampied’s insistence that his fans should not
attempt to defend or condone his actions, I have come across a multitude of
online comments that attempt to do just that. These (arguably misguided) people
assert that as Blampied did not actively force himself upon these individuals
in a physical manner, and because they were all consenting and of adult-age,
that he did not in fact do anything wrong other than the hurt he caused to his
girlfriend. To be honest, many of these comments carry the distinctive stench
of victim blaming and seem to intentionally ignore the often-manipulative
tactics the YouTube personality employed. Audiences build up a level of
familiarity and by extension trust with the YouTube personalities with which
they engage on a daily basis, and by intentionally fostering friendships with
these individuals purely with the intent of using this relationship to his own advantage,
Blampied violated this trust and, make no mistake, fully took advantage of
vulnerable fans. True, some of them may have been of sound mind and fully
consenting as these people insist, but statements released by those affected
clearly show that this was not always the case.
On notable example in this regard is the story of Twitter
user @SRbackwards, who released a statement of her own shortly after the news broke
in which she pointedly labelled Blampied a “sexual predator” in light of his
recent actions.
“About a year ago, a drunk Adam Blampied slid into my DMs
and asked me to send him nudes,” she wrote. “I was drunk at the time, which I
made clear to him.
“I told him I wasn’t used to this kind of attention, so it
was sort of an ego boost for me. He told me it was “nice to break the habit”.
“Knowing that I was 19, drunk, sexually inexperienced and
had moral objections to sending him nudes, he continued to try to persuade me. In
the end, I relented.
“He was charming, he was the face of a YouTube channel and
I'd been a fan of him for a while. He made me feel so good about myself for
about six hours, then he made me feel like utter sh*t for months.”
To me, that reads like a clear indication of predatory and
manipulative behaviour. If you need further convincing, remember that the story
broke when Blampied himself admitted as much.
Both YouTube channels with which Blampied has been
associated, namely WhatCulture and the new channel Cultaholic, have released
statements of their own regarding the star’s behaviour.
Peter Willis, Director of WhatCulture Limited, told the BBC
that Blampied's departure “was not linked to the series of Twitter messages
that were published [on Wednesday], nor were we aware of any of the events
within those tweets until reading Adam’s own statement.
“WhatCulture categorically condemns all sexual harassment,
predatory behaviour and abuses of position and power.”
Cultaholic meanwhile posted the following to their own Twitter page:
A statement from Cultaholic: pic.twitter.com/F8kQIw5hGt— Cultaholic (@Cultaholic) 25 October 2017
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is an aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers.
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YouTuber Adam Blampied, Formerly of WhatCulture, Apologises for Misogynistic and Manipulating Behaviour
Reviewed by Unknown
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Friday, October 27, 2017
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Friday, October 27, 2017
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