In the most recent episode of the PetardCast, I am joined by the hard-working Mr. Hayden Childs of North Kakalacka. We will discuss the Trail of Tears, America’s kill-craziest presidents, and the genius of Richard Thompson. Hayden also engages in a skit where he gives Richard Nixon his werewolfiest imitation ever, and writes a new theme song for this show that will finally allow me to vault to Doug Benson levels of respect, or at least weed intake. All that plus Received Ideas for a New Millennium, Naming of Parts, and plenty of ammunition for the schadenfreude-seeker. Won’t you join me for this rootin’, tootin’ epsiode of the PetardCast? Your brain will thank you and your ears will barely complain.
Listen to this week's Go with Your Gut!
I have no sympathy for you. You fucked up. You knew you did something wrong and you had the hubris to think you could get away with it. You’re part of the problem and your credibility is utterly shot.
Bit harsh, dank, but I agree with the general sentiment. Good luck working things out from here Pierce, but at least take a week off before you start churning out PetardCasts.
Per my comment on your confessional, I’m stunned and slightly appalled by the outpourings of support you’re getting from people who don’t care what you did as long as you write again; people calling for you to be reinstated or forgiven entirely. You’re a fantastic writer, and I don’t know how you’re taking their praise – although your frequent smugness on the AV Club boards doesn’t bode well – but I personally hope your moral compass kicks in and guides you into a period of humility and self-reflection, rather than accepting the lashings of feel-good that are being sloshed in your general direction.
But yes, that’s my personal opinion, and you’re entitled to your personal reaction. I hope you come out well in the end, Pierce, but only after the AV Club’s more deserving writers have found success first.
And I’ll comment no further on the matter; I just really hope you’re a good guy Pierce, and handle this appropriately with a period of respite, rather than plugging on regardless.
Hey, Leonard, thanks for helping me realize how up its own ass the AV Club has become.
An Open Letter to the AV Club–
I have been a loyal reader of the AV Club since around 1999, when an MST3k message board linked me to an interview with Joel Hodgson.
Due to the recent incident involving Leonard Pierce, I will no longer be reading your publication. I have discovered many albums, movies, comics and whatnot from reading your articles, and I no longer trust your editorial sourcing policies. I greatly enjoyed Mr. Pierce’s writing, and to think that even ONE review was fabricated (and it seems for no good reason!) fills me with digust. I’ve bought many things based on reading the Comics Panel, and to think any item was falsely recommended is vile.
However, my dissatisfaction is not limited to just this incident. The writing on this site has become increasingly self-indulgent, self-promoting, snarky, and rife with unconstructive, prescriptive criticism (Rabin, O’Neal, and Koski in particular) that I rarely enjoy reading anymore.
I used to post under the name Mitch Connors (and helped lead the charge about your shitty, biased, uninformed reviews against Season 14 of South Park), but I will never visit your site again. There is nothing you can do to regain my readership, and I will encourage my friends (also avid readers) to also cease reading your site.
Fuck you very much,
Eamon R. McIvor
P.S. Get off Kayne’s jock already. He doesn’t care about music critics.
Wow, and then there’s the insane reactions like Mitch there.
Dude, it’s fine to write an open letter saying you won’t read their publication any more, but then to descend to a lower standard than the douchery you’re trying to criticize is a Piercian level of hypocrisy.
I love your implication that there could be a “good reason” for Pierce’s loser-fail. Should he perhaps make up a funeral he attended just so you can feel more inlined to forgive and forget?
So long, Denver Bronco…
jesus christ guys, it’s not the new york times. it’s an entertainment publication. this fuckup hurt nobody but leonard himself and (potentially) his employer. you’re getting way to worked up over something in which you have no stake whatsoever.
Wow. I don’t condone Pierce’s actions either, and share a similar distaste for the outpouring of support for him just because he was fired for something he should have been fired for, but your absurd sense of self-importance, Mitch, almost makes me want to switch sides just so I’m not associated with asses like you. Are you shitting me? “An open letter to the AV club”? Posted, inexplicably, not on the AV club itself, but on Leonard Pierce’s site? News flash: Nobody gives a shit about you, or what you tell all your friends and “avid readers”, whatever that means. (I’m guessing the 3 people that follow your tumblr)
again i don’t understand this backlash against the “outpouring of support”. there’s basically no-one saying that he should be reinstated or not fired in the first place, nor is anyone arguing that his action wasn’t poorly thought out, unethical, and potentially damaging to the av club. all that’s been said is that people enjoy his work and hope that he continues in some capacity. the level of punishment that he’s received thus far is exactly commensurate with the nature and severity of the transgression, and expressions of regret from fans of his work don’t diminish the loss of his job or the very public shame he’s received.
I’m a little confused about why you people feel the need to note that you have no sympathy for him in response to a podcast that doesn’t seem to ask for any. Are you crazy dicks going to follow him around the internet for the next hundred years?
Sup Zhirzzh. Cool name.
My response was to Dank, and then I thought I’d offer a more considered opinion, but after considering it I realised that I really do think it’s low of Pierce to carry on publishing anything for at least a good week, and smacks of that smug unapologetic self-righteousness he’s broadcast so frequently when pulled up by AV Club commenters for inaccuracies/insanities. Then I stated as much, but added that he was entitled to his personal reaction.
And then I pissed on Eamon R Mcdickfuck’s douchebaggery. Maybe I wasn’t the “you dicks” you were referring to; I certainly have a lot of empathy if not sympathy for Leonard’s position. But yes, this whole deal will likely follow LP round the Internet for a while, and I’m surprised that anyone wouldn’t expect that.
Dear Hey God, stop hitting refresh and get a life.
I shan’t.
Nawh, it’s this crazy thing called subscribing to a feed. And yes I do regret it.
You’re right, KB. Time for me to die.
Dear Hey God,
I think what Leonard did was pretty shitty, but I really like his work and hope to see it again. I understand the circumstances as they’ve been described both on the AV club and here, think he apologised appropriately and I’m sorry to see him go.
On the other hand, I find your comments on this page, a page it seems you have deliberately sought out solely for the opportunity to harass and berate someone while they’re down, where you assign a penance of giving up writing for six months (as far as we know, his only means of income), and to whine about how no one would be as nice to you if you fucked up like Leonard way, way more depressing.
For you to express shock that more people aren’t joining in on your side, or confusion as to why people would choose to be supportive for someone just fired on his own website, and surprise that people don’t expect your actions to be par for the course, is even more depressing. You are the internet. I’m sorrier for you than for Leonard.
Awh ya see, if people keep writing stuff to me I’m duty bound to respond.
XTC: 90% agree with you. For anyone confused (and who cares for some reason), my reference to “6 months” was on Leonard’s apology page, where I stated “The only honourable thing for Pierce to do is to take a leave from any writing-related employment for say, 6 months minimum.”
I regret that, in part: it was my initial reaction to finding out about LP’s transgression, and it was overly judgmental. In saying that, I stand by my rationale for making such a statement: as stated in that original post, the ONLY people really losing here are the AV Club.
To quote: “…if everyone goes off to enjoy Pierce’s writing in a new place, the only people taking the hit are the employers that he so senselessly screwed.”
I mean that. I’m not taking “a side”, but for Leonard to write again without taking a decent stand-down period (which it seems he may be doing), regardless of whether it’s “his only means of income”, would be an act of poor character.
The simple reality is that Leonard’s fan service is flattering, clearly a recognition of how much people appreciate his work and miss him doing it, but if LP lapped that shit up and compromised himself morally in order to please the crowd, I for one would lose faith in him all over again. I don’t know how many times I have to state that I hope things work out for him in the end, but I emphatically mean that.
As for why I ended up on this page, after leaving my drivel on his apology page, I clicked through to find out what this PetardCast thing was, read Dank’s comment, and responded honestly.
Truth is, this may all be moot: LP’s contract with the AV Club may have a minimum stand-down period that he’s obliged to respect in the same industry following any termination of employment (certainly standard in various contractor agreements, but perhaps not freelance).
If anyone else wants to respond, feel free, but I’m seriously done with this.
Aw Hey God,
I can’t stay mad at you. Your posts are well written.
I was more butt-hurt by comments like the one Danks lead with and took it out on you. Someone who constructs arguments like yours and doesn’t rise to bait like I (regrettably) laid out there at the end of my post is AOK in my book.
I particularly liked your ’empathy vs sympathy’ line you wrote somewhere else. I think is a very succinct description for the way most people seem to feel, with some flamey/troll-y posts notwithstanding. Certainly how I feel.
BFFs?
Sure, XTC.
All good; I super-appreciate a good discussion and I think your perspective – also well written – helped me come to terms with my own point of view and round it off more appropriately than my earlier statements.
Certainly a well-stated opposing viewpoint like yours is about ten million fucking times more useful and likely to have a positive impact on all parties than a spurious dis like KB’s.
We’re all mourners at a wake, trying to make sense of our Leonard-loss. I’m the guy who wanted to like him, but couldn’t because he seemed preposterously arrogant, and you’re the guy whose Leonard-appreciation makes me question whether maybe I just saw him from my own jaundiced point of view.
Enough with the heavy metaphor. RIP, Leonard, til you rise again.