Top Ten Things that Have Led to Channel Awesome Losing Viewers
On April 2nd, a Google Document came out listing the allegations that were made by people who run Channel Awesome. This document contains complaints from 20 or more people. Some who were employers, some who wish to remain anonymous, some who were former contributors, moderators, ex-fans and their former HR. Channel Awesome has lost over 80,000 subscribers from this and haven't done a thing about it. Lots of the criticism is legit and even potentially criminal. I was once a former fan but am now done with Channel Awesome. I want to get this off my chest and spread awareness to those who don't know what's going on. If you want more information follow the #ChangetheChannel on Twitter, look up videos on YouTube or read the "Not So Awesome Document". Listen to both sides of the story and decide for yourselves. But here's problems I find with Channel Awesome. I'm also adding a Trigger Warning for this as well. There are some heavy topics brought up in the document from lack of communication to a possibility of criminal activity.
For those who don't know, Justin Carmical (JewWario) was a former contributor to Channel Awesome who committed suicide in 2014. As it turns out, Justin was accused of sexual misconduct on April 12th. A Reddit user told her story about how she had been raped by Carmical in her sleep after making several attempts to convince him to leave her alone. This involved Holly Brown, Jacob Chapman (JesuOtaku), and other contributors.
Another user in the document, who is anonymous, even claimed that he was responsible for sexual grooming. This particular person brought this to the attention of Channel Awesome, which resulted in them firing JewWario only a year later (or as they claim, 3 weeks later). Yes, it took them that long to fire Justin. In between that time, he was grooming female fans of the Channel Awesome community. This is horrifying.
I've worked as a CSR for a company before. I know for a fact that it shouldn't take this long for Justin to be investigated or be fired. They even tried to hide the fact that it was Justin but poorly hid his name when they showed a screenshot. It's shown that the chat took place on February 12, 2013, a Tuesday.
It's also shown that the producer would be terminated from Channel Awesome on Friday, February 15, 2013. This is the day in which Justin Carmical reportedly left the site, inadvertently revealing Carmical to be the sexual deviant.
Mike Ellis was the former Chief Financial Officer for Channel Awesome. Ellis kept messaging Sean Fausz (EpicFail), and the conversation was creepy and made Sean uncomfortable. Mike would describe what he wanted to do to Sean and wanted Sean to do certain things with Mike Ellis. For two hours, Sean didn't say anything, and Mike rambled fantasies to himself. Mike Ellis eventually blamed it on being drunk, even though he typed perfectly well.
Sean eventually reached out to Mike Michaud (CEO and owner of the Nostalgia Critic IP) about what happened. The CEO's response was, "Damn it! I told him he can't do this again! I'll take care of it!" What?! It's not over yet either. Mike Ellis even tried pursuing a relationship with former HR Holly Brown (even though he was married) and even threatened to fire her. Mike Michaud and Mike Ellis even got into a fistfight. Mike Ellis was eventually fired, and Holly Brown was taken to a safe house to be protected. Doug, Rob, and Mike apparently had bats and a sword to protect her.
First, why didn't they contact the police? A person's life could have been in jeopardy, and they didn't think to contact the authorities? They know from firsthand experience that he's violent. And second, why did they have bats and a sword? What if Mike Ellis had a gun? Those things wouldn't protect anyone!
This was Channel Awesome's first "apology" after all the outrage. This is what caused contributors to pull out from their site, people to unsubscribe from their channel like crazy, and really shined a light on how Channel Awesome really is.
This isn't an apology. It's a non-apology, like the kind Logan Paul made after he filmed a dead body. This made me rethink everything I ever knew and made me see how horrible the company is. I would have waited for them to make a proper response, but this didn't deny any allegations. They unintentionally confirmed that everything that happened was true.
The title says it all. They really did say, "We Sincerely Regret You Felt That Way." They didn't take any responsibility for ruining people's lives or give a heartfelt sorry. How hard is it to say, "I'm sorry"?
Mike Michaud has been brought up a lot in the document and not in a positive light. It's evident that he treats women with more distaste. Women were labeled as troublemakers if they criticized anything. Many were so afraid of Mike and felt uncomfortable talking to him, particularly with the way he treated Allison (Obscurus Lupa) and Kaylyn (Marzgurl).
Allison went to film a crossover with Doug and was cornered aggressively by Mike Michaud. He waited until no one else was around before doing this. He questioned why she had so many mid-rolls on her ads and even left mean comments as a hint to her. She cried in the bathroom afterward. He ended up limiting her mid-roll ads.
Allison called out their hypocrisy with Patreon in 2015 and was kicked off the site because she wasn't at the computer for fifteen minutes. Mike Michaud mistitled one of Kaylyn's videos. It was supposed to be "Animation: A Children's Medium?" but Mike labeled it as "A History of Animation." People were upset about the misleading title, and she explained there was miscommunication with Mike. By miscommunication, she meant he never watched the video she made and just changed the title without her permission. He got upset over this and angrily texted her, saying she made him look like a complete fool. It got so bad she buckled under the pressure and apologized. She even feared going on Skype to read an angry message from Mike Michaud.
And that's not all he'd done either, but it's explained more in the other categories.
Holly Brown's mistreatment by the company is flabbergasting. First, she worked 365 days a year - holidays, weekends, vacations, and even when she had surgery. Michaud and she were the only ones who knew how to update the site. She was even asked to come to the studio after surgery.
Despite her doctor's protest, she went because she knew she would be fired. But when she got there, she was fired on the spot. And it gets worse. She wouldn't receive her severance pay from Channel Awesome if she didn't sign a contract. The contract would keep her from working in the industry for three years. She couldn't be paid to run a site, consult, or anything.
She went to a meeting after surgery, was fired by the company, and couldn't work in her profession because of the contract. And apparently, Doug Walker was involved with firing her. This is ludicrous.
I'm not talking about when they didn't pay their contributors for appearing in their anniversary movies. I'm talking about when those contributors decided to make crossovers with other contributors when the movies were being made, and Channel Awesome was paid instead of the creators who made those videos.
Then there's Mike Jeavons, who made a short film called "Internet Dating and Me" and had to pay for the film himself. They then took that film and made all the profit from it, and Mike wasn't paid at all. In fact, Mike Jeavons lost money paying for locations and hotels.
One of the contributors' girlfriends had her art stolen by Channel Awesome, and they made money off of it without her permission, mind you. Mike even tried profiting off another person's music and got furious because he thought the music was his, even though he didn't create it.
This could be applied to many areas of this document. I've never seen such absurd management in all my years of working at a company. For starters, the only way for contributors to communicate with their employers was Skype. Not emails, phone calls, or instant messaging. That's doomed to fail.
When Doug quit the Nostalgia Critic, content creators weren't allowed mid-roll ads on their videos. Mike Michaud called it e-begging. But Rob Walker said that having a Patreon or mid-roll ads was like a "slap in the face to fans," even though Rob promoted Doug's Indiegogo.
Lewis (Linkara) suggested having more moderators for the site. Matthew (FilmBrain) was proposed, but they outright just made Lewis moderator for Channel Awesome. Keep in mind that he was already a contributor for Channel Awesome and more than likely didn't have the time to moderate a site and make content.
When Allison wanted to do Radu Reviews, she asked permission from Rob. He had no idea why she was asking for permission. Keep reading, and you'll see where I'm going with this. Channel Awesome creators couldn't attend conventions (even though they paid for them) because Doug previously had a bad experience. So just because he had a bad experience, it means that they can't go? Doug even announces all the time on his videos that he would attend conventions.
Lewis started his own Blip Channel, and Kaylyn decided to as well. She even linked it to Mike Michaud. He became furious and scolded her for doing so without his permission. He only backed off after she apologized and explained that Lewis had made one as well. One content creator didn't make a post for months and wasn't booted off. But Jon Burkhardt (ChaosD1) got kicked off because he was one day late with uploading a video. He was a day late because of a medical emergency with his wife.
Most of this could be solved through a contract explaining what the rules are. But their page labeled "For Company Policy" just said "Coming Soon."
Channel Awesome's first response was not well received at all. They posted a second response on their website, and it's awful. There's no apology. They shift the blame and don't do a good job painting themselves in a good light. They call the people who spoke out against them "disgruntled individuals with vindictive intentions." This was in the very first paragraph of the response, and it goes downhill from there.
They didn't provide any evidence against the claims about Mike Ellis. They even tried to prove that Mike was not misogynistic by saying that Channel Awesome's paid female staff weren't treated like that. Just because your employees (who are being paid and have to be better treated) didn't experience it doesn't negate the previous experiences. Holly Brown was even told she didn't have to work on the set of "To Boldly Flee" from the chat log they showed. But that conversation took place before, and she even has a photo on her Twitter of her on the set of "To Boldly Flee." You can even see the drain sticking out from her gallbladder surgery.
They say at the end that they're striving to improve communication, but they didn't tell Joe Vargas (AngryJoe) that the tenth-anniversary movie was canceled. And that was after this response came out. People didn't buy this. The contributors even posted how bogus this all was, and no one really believed it. An apology was wanted, and they did not deliver.
During the filming of Kickassia, Lindsay Ellis (formerly known as The Nostalgia Chick) asked about craft services on set. Doug laughed at that question. It was only until Noah Antwiler (Spoony) said that craft services are expected when making a movie that Doug decided to have craft services.
Lindsay and Lewis didn't like a rape joke in one of the anniversary movies and thought it was concerning. Doug didn't change it but only lessened the graphic scene for comical purposes. After crying about how Mike aggressively cornered her about the mid-roll ads, Allison said Doug would talk to Mike about it. The way Mike Michaud treated Allison wasn't brought up by Doug again.
And despite all the allegations coming out about Channel Awesome, Doug hasn't left. Most suspect it's because he's either under contract or because Mike Michaud owns the right to his character. Not doing anything, though, is what got him in trouble in the first place!
Ever since his crappy Sailor Moon episode jumped the shark, The Nostalgia Critic slowly got worse over time. His terrible sketches started to take the focus of the show, he didn't even review or pay attention to the films he did, and then there was him breaking his promise to not review films in theaters.
He failed to live up to his "Nostalgia" thing with his clipless reviews that look like horrible fan films. - SailorSedna
The fact Doug did nothing to stop these actions and tried to keep what JewWario truly was hidden is proof he should not be trusted anymore. I've totally lost respect for him and will no longer watch any of his Nostalgia Critic stuff. - SailorSedna
He was the deciding vote to do it. After that, she was forced to sign a three-year contract saying she wouldn't work in the same field and barring her from working on competing websites. He really is a heartless, cruel monster. - SailorSedna