Alright, this is the last I'm gonna say about this publicly. Over the weekend there was an event that was organized and prominently featured multiple people and labels that have harassed, scammed, or generally mistreated people in the vaporwave scene, many of whom are my friends. I made a joke at the expense of that event, aimed at my friends and members of the vaporwave scene among whom these known bad actors are infamous and frequently derided. Many people who are not active or generally uninvolved in the vaporwave scene were surprised by my words. This scene has a problem with toxic positivity. It has a problem with continuing to platform bad actors because their behavior is rarely spoken of publicly due to backlash. My tweet broke this unspoken taboo, and intentionally so. I wanted to speak for all the people who have been harassed by Misha Boseby and his cronies in the past, leading to his near-universal blacklisting from vaporwave events online and IRL. I wanted to speak for the people who have been scammed by Oasis Ltd and Illuminated Paths. I wanted my tweet to be a warning - these people are known. They are distrusted. They want to associate themselves with a scene that has shown them the door, while still using its name for clout and promotion. Those of you who went to this event - what do you think? Was it well run? Organized? Did it feel like a celebration of community or, as one attendee put it "a 'doing this out of spite' type event"? Look at the comments to my tweets. For a group that "doesn't care about vaporwave" they seem to care an awful lot about what we think. Do these tweets sound like people who care about the craft and the community or clout-chasers looking for praise and adoration? Why are the words of some loudmouth from Philly so important to them? Why, hilariously, are they more concerned with insults toward their turnout than insults to their character? I have no beef with the SWFL (I believe that is how y'all describe yourselves) scene. In fact, I want to protect you all from experiencing the same bullshit that we experienced. Never did I criticize the people who attended or even most of the people who performed at that event. But I'm not one of you. You don't have to listen to me. I have no skin in this game. I am merely speaking out loud what many people have said in private. And for those of you in the vw scene to whom this is all new, you can attack me all you want. But remember, when you do so, it's not me you're hurting, it's the people I'm speaking up for. People you personally know. I'm speaking out against the trend of booking hatemongers like OSCOB for live events and everyone being too afraid to call it out. It's not just this event. It's the culture. Don't come in my @ looking for gossip. I'm not here to dish other people's business or tell tales. If you participate in your communities and build trust people will confide in you. Earn that trust. Safeguard it. Do right by the people who believe in you.
