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defamation_backfire [2017/10/30 20:16] – created Carlos Pedrazadefamation_backfire [2018/05/02 12:25] (current) – [Back to Axanar?] Carlos Pedraza
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-/* +{{::harassment-claim.jpg?nolink|}}
-====== Harassment Accusations Against Axanar Critic Backfire on OWC Studios Head ======+
  
-**//Hundreds Leave Axanar Facebook Group After Peters Airs Personal Grievances//**+====== Harassment Accusations Against Axanar Critic Backfire ====== 
 + 
 +**//Hundreds Leave Axanar Facebook Group After OWC Studios head Alec Peters Airs Personal Grievances//** 
 + 
 +{{TOC}} 
 +<WRAP> 
 +//**__ __**// <wrap lo>**By [[user>cpedraza|Carlos Pedraza]]**</wrap> 
 +</WRAP>
  
 An effort by OWC Studios head Alec Peters to publicly accuse an Axanar critic of stalking and sexual harassment backfired as hundreds of fans abandoned the main Axanar fan page on Facebook. An effort by OWC Studios head Alec Peters to publicly accuse an Axanar critic of stalking and sexual harassment backfired as hundreds of fans abandoned the main Axanar fan page on Facebook.
 +
 +Peters' posts happened to appear a day after **AxaMonitor** revealed he had given away Axanar merchandise potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to an [[author_author|online bookseller]] to be sold for her own profit.
  
 ===== The Accusations ===== ===== The Accusations =====
 +
 +<WRAP right round important 50%>
 +<wrap lo><wrap em>WHY NO NAMES?</wrap> This article does not name the person alleging she was sexually harassed, nor does it name the person accused. In the case of the former, the substance of her allegations are for her to pursue via legal channels. In the case of the latter, **AxaMonitor** chooses not to further spread potentially defamatory material. The allegations are not what **AxaMonitor** is covering; this story deals with the effect on Axanar fandom as a result of OWC Studios head Alec Peters using Axanar's Twitter and Facebook groups to publish unsupported and serious allegations. \\
 +<wrap indent>//— Carlos Pedraza, AxaMonitor Editor//</wrap></wrap>
 +</WRAP>
  
 On October 28, 2017, Peters posted his accusations — without any evidence — on at least two large Facebook groups, on Twitter and on the Axanar website. On October 28, 2017, Peters posted his accusations — without any evidence — on at least two large Facebook groups, on Twitter and on the Axanar website.
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 ==== Supporters Admonish Peters ==== ==== Supporters Admonish Peters ====
  
-Over the weekend, Peters was excoriated by Facebook followers for using the combined 94,000-member Axanar and Orville groups as a platform to air his personal grievances. Axanar's Twitter has more than 86,000 followers. +Over the weekend, observers noted the exodus from Facebook groups controlled by Peters, who was excoriated by followers for using the combined 94,000-member Axanar and Orville groups as a platform to air his personal grievances. Axanar's Twitter has more than 86,000 followers.
- +
-[{{::facebook_critics.jpg?direct|**AXANAR SUPPORTERS** and critics alike disapproved of OWC Studios head Alec Peters' use of Facebook fan groups to settle personal grievances. <wrap lo> +
-//Image from Twitter @TampAxanar//</wrap>}}]+
  
 ==== Deleted Posts, Apology ==== ==== Deleted Posts, Apology ====
  
 By October 30, Peters appeared to have deleted the Facebook and blog posts — but not the tweets — apologizing to fans for offering "too much information" and vowing instead to pursue his allegations "through legal channels."((Alec Peters post to Axanar Facebook group, 10/30/17.)) By October 30, Peters appeared to have deleted the Facebook and blog posts — but not the tweets — apologizing to fans for offering "too much information" and vowing instead to pursue his allegations "through legal channels."((Alec Peters post to Axanar Facebook group, 10/30/17.))
 +
 +[{{::facebook_critics.jpg?direct|**A SAMPLING** Axanar supporters and critics alike disapproved of OWC Studios head Alec Peters' use of Facebook fan groups to settle personal grievances. <wrap lo>
 +//Image from Twitter @TampAxanar//</wrap>}}]
 +
 +No comparable apology was offered by Peters on Axanar's Twitter feed as of the time of this post.
  
 ===== The Timing ===== ===== The Timing =====
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 </WRAP> </WRAP>
  
-On Facebook, Axanar critics wondered about the timing of Peters' widely publicized harassment allegations right after the critical merchandise story and amidst the recent media spotlight on sexual harassment in Hollywood.+[{{ :laura-hayden-inventory.jpg?200|Online bookseller **Laura Beard Hayden** poses in front of Axanar's unsold inventory of merchandise paid for by donors.}}] 
 + 
 +On Facebook, Axanar critics wondered about the timing of Peters' widely publicized harassment allegations on the heels of the critical merchandise story and amidst the recent media spotlight on sexual harassment in Hollywood.
  
 ===== The Accused ===== ===== The Accused =====
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 ===== The Defamation? ===== ===== The Defamation? =====
 +
 +[{{ :captain-peters-1.jpg?150|OWC Studios head **Alec Peters**}}]
  
 Over the weekend, Axanar critics and supporters alike worried over the defamatory nature of Peters' declaration the FOX employee had stalked him and his girlfriend and sexually harassed her, especially given Peters' broad reach on Facebook and Twitter. Over the weekend, Axanar critics and supporters alike worried over the defamatory nature of Peters' declaration the FOX employee had stalked him and his girlfriend and sexually harassed her, especially given Peters' broad reach on Facebook and Twitter.
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 === The Legal Exposure === === The Legal Exposure ===
  
-One Axanar supporter, attorney Pete Rickey, worried Peters' unsupported allegations might make him liable for defamation:+One Axanar supporter, attorney Pete Richey, warned Peters he was treading on dangerous legal ground:
  
-> I am not your attorney, but I am one and you seem to have no concept the jeopardy you are putting yourself in. It's like watching a car accident. … I am sympathetic to the allegations, but this post opens you and your organization to a defamation lawsuit, which if I was his lawyer I would encourage him to file Monday morning. I am sure your heart is in the right place, but he could have you shut down by close of business Monday. This is not the way to go about this.((Pete Richey post, Axanar Fan Facebook group, 10/28/17.))+> I am not your attorney, but I am one and <wrap hi>you seem to have no concept the jeopardy you are putting yourself in.</wrap> It's like watching a car accident. … I am sympathetic to the allegations, but this post opens you and your organization to a defamation lawsuit, which if I was his lawyer I would encourage him to file Monday morning. I am sure your heart is in the right place, but he could have you shut down by close of business Monday. This is not the way to go about this.((Pete Richey post, Axanar Fan Facebook group, 10/28/17.))
  
 ===== 'Too Much Information' ===== ===== 'Too Much Information' =====
  
-In spite of the criticism, Peters fiercely defended his use of the Axanar and Orville platforms he controls, going so far as to delete some comments criticizing him.+In spite of the criticism, Peters, who often boasts he is an attorney "by training" — he has never practiced law — fiercely defended his use of the Axanar and Orville platforms he controls:
  
-That changed by October 30, when he deleted his posts — and the accompanying critical comments that had piled up — on the Orville and Axanar fan pages on Facebook. He explained:+<WRAP box> 
 +<wrap lo>{{:facebook_ico.png?nolink&16|}} **Garrett Mobley** \\ I'm a fan of Axanar. But regardless of if this is a poor taste post, it's a legalistically foolish one. \\ \\ {{:facebook_ico.png?nolink&16|}} **Axanar** [Alec Peters] \\ Yeah Garrett, well thank God I am an attorney then. And exposing sexual harassment is never in poor taste. Unless you are a man of course and think "there is a time and a place." Frankly, that attitude is part of the problem.</wrap>((Garrett Mobley and Alec Peters posts, Axanar Facebook group, 10/29/17.)) 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +That changed by October 30, when Peters deleted his posts — and the accompanying critical comments that had piled up — on the Orville and Axanar fan pages on Facebook. He posted this statement:
  
 > My apologies to you for posts and comments I made this weekend that may have offered "too much information" about the stalking and harassment my girlfriend … and I have been dealing with the past year and a half. \\ \\ Suffice to say, I take threats against me and those I care about personally and will now pursue those through legal channels. \\ \\ This will be my last post on this subject until we have a resolution. \\ \\ Back to making Axanar!((Alec Peters post to Axanar Facebook group, 10/30/17.)) > My apologies to you for posts and comments I made this weekend that may have offered "too much information" about the stalking and harassment my girlfriend … and I have been dealing with the past year and a half. \\ \\ Suffice to say, I take threats against me and those I care about personally and will now pursue those through legal channels. \\ \\ This will be my last post on this subject until we have a resolution. \\ \\ Back to making Axanar!((Alec Peters post to Axanar Facebook group, 10/30/17.))
  
-Axanar being made? +==== Back to Axanar? ==== 
-*/+ 
 +One of the fan group members cynically responded to Peters' apparent apology: "I didn't know Axanar was being made."(([[face>Axanarfilm/posts/1454719597975892?comment_id=1454790477968804&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D|Timothy Vasquez post, Axanar Facebook group]], 10/30/17.)) {{:axamonitor-ico.gif?nolink|}} 
 + 
 +<WRAP tip 75%> 
 +<wrap em>COMMENTS</wrap> \\ 
 +Discuss this article in [[face>groups/axamonitor/permalink/293234624524725/|AxaMonitor's Facebook group]]. 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +---- 
 + 
 +**Keywords** {{tag>commercial fans fact_check}}