Ed Piskor Has Passed 5 5

[Terry JSA]

On 4/1/2024 at 7:59 PM, october said:

Did you read up on what he did? He was somewhat creepy and suggestive to a 17 year old. He could have slept with her and it wouldn't be a crime in 39 out of 50 states. 

As a man roughly his age, his actions were indefensible and gross. That said, the internet does what the internet does best and went totally overboard. At least the Athenians had the decency to take a vote before ostracizing someone. Other cultures consider shunning among their most serious punishments. We immediately hand it out like candy at the behest of anonymous internet mobs. That should give us pause...

Why TF did she choose to leak them when she turned 21? Hmmm. What was her motive?

[Sauce Dog]

On 4/1/2024 at 8:07 PM, Terry JSA said:

Why TF did she choose to leak them when she turned 21? Hmmm. What was her motive?

Don't do that - don't be that guy who starts to throw the victims under a bus with absolute zero reasoning even if it is in the 'just asking questions, bro' framing (if you know any abuse victims IRL you know how common it is to NOT report at the time. I guess all the women I know who were raped had a 'motive' for waiting years before reporting).

There were MULTIPLE women who accused him of being a creep, including using his position in the industry to try to get sexual favours from them.

[Terry JSA]

On 4/1/2024 at 8:17 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Don't do that - don't be that guy who starts to throw the victims under a bus with absolute zero reasoning even if it is in the 'just asking questions, bro' framing (if you know any abuse victims IRL you know how common it is to NOT report at the time. I guess all the women I know who were raped had a 'motive' for waiting years before reporting).

There were MULTIPLE women who accused him of being a creep, including using his position in the industry to try to get sexual favours from them.

I’m not trying to victim blame anyone, but at a certain age, you should know better. If you’re underage and or engage with a creep, call them out for it. Don’t wait until a tragedy like this happens.

[MatterEaterLad]

On 4/1/2024 at 6:28 PM, Terry JSA said:

I’m not trying to victim blame anyone, but at a certain age, you should know better. If you’re underage and or engage with a creep, call them out for it. Don’t wait until a tragedy like this happens.

A family member was sexually assaulted when she was 16, by a man at her church. She told her priest and he said she was making it up to get attention. So she told no one else.

At 23 she finally went to the police. The guy actually confessed to doing it and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, SUSPENDED, if he went to treatment. 

Stuff like that, my friend, is why women don't come forward sooner. 

Happens all the time.

 

 

[Terry JSA]

On 4/1/2024 at 8:43 PM, MatterEaterLad said:

A family member was sexually assaulted when she was 16, by a man at her church. She told her priest and he said she was making it up to get attention. So she told no one else.

At 23 she finally went to the police. The guy actually confessed to doing it and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, SUSPENDED, if he went to treatment. 

Stuff like that, my friend, is why women don't come forward sooner. 

Happens all the time.

 

 

I understand it when you put it that way. I’m clearly ignorant when it comes to this situation. It’s messed up all around and with one mistake, you’re genuinely screwed.

There’s no win/win for either party I feel. Yeah, he was a creep, but what did you gain from him taking his own life?

[delekkerste]

On 4/1/2024 at 8:17 PM, Sauce Dog said:

There were MULTIPLE women who accused him of being a creep, including using his position in the industry to try to get sexual favours from them.

Even his original accuser walked back some of her statements after the initial report and said that people were embellishing what she said with added, salacious details that she says she never said.  

The woman who accused him of what you quoted above deleted her tweet prior to today and turned out to be a spurned former lover who Piskor says piled on to the original story to hurt him. I think the reality is that we don't know the real truth here - people just accepted the accusation at face value without examining or questioning any of it and now it appears that it may not even be true (read Piskor's suicide note for more details on this). 

The court of public opinion convicted him of being a groomer and sexual predator which caused almost everyone to cut business and personal ties with him, driving him to suicide. Even if we took the accusations at face value, he didn't deserve to die or lose his ability to make a living over that. And now we've learned both today and over the last week that maybe the accusations were taken out of context and embellished and that some of it may not have even been true at all.  

[MatterEaterLad]

On 4/1/2024 at 6:52 PM, Terry JSA said:

There’s no win/win for either party I feel. Yeah, he was a creep, but what did you gain from him taking his own life?

I guess he felt his career was over and his whole identity and source of income was wrapped up in that career. So nothing to live for? 

There were about 50,000 suicides in the US last year and probably 50,000 different reasons. 

[JollyComics]

What a terrible consequence but the suicide doesn't solve the problem because he wouldn't faced his consequence.  The suicide is worst of all.

[Ken Aldred]

There's always a range of tolerance.  Some people get more easily overwhelmed and deprived of hope, and there's the risk of a rash, spur-of-the-moment, fatal decision, rather than drawn-out premeditation.

Edited April 2 by Ken Aldred

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 4/1/2024 at 4:59 PM, october said:

Did you read up on what he did? He was somewhat creepy and suggestive to a 17 year old. He could have slept with her and it wouldn't be a crime in 39 out of 50 states. 

 

[SpineTic]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5PItAxvrAq/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D&fbclid=IwAR0q7Nf3UqrkPmTPkbrFNgkdnks6w46yB6G8MuPAtKtIk_-Gv9fnJPTqe2o_aem_Ae3nRWxKs6IqSac8x5qNZKLhHad_2iwKklQB41ak9m5fs24_bk1BWUCWh5auv4Zzz4MkomA5pDAbY2uX4VbOqjlU

[Sauce Dog]

On 4/1/2024 at 9:14 PM, delekkerste said:

Even his original accuser walked back some of her statements after the initial report and said that people were embellishing what she said with added, salacious details that she says she never said.  

The woman who accused him of what you quoted above deleted her tweet prior to today and turned out to be a spurned former lover who Piskor says piled on to the original story to hurt him. I think the reality is that we don't know the real truth here - people just accepted the accusation at face value without examining or questioning any of it and now it appears that it may not even be true (read Piskor's suicide note for more details on this). 

The court of public opinion convicted him of being a groomer and sexual predator which caused almost everyone to cut business and personal ties with him, driving him to suicide. Even if we took the accusations at face value, he didn't deserve to die or lose his ability to make a living over that. And now we've learned both today and over the last week that maybe the accusations were taken out of context and embellished and that some of it may not have even been true at all.  

Her deleting the post doesn't tell us anything either way, as when news broke that he killed himself there were already a legion of people blaming the women for all this (so her distancing from socials is exactly what Piskor should have done, it's vicious). We also can't just take Piskor at his word, even in a suicide note, as of course he believed otherwise - like you said, we don't know the real truth and may not know (though given how absolutely common place these sort of abuses are I have no reason to suspect them of being false, maybe lacking context, but not outright false).

Also I find it very troublesome he went out of his way to name all his accusers in his letter,  explicitly blaming them. Felt more like he did that out of spite rather than any real sense of remorse or guilt (This just might be me though biased, because it sucks having the reference of having read SEVERAL suicide notes by people over my life, several of which who did live and did say they only said things meant to hurt others as a final act out the door)

Edited April 2 by Sauce Dog

[Terry JSA]

On 4/1/2024 at 10:37 PM, Sauce Dog said:

This just might be me though biased, because it sucks having the reference of having read SEVERAL suicide notes by people over my life, several of which who did live and did say they only said things meant to hurt others as a final act out the door)

Oh- 

Definitely sorry to hear that. Something someone shouldn’t have to experience.

[Qalyar]

On 4/1/2024 at 9:37 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Her deleting the post doesn't tell us anything either way, as when news broke that he killed himself there were already a legion of people blaming the women for all this (so her distancing from socials is exactly what Piskor should have done, it's vicious). We also can't just take Piskor at his word, even in a suicide note, as of course he believed otherwise - like you said, we don't know the real truth and may not know (though given how absolutely common place these sort of abuses are I have no reason to suspect them of being false, maybe lacking context, but not outright false).

Also I find it very troublesome he went out of his way to name all his accusers in his letter,  explicitly blaming them. Felt more like he did that out of spite rather than any real sense of remorse or guilt (This just might be me though biased, because it sucks having the reference of having read SEVERAL suicide notes by people over my life, several of which who did live and did say they only said things meant to hurt others as a final act out the door)

Suicide in cases like this is a tragedy, not only for the loss of life and the devastation it brings to friends and family, but also because it ensures justice is forever denied -- regardless of which way Justice's scales should have ended up tilting.

[BrashL]

On 4/1/2024 at 4:45 PM, Sauce Dog said:

I think he made a massive series of poor choices, and being a groomer / creep utilizing his position to solicit sexual favours from younger women needs to be called out, but I do not wish this on anyone and always hope those in such situations can get help.

Hey here’s an idea, why don't we stop using the internet to “call people out”. What kind of world is this if every time anyone makes a mistake it’s fair game for it be blasted to the entire world. It’s just a disgusting lynch mob at the end of the day. 

No one was trying to protect anyone from him and they weren’t trying to confront him. The goal of putting that all out in public was to ruin him and I’m sure they were very pleased with the results right up until he took his own life. 
 

This whole thing is sickening and sad. If someone did something you think is wrong but isn’t criminal, don’t use social media to convict them in the court of public opinion. Being a creep isn’t a crime, neither is being an individual_without_enough_empathy or weirdo or whatever. No one deserves to have their entire livelihood and identity dismantled for being guilty of any of those things. 
 

Social media really is the worst thing to happen to society. 

[BrashL]

On 4/1/2024 at 9:37 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Also I find it very troublesome he went out of his way to name all his accusers in his letter,  explicitly blaming them. Felt more like he did that out of spite rather than any real sense of remorse or guilt

So these people ruined his life and drove him to suicide but he’s supposed to protect them in case they get any blame?  Please. Had any of these folks shown restraint in dealing with their opinions about him this thread would never have been created. 

[thehumantorch]

On 4/1/2024 at 6:43 PM, MatterEaterLad said:

On 4/1/2024 at 6:28 PM, Terry JSA said:

I’m not trying to victim blame anyone, but at a certain age, you should know better. If you’re underage and or engage with a creep, call them out for it. Don’t wait until a tragedy like this happens.

A family member was sexually assaulted when she was 16, by a man at her church. She told her priest and he said she was making it up to get attention. So she told no one else.

At 23 she finally went to the police. The guy actually confessed to doing it and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, SUSPENDED, if he went to treatment. 

Stuff like that, my friend, is why women don't come forward sooner. 

Happens all the time.

Agreed.  Some people are predators looking for someone younger and less powerful that they can take advantage of.  And who won't be believed if they get the courage to reveal it.  

I don't know much about Ed Piskor.  Is he someone unfairly persecuted by people on the internet or is a creep?  We'll probably never know for sure but it's a shame it came to this.

[godzilla43]

If Ed only send some suggestive messages to 17 year old girl that is not grooming it is sexual misconduct. It is wrong but nothing criminal. His career was over
because already Pittsburgh Cultural Trust had postponed  his exhibit indefinitely. That is the reality of freelance people if you want some company to buy/invest in your work this kinda controversy kills your career.

It is sad that Ed did not speak to someone because most people that are in to comics, fans of Cartoonist Kayfabe or live in Pittsburgh have not even hear about those allegations. Most people don't even know who is Ed Piskor. He probably thought because of the social media that the whole world was against him. 

[1Cool]

My only issue is the cancelling of his career with just allegations of being a creep.  It sounds like from the couple news stories I read that the "cult of cancel" got ahold of the story and online trolled him and probably pushed his employers to cancel his means of making a living which is taking it too far in my opinion.  Just because people can hide behind their computer screens and create a hive mind attack on the guy they feel they can try to take everything and still sleep at night.  To make it worse the few screen shots of the texts were not that creepy in the sense of him trying to groom a person who he wanted to be underaged.  Was the statement that a blow job was necessary to get a number a joke?  We will never know since the online warriors tried and convicted the guy before he even had a chance to defend himself.  Sad the guy died falling on the sword but it sounds to me like an instance when cancel culture went too far.  

But what will really come of it?  The story will be forgotten in a couple days and things will continue in the direction it's been going.  Can't stop progress and online warriors.

Edited April 2 by 1Cool

[Prince Namor]

On 4/2/2024 at 6:59 AM, october said:

Did you read up on what he did? He was somewhat creepy and suggestive to a 17 year old. He could have slept with her and it wouldn't be a crime in 39 out of 50 states. 

Yeah... I think it's important to remember... he didn't actually break any laws or do anything illegal. Creepy, yeah. Worth a dad's anger? Oh yeah. But nothing illegal. 

On 4/2/2024 at 6:59 AM, october said:

As a man roughly his age, his actions were indefensible and gross. That said, the internet does what the internet does best and went totally overboard. At least the Athenians had the decency to take a vote before ostracizing someone. Other cultures consider shunning among their most serious punishments. We immediately hand it out like candy at the behest of anonymous internet mobs. That should give us pause...

I simply asked on another forum, if he had been convicted of anything and immediately got blasted for it. Everybody's ready to be a victim in this society. This was before he'd even made a statement on it. He was convicted by the Internet mob, before he even had a response.

A 17-year-old female in modern society isn't the same as a 17-year-old female from 20-30-40 years ago. Today's kids grow up with SO much more information at an early age. In America, 75% of kids get a cell phone by the age of 12.

Freakin' TWELVE.

The things they can see, before they even reach any sort of maturity is... pretty frightening.

If I was her father, I would have, at the very least had words with Piskor over this and probably made some threats. But I would've pulled her aside as well and asked, "Why were you still talking to him? A guy TWICE your age? You should've BLOCKED him immediately. You have to know better."

That's not blaming her. That's teaching her to be smarter. 

Nobody wants to accept responsibility for anything... they just want to be the victim and have people sympathize over some failed romance BS or WORDS. Well... backfired pretty badly. I hope the whole world learns a lesson but... I doubt it. 

Last time I saw Ed was at Baltimore Comic Con last year. He was set up with Jim Rugg. I bought that Public Enemy Figure Box Set from him and we talked about Hip Hop Family Tree and topics for the Internet show. Between them two and Don Simpson right across the way from them, that was my favorite part of the show. This whole thing really sucks.