3 Years of Butthurt: The CuckenJohnson/KingofPol/ExceptionalDetective drama
By Jordan Owen


In the three years since my ultimate falling out with my former business partner, I’ve been spending a lot of time on myself.  I’ve lost a ton of weight, started doing Crossfit, and done a tremendous amount of introspection, all with the goal of growing past the person I was and get back on a course in my life that I could be happy with.  An important part of that has been the decision to avoid any and all public discussion of the behind the scenes drama that had come to define my life throughout 2015.

One of the unfortunate side effects of this is that the “other side” of said drama has gotten to run hog wild proclaiming their version of events without any proper challenge.  While I do have a legally binding agreement with my former partner stating how we are supposed to conduct ourselves in the aftermath of the ending of our partnership, my former partner has, since the signing of the document, violated nearly all of the terms to such a degree that one would be hard pressed to consider what I’m about to discuss an act of bad faith on my part. Indeed, much of the confusion I am about to address comes as a result of misinformation spread by my former associate after the terms of the contract were agreed to.  I bring this up because 1. I cannot address this current matter without discussing, to some extent, the circumstances of the falling out with my former associate and 2. the actions of the person I am about to address in this blogpost were set in motion by bad faith actions taken by my former associate during contract negotiations and after its eventual signing.  Given the wide reaching and heinous nature of my former associate’s actions, I feel I am justified in discussing these matters openly.

Anyway...

Some Background

In the later months of 2015, the eventual end-result product of my attempt to make an anti-Sarkeesian documentary was published and made available on Vimeo for rent or purchase. In the days after its release, a podcaster called “CuckenJohnson” and “KingofPol” announced on Twitter that he would be live streaming the documentary for all to see. I informed him that I would take legal action against him if he did this. Amazingly, he remains butthurt about it to this day and regularly rails about it.  Most recently, he has re-emerged as “The Exceptional Detective” and put up a video containing incredibly slanderous statements about me and my work. I would like to address some of them here. Though I know this individual’s actual name, I will refer to him as “pol” (pronounced “paul” I think) since that is his most commonly referenced screen name.

After being threatened with legal action, “pol” hosted a podcast featuring my former associate in the making of the Sarkeesian Effect.  While the legally binding contract between my former associate and myself had not yet been signed at this point, said former associate had confirmed through his attorney that he had agreed to honor the non-disclosure agreement contained therein. When he appeared with “pol” on the “CuckenJohnson” podcast, he made numerous statements that were in violation of the terms of said agreement, actions which he would later and flagrantly repeat after its eventual signing.

The Video

The video in question can be seen on YouTube.  Here’s my responses to the claims made:

-First of all, your sources. Dude, did you really use Encyclopedia Dramatica as a citation source? I mean, part of me thinks sounds like you meant this whole thing as a joke but you seem fairly serious. Most of your sources are videos by HBomberGuy, an SJW shitheel that went out of his want to slander everyone involved in GamerGate in any public capacity.  You, who are apparently on my side as far as Sarkeesian & Co. are concerned, are going to cite H as one of your sources? Christ...

-I never said the words “I am a con man” in the context in which you are using it. You cut that out of a different context and you know it.

-I do not advocate for Men’s Right’s Activism, in fact I’ve been very critical of the movement at times in the past. Being “Anti-SJW” does not make you an MRA. This was a distinction that GamerGate- a movement which you were a part of- worked hard to impress upon the public at large. Now you are throwing that out the window when it suits you.

-You reiterate the claims of my former associate that he was being “legally harassed” by me. When I hired an attorney attempted to control his behavior he had already:

1. Told the public at large I was stealing money from the filming budget because I was planning to murder Roosh V.  This is not true- what I actually said was that women ought to carry handguns to protect themselves from scumbags like Roosh.  I also was not “stealing money,” I simply wanted to finish the project without him, which I did.

2. Told the public that I was a “sexual psychopath” that was imminently going to go on an Elliot Roger style killing spree. This despite the fact that only a few months prior I had helped the FBI track down and arrest a man who actually was planning such a killing spree.

3. Told the public that I was on board with a new fundraising venture he had launched despite my having no knowledge of it.

4. Told the public that I was contractually bound to go along with said fundraising venture when I was not.

5. Told the public that he would be ccompleting “the actual film” and that my work was not the actual product.

6. Told the public a wild fabrication about health issues I do not have.

7. Had threatened me directly with extortion. And disclosed that he had multiple bloggers set up to run a massive smear campaign on me if I did not go along with his wishes.

This was what I was dealing with and what prompted me to seek a legal remedy. It was not, as has been suggested, frivolous actions taken to pester a better man out of petty jealousy.

Moving on...

-You seem to think that Eros Empire was written to “dismantle” the porn industry... are you also of the belief that Abraham Lincoln shot John Wilkes Booth???

-Yes, I did some videos from my bathtub and yes, looking back, I am embarrassed by them. And I always will be. You got me. Enjoy it.  That said, I figure if the Amazing Atheist can get over that whole banana masturbation video I can be a good sport about being the “bathtub guy.”

-Not that it really matters, but I was watching La Blue Girl vol. 1. Your clip is from Volume 6.

-Yes, my former associate and I took steps to remove a great deal of the backstage drama from public record. Why are you, who are clearly on his side, trying to dredge this up now?

-You really need to rewatch Thunderf00t’s video. Sure, I got roasted, but he put the failure of the project on my former associates shoulders. That’s why my former associate is still at odds with him to this very day.

-That original pitch video was cringy AF. You are right about that.

-We did not get $15k a month on Patreon. That was our goal but at the highest we got a little over 9k.

-We did not go into production with a formal contract in place between us. Of all the “should haves” in regards to this debacle, this is right at the top, second only to “I should have never started a YouTube channel to begin with.”

-We were not accused by our backers of pocketing the money. That was only the naysayers as far as I know.

-I did not threaten any of the backers with legal action. And the clip you showed was of me discussing my botched plans to sue a journalist who had accused me of working a scam with my second film. This is not only dishonest but doesn't even fit the timeline correctly.

-Roosh was never a "top backer" or even a backer of the film at all. Our efforts were initially covered positively on his various websites but he never gave us any money.

-My contempt for Roosh came about because during the production cycle of the Sarkeesian Effect I was being considered as a possible writer for his then active video game website Reaxxion. Because this was an appealing possibility I did a great deal of reading up on Roosh to try and decide if he was someone I wanted to be associated with.  I read his book "Bang" as well as numerous articles and samples of his other books.  I found someone whose approach to women was blatantly and proudly predatory to a very revolting extreme. By the time he published his infamous article advocating for the legalization of rape, I was already aware of his earnest views that women should be made the legal property of men as well as his deeply disturbing approach to seduction and I decided I had had enough- not only would I not consider writing for him but I would not have him associated with the project even tangentially.

-Roosh and I have never spoken directly and he has never given me advice directly. Also I never threatened him with legal action nor do I have any reason to that I'm aware of.

-I did not breach any contract when I initially severed ties with my former associate because there wasn't one. Additionally, I ultimately finished the film within the time frame we had originally allotted ourselves.

-I did not erase any mention of my former associate from the credits of the film on IMDB.com. Was clicking on “full cast and crew” just too difficult for you?

-You cut in a later video of my trying to raise money for my personal vlogging efforts that is actually from after the Sarkeesian Effect was finished. Again, you are dishonest. Not that you care.

-I did not reach out to the backers to, as you put it, raise additional funds despite already having the money to finish it.  That was what my former associate did and what prompted me to part ways a second time.

-The video response I did to Metokur was in response to his complaint that people were trying to profit off of GamerGate. My argument was that if we wanted to the movement to succeed we needed to show that we had market value as a demographic. This was ultimately what made the SJW attempt to colonize gaming a failure- they demonstrated that they had no ability to shift the market one way or the other.  GamerGate, on the other hand, had extraordinary market value as demonstrated by the dramatically increased sales of GamerGate approved products on Steam.  As someone who is proudly pro-capitalism, I believe that this is a crucial part of any major social shift.

-No person who contributed money to the project was charged to watch the film. Every backer of the film was made able to see it for free. It was only those persons who had not contributed to the crowdfunding campaign that were expected to pay to see it.

-Contrary to your claims, there was not widespread anger from the public at large at having to pay to see the finished product. Most people understand the very simple and basic concept of value-for-value exchange that fuels our modern first-world society.  It was only your buddy "KingofPol" who got butthurt at not being able to make it free to everyone.

-I never "made my money back" on the Sarkeesian Effect. Ultimately I saw ~$2,000 in return on a $54,000.

-I was not forced to make the film available for free as a response to negative backlash. I made it available for free because I had a 2 year subscription to Vimeo Pro, which was what allowed me to sell the movie, and by the end of two years I hadn't had any sales in months so I opted out of renewing the subscription and made it available for free. Again, you're manipulating the timeline.

-I did not "steal" my former associate's "rights to the film" and he was not being "held hostage by lawyers." And I only had one lawyer, not this vast legal team you imply. We were in legal negotiations to determine who, in absence of a preexisting contract, had the rights to what elements of the production materials and both of our attorney's requested- as a mutual show of good faith- that we not discuss these matters publicly.  This is fairly standard procedure in these matters. During this time my only public comment on the matter was one made with the approval of my attorney after my former associate had gone public with more wild claims, including those about my personal health, that he had already assured us he would not do during negotiations. I made no other public discussion of the matter during this time while my former associate lashed out publicly to such a degree that stiff penalties were imposed in our negotiated contract for further breaches.

-Wait... you think that I lied about my associate and I being partners again under a mediator? He lavished praise on our mediator throughout the whole process! Also... the legal negotiations didn't start until after we'd severed ties the second time. You know, if you're going to call yourself the "Exceptional Detective," you really need to be able to construct a working timeline.

-I did not claim all funding under my own banner.  My former associate launched a fundraising campaign without my consent that routed new funding directly into his own pocket.

-Okay... wow... more timeline failure.  Thunderf00t's video did not prompt me to quit vlogging. That decision came months later after it became clear my planned Sierra doc was kaput. Also, I did not reemerge "years later." The Sierra doc was announced two months after the Sarkeesian Effect came out.

-Corey Cole did not already know who I was when the Sierra doc was announced.  Also, you used "ironically" incorrectly.

-I did not threaten Corey Cole with legal action.  He and I corresponded privately and buried the hatchet quietly on polite terms.

So... that wraps up the claims in your video.  One lie after another.

On Encopresis

While this is not mentioned in this video, my former associate likes to claim that during a conversation that included himself and our mediator I admitted to having "encopresis," a condition which he claims results in a person loosing control of their bowels when having a panic attack.  Okay, three things:

1. I said no such thing. The word I used was "emetophobic," a reference to the fact that becoming sick at my stomach causes me anxiety where many people aren't phased by vomiting at all. Now, I know that timelines don't quite work for you, so let me simplify what I just said: feeling nauseous causes me anxiety. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Put that on some flash cards for handy reference during your next batch of photoshoppings.

2. "Encopresis" does not describe the condition that he is referring to. Go look it up- it's a condition very young children get when they refuse to use the toilet and become so constipated that they eventually lose control of their bowels. Encopresis is virtually unheard of among adults because they're generally, you know, willing to use the toilet.

3. Do you really think I'm so stupid that I would admit something like that to the person who just a few weeks prior was telling people I was about to go on a killing spree????

In Conclusion

Look, I know all of this stems from my refusal to allow "pol" to stream the documentary and, tangentially, refusing to appear on his podcast. I understand being angry about that in the moment but my god man... it's been THREE YEARS and you're still going like this happened yesterday. I mean Jesus Louiseus... don't you have ANYTHING better to do?  Do you have any idea how much garbage I've had to let go of in the last three years???

Whatever... I have a headache.

-Jordan