My response to a tweet.

I regret participating in the ‘cancelling’ of both Andy and Blaise.

Laura is referring to the publication of Blaise Larmee in Compact Magazine. The first piece of published work from the artist in five years. 

In 2017, the label I founded publicly denounced the artist, not long after denouncing another artist on the roster; and nearly falling apart itself in the aftermath.

80% of artists / projects we’ve produced, artists have been paid or otherwise compensated. The reason for falling behind in payments at all has to do with the near-collapse of the label and personal collapse. 

The other 20% I have been actively working with to make payments towards since 2017. Last year we paid out $15K to artists, past and current. The past 5 years have been more or less paying down those 20% debts, moving forward. 

In Laura’s case, we published a piece by her in Mirror Mirror II. And a book of her diary comics the same season in which the call-outs were made and the image of the company tarnished, my own energy exhausted. Unable to market the books, the structure in disarray, you pulled your book. We negotiated that you'd be compensated 365 print copies of your book in lieu of royalties. I paid thousands of dollars for printing it, & the artist could sell their book and keep 100% of the profits. 

Blaise Larmee and Andy Burkholder aren’t sex criminals. In thinking about these events now for years, these were private situations in a small scene which became outsized and exploited when performed for public consumption. The very public aspect seemed damaging to the people actually involved, while benefiting some others not involved at all in a cynical way.  

That’s my perspective. 

I regret participating in the ‘cancelling’ of both Andy and Blaise. 

It radically changed how I think about political commitments, down to how I think about the word ‘community’.

Further reading: the broken teapot.