Venomgate Redux: The VenomFangX Scandal Revisited

After another spate of bad-acts, VenomFangX has left YouTUBE once again. This time permanently, if anyone is to believe him; perhaps even if he does return someone can claim that VenomFangX did not return, as he has chosen to escape from his past by divesting himself of that name like removing a wet coat upon entering a house. So we'll call him Shawn.

Shawn has shut down his VenomFangX channel in the wake of community outrage about his filing of more than two dozen false DMCA notices to various other YouTUBE channels in a transparent attempt to stifle their speech. His false-concern replies noted that he was choosing only those videos that mocked and harassed him unduly and put he and his family in danger. This is a behavior which he basically showed he already knows is illegal from the last time he was caught doing this, in fact he said as much in his apology speech to Thunderf00t from the original Venomgate Scandal.

Then, after several of his targets moved to defend themselves and several retained legal aid, Shawn went ahead and posted a video calling DPRJones a pedophile. A demonstrably false accusation based on bad information and in bad faith – and directed at his primary adversary when it would come to his upcoming legal troubles for filing false DMCA notices.

As he has since shut down his channel, his new apology is posted on the DPRJones channel.

People have mentioned that he sounds contrite, apologetic, as if he intends to get help for his apparent mental problems and criminal behavior – and understand, filing a false DMCA notice is perjury (knowingly and willfully making a false statement for legal purposes), a felony in the United States. Shawn is a Canadian citizen, so I don't know what criminal laws bind him there, but it's likely they also frown at individuals lying on legal documents.

As we well know now, Shawn is a snake. He is a brilliant manipulator of emotions, a plagiarist, a liar, and a known fraud (see: Venomgate and Sick Children Hospital.) In spite of his apology and attempt to escape from his bad behavior as VenomFangX is manages to fail to actually stop this behavior.

As part of his apology he grovels, simpers, and attempts to show contrition by saying that he will get help (which he may) but then he continues on to ask people to remove videos mocking him and outlining his bad behavior as VenomFangX. Claiming that the existence of this history will make it difficult for him to move on.

There are those who will be quick to point out that he isn't welcome to escape his history. What he's done has been done and if he did get into legal trouble there would be court cases and public documents of his actions. That much of his history is now in video form which can be removed does not mean it should be removed at his request.

My issue is altogether different.

VenomFangX has committed a series of crimes. The fruits of these crimes was to remove videos outlining his past, mocking him for his bad behavior, and otherwise documenting his terrible acts. He got caught in the commission of his crime and failed. In his apology – in an attempt to escape justice according to his crimes – he asks people simply hand him the fruits of his criminal behavior. To me this is exactly like the executive caught embezzling $10M who gets caught, but escapes imprisonment through an apology and while apologizing asks people to just give him the $10M he tried to steal "out of kindness."

Don't give Shawn the fruits of his criminal behavior.

The VenomfangX Scandal: Venomgate

...is over?

YouTUBE is a place rife with drama of every sort, however, few times are quite as dramatic as today when I logged in to discover numerous people from across different communities talking about the same thing: VenomFangX has left YouTUBE.

For those who aren’t savvy to this particular part of the Internet, or even this little tribe of thought, I’ll give a little bit of background. VenomFangX is a YouTUBE user who uses his evangelical creationist Christian message to basically run his channel. I mention it because it is the sole and primary purpose of his presence on the site, he makes no pretence about it, and it represents his eminence everywhere he goes. VenomFangX is the worst representation any religion could ever have—he's charismatic, smarmy, insipidly drippy, condescending, and borrows most of his material from fraudsters and asshats. He is, for lack of a better term, a popular villain.

He has left YouTUBE in the past; and now he’s doing it again. (Last time to no effect, obviously, as he didn’t leave.)

And he’s doing it on the heels of a huge donation scandal perpetrated by him. It started out in April when he posted a video about how he couldn’t keep a job because he simply couldn’t keep from proselytizing to customers; and he even proudly strutted his lack of work ethic when he displayed spools of DVDs he had burned at his current employment, using their equipment for his own gain. It is unsurprising that such antisocial behavior got him canned from so many jobs.

Thus, he came to his avid and adoring fan base and asked them for money.

Initially he asked for $500 a month—or, as he put it, for 500 people to give him $1 a month. In the video where he asked for this he intimated that he would give any amount over $500 a month to charity and named Sick Kids Hospital in Canada as the recipient. A misspeak on his end, perhaps, but he did little to then actually offer this money to them; instead he repeatedly attempted to renege on this by pretending that he’d said no such thing when soliciting donations.

Numerous tubers rose up to document, dissect, and point out the flaws of his behavior. His previous behavior certainly did not work in his favor in this as few people outside of his cult following find this to be on par with his previous actions. April ended and he probably collected far, far more than $500 but there’s no indication that he delivered even a cent of it to Sick Kids Hospital.

Numerous complaints rained down on his PayPal account, contacts to the Canadian revenue service, and even Sick Kids Hospital. His PayPal was shut down twice due to fraud. And now, his YouTUBE channel and website are gone.

The reason given is that he’s been receiving death threats from Muslims. A claim yet totally unsubstantiated. However, a message on his website states that his parents took it down, that they don’t support his actions, and they apologize if he offended anyone.

Links to two series on YouTUBE that help elaborate what happened, and who VenomFangX is. These are mostly cultural critiques by people who don’t like him very much, but they will probably give a good example of one side of the story. The other side is accessible via related videos and searches if you want to expand the depth of your net into this seedy event.

Goodbye Venom. Although, I doubt he’ll be gone for long. Here’s hoping this was the community nipping the next Peter Popoff in the bud.

Links:

VenomFangX Fraudster Exposed! by LordHathor

Dprjones examination of VenomFangX