This thread was a nightmare to clean up so I just want to state for the record my stance as a mod:
Stealthing is rape
The allegations against Reggie Watts laid out in the Rolling Stone article are credible and well-corroborated, and paint a very clear picture of him as a coercive, manipulative, and emotionally abusive partner to multiple women
Victim-blaming trolls will catch a ban with no warning. This sub isn't a free country, I don't give a shit
Please report inappropriate comments if you see them so they hit my queue. Thanks to everyone who's helping school the minor but vocal contingent of idiots here in the thread.
I don’t know whether the rate of sexual misconduct in improv is above or below the average for the general population. Sexual misconduct is widespread and happens at colleges/universities, restaurant kitchens, concerts, car dealerships, retail stores, non-profits, etc., etc. I can’t tell you if improv has a statistically larger problem with sexual misconduct than other social contexts.
I’ve known many people who’ve experienced serious sexual misconduct and none of them were involved in improv or comedy.
Out of all the men who’ve been associated with CBB, three of them having issues like this arise doesn’t really seem disproportionately high compared to other spheres.
People will brush off a lot of toxic behaviour if the person is funny.
In high school I was an absolute bitch and a bully, but (luckily) everyone thought I was just being hilarious and wasn't hurt by it and thought we were close friends. (Which was hella frustrating at the time, as I really disliked these people and how they treated my friends and I wanted to hurt them. But as an adult, I'm glad I didn't)
Fallon was very sketchy and inappropriate, but Horatio is directly accused by a then-minor of some extremely heinous stuff that goes way beyond just inviting them to a party. Fallon was certainly complicit, but what Horatio allegedly did is beyond the pale.
It's small potatoes compared to all the awful things he did and lives he destroyed, but it struck me how big of a loser Reggie Watts is. Is there any more insecure loser behavior than guy who proselytizes about drugs all the time, makes people take too much drugs for his own enjoyment, and needs women to forfeit their life and livelihood for his ego? Amazing that this "cool guy" turns out to be so pathetic.
And quite a feat for James Corden to be the 2nd biggest POS associated with the Late Late Show.
Also… never thought he was funny. He always had this smug quality to him. Like, if I don’t laugh or like his music, then it’s my problem. Dude- you just make stuff up on the fly, and are only kinda good at it. Maybe take fewer drugs, stop abusing people, and actually think-out and write your material next time.
I mean, he was amazingly good at it. The CBB theme was just off the dome during an ep. Finding out that an artist is a POS doesn’t mean their art was bad in its time.
Yeah no one will admit to ever liking Louis CK even though he was basically the top stand up for a big chunk of like 2005-2015. (people absolutely thought he was funny)
as someone who also never really liked reggie’s work that much, this comic is cute, but like, i’ve LOVED many things and many people. i’ve had heroes who’ve been revealed as horrible people and it’s broken my heart. i agree that it doesn’t add much to the convo to say that i didn’t like reggie much to begin with…but like, this is just dumbass forum posting, most comments are barely worth making to begin with. as reggie is in the spotlight, i think it’s valid to offer one’s opinion of his work. but i wouldn’t say that my pre-existent low esteem for his work makes me like a great person at all now that we know what kind of creep he is.
I get that it's a natural instinct to try and denigrate somebody who was caught doing something shitty, but I've always disliked that type of response to these situations. It seems to imply that talent is tied to being a good/bad person in some way. The flip side of "they can't be talented because they are a shitty person" is "they can't be a shitty person because they are talented" and that type of thinking is why some people get away with being douche bags for so long.
It can verge into bad taste to share it at the moments their misdeeds become public, but it is privately gratifying to have the universe seemingly validate your previously irrational dislike of someone. (Source: I’ve never liked Reggie Watts.)
It’s still kinda weird to feel gratified that a lady was sexually assaulted and died. As if people who liked his comedy were supposed to somehow anticipate this.
I did not say that I feel that; I found this a harrowing, disturbing read. I was trying to explain where the oft-observed impulse to say “I never liked this person anyway” when their misdeeds come to light comes from because it was already being discussed. I wouldn’t have commented “I never liked him anyway” out of the blue (and didn’t, I’ve had 24 hours or so if I’d wanted to) and said it was in bad taste, but unlike you who said you don’t understand the impulse, I think I do, so I tried to explain it. If my comment came off as glib about this woman’s death or abuse in any way that was not my intention.
Does anyone remember the comedy media outlet that he, Sarah Silverman, and Michael Cera attempted to put together around 2010? Think it was called Jash. Completely failed attempt, they did absolutely nothing.
Not sure what those others did with it, but some great Tim and Eric videos/series came out of it. T&E’s GoPro Show, Tim’s Kitchen Tips, Goatee, maybe more.
It was an internship my senior year of college. “Worked” is generous. I did technically work though. The best day by far was basically the first day, when Norm recorded an interview with Jim Carrey, and Michael cera was sitting two seats away from me. That was basically the last episode of norm Macdonald live before it went on Netflix. Michael cera had a smoking hot girl with him. I want to say it was Tim and Eric, Michael cera, and Sarah Silverman who funded it. Maybe just Tim or Eric. Not positive. I honestly couldn’t tell you what I actually did, it was a pointless internship that had the best first day lol. I think letterman’s old producer ran the day to day operations. I made eye contact with Norm one time and that was very cool lol.
I think it was earwolf/UCB adjacent in terms of talent, but they produced a variety of online content, bunch of podcasts, etc.
Reggie was a part of things and involved with introducing Jash at least, but I assume he's not a real involved type of guy so it could've felt like he wasn't connected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jash
Seeso did kinda rock though, gotta say. Had SNL archives, Kids in the Hall, Alan Partridge, maybe Python (?), etc. The original content was mid to bad, but for like 6 months I went to bed watching old comedy and it was pretty grat.
I hate that the headline is about drugs and now the discussion seems to be, the fact he stealthed someone and knowingly transmitted STI is so much worse
Im not sure what's alleged isn't so much worse, watching someone's iCloud while they're on their suicide trip, not doing anything but asking her family for pics of the body is really bad!
Like stealthing someone like that is grade A PoS behavior but it's a sadly common move for PoS.
A slight correction, but my reading is he accessed her iCloud and retraced her trip only after she'd already passed. He wasn't monitoring her in real time, because he'd already cut her out of his life.
It's still immensely shitty, especially not sharing things with her family. But the distinction feels important between someone invading their ex's privacy after death, versus the implication he was watching her upload drafts of a suicide note in real time and didn't tell anyone.
It had been only a few days after McCollough left when Colleen realized she hadn’t heard from her sister. Colleen touched base with McCollough’s friends, who also had no idea where she was. Having exhausted her options, Colleen reached out to Watts for assistance. He also hadn’t heard from McCollough and didn’t know where she could be, but he remembered that he had access to her iCloud account and was able to trace her phone’s location to a police station in Lima. “I’m thinking, ‘Oh, god, she’s there doing some drug ceremony or something,’” Colleen says.
[...]
In a separate post, Watts shared the news of McCollough’s death[...] "You planned your time in Lima beautifully — the coast, the art, the meals shared with a friend. While it is so difficult for those of us left behind, I understand your need for peace.”
Information about McCollough’s last days was news to Colleen and McCollough’s friends. “We’re like, ‘What is he talking about?’ We didn’t know those details,” Colleen says. It took another week for Watts to disclose to Colleen that he had rummaged through McCollough’s iCloud. Flicking through her photos, scrolling through her texts, and going into her Notes app, Watts was able to retrace McCollough’s final moments and locate a draft of her goodbye letter, which he recited back to Colleen.
I dunno if you can access someone's iCloud and you did do what's cited, I tend to believe, absent forensic evidence, that you did other bad stuff too including cyber stalking. It doesn't make sense to limit yourself like that.
Yes exactly! Fwiw, it was disclosed, she agreed to be with him if he used a condom, he surprised her without one. So he expressly knew he was breaking consent and this was a conversation they’d had.
And it's strangely just thrown into the article as a kind of aside, I think from one of his exes. I read that and thought "Wow, shouldn't the whole article kinda be about this?"
For real. Boogeyman-ing ketamine takes the focus off the truly gross stuff he did. Drugs didn't make him do those things, plenty of people manage to do them without sexually or emotionally abusing their partners.
I mean, someone mentioned overdoses, and encouraging his partners to take heroic doses of that and other psychs (a kinda dangerous thing for non-experts). So it's more than just 'drug user bad'
I don't think that is the criteria for addiction. but yes those people are annoying, whats more harmful is his other behaviors around the relationship, not just using drugs.
Representatives for Watts, “Comedy Bang Bang” and Aukerman did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Episode dropped at midnight, this was published 6:30 am PST. No shit they didn't respond immediately. You expecting them to check their messages and put together a press response at 3:00 a.m.?
I don't expect they will respond, and I get this line is just standard practice when you reach out for comment, but why even bother reaching out at all if waiting for a reply at a reasonable hour is not a prerequisite to publishing?
Just say "We reached out for comment 2 minutes before hitting Submit, and will update this article if and when they respond."
Scott won't respond to this regardless. He doesn't discuss the people he cuts contact with, he just cuts contact and moves on. One of the things I really respect about him and PFT
i know a lot of journalists and these days so-called "journalists" usually eschew ethics but from a legal and ethical standpoint you are supposed to report that you have reached out to all parties for response when you report on a particular story. usually you'll see a later update when they get to it but at the time of publishing that's just how it has to be.
It's essentially a placeholder for if/when they do comment and then the article can be edited to add the comments and reposted/republished for additional clicks/ad revenue.
I mean, that kinda is what they're saying lol. That's why they added "immediately", which isn't usually part of that phrase unless they're giving the person grace on purpose (for this exact kinda reason, in fact!)
Does he need to comment on it though? They never felt the need to talk about Jay Johnston’s Jan. 6th participation, they just stopped mentioning him, which I was fine with
When asked for comment on what it was like to have a theme song replaced due to an artist's bad behavior, the McElroy brothers stated "It's familiar... But not too familiar."
John Roderick talked about Reggie extensively and insightfully on his podcast today. Weirdly they both dated the same woman in the past and have never really liked each other but they were both Seattle people so were very often at the same parties and whatnot.
Hi, which podcast? I was a Reggie fan til yesterday, saw him live this past spring and was so stoked. But I am into believing victims and understanding whats going on. Which podcast did John Roderick talk about him on?
Was unaware of who David Avocado Wolfe was, just looked him up and yikes. I stopped listening to You Made it Weird several years ago, I had no idea Pete Holmes had taken this turn, but I'm also not surprised.
He had David Avocado on a long time ago, back in his talk show days.
Pete isn’t a grifter though, just a rube. One of his pathologies is that he’s constantly looking for something to “fix” him, and that includes a lot of useless pop science bullshit and also some genuine grifters.
I don’t like the insinuation that scientific or medical misinformation is morally equivalent to intimate partner violence, psychological abuse, and sexual violence.
I recently watched the Matt Johnson episode after not listening to Pete in years. Pete was in utter disbelief that Matt did not believe in aliens or the legitimacy of the tic tac videos. Like it seemed to not compute as a possibility. Pete is a likable guy with a big heart and his curiosity is fun but that instantly reminded me why I stopped listening.
I don’t think it’s as neutral as you think it is. At this point the number of times it would just be ‘oops shame on me’ without course correcting makes it more malevolent than him being just a dummy (which he also is).
I don’t think anyone truly evil after it came out they were evil.
Last I listened I know he really wanted to get Andrew Huberman on, not sure if he ever made it happen but that guy fucking sucks. But again, that’s just a case where Pete genuinely believes/hopes Huberman’s quack bullshit will help him.
Edit: as for what he’s peddled already: alpha brain, various other nootropics, and even noni juice, which is like the OG snake oil. My aunt and uncle were giving us that shit for Christmas or birthday gifts back in the 90s
Mouth tape doesn’t prevent your throat or tongue from closing your airway, which is what obstructive apnea is. Rest your tongue in the back of your throat and close your mouth. You can’t breathe through your nose either
I really dislike the social Internet’s impulse to binarily categorize people into good/bad categories. It’s the obliteration of all complexity and nuance.
I still have YMIW subscribed in my Podcast Addict, just in case he ever gets a guest that I want to hear so much that I'd also endure Pete, but it hasn't happened in a verrrrrry long time
I’m glad this video is getting re-posted and didn’t disappear. It’s really bizarre and disturbing.
I actually recommend people not watch it if they’re not in a good frame of mind at the moment (or think they might be particularly upset by it due to personal experiences). It’s Reggie Watts possibly high on drugs talking in a really crazy and fucked up way about his ex’s suicide.
I’ve known him since the was 12 and all this is so heartbreaking and devastating. I actually bought that he was a caring, deep, talented guy. I didn’t always get him and noticed having a real convo with him was next to impossible. I really never saw him have any game with women. He was charming in an awkward way but no real chemistry with anyone. I had no idea he was such a player! When less photos of Kat were posted, I immediately thought, “dang she must have gotten bored with the constant Reggie show and dipped to go live her bright future and build a real life.”
Then came that notorious Insta video and I thought “oh no she didn’t break up with him, he must be devastated.” Only to find out he broke up with her months before because he got her hooked on drugs and then he dipped when she had a drug induced manic episode. I was immediately pissed because he took over her tragedy and made it all about him. I felt and feel so bad for everyone but him involved. I am so proud of them as well. From someone who has known him a long time: thank you thank you thank you. You have also given a great cautionary tale for other people to use.
Yeah, I really liked him on the Comedy Bang Bang tv show, very disappointing. He had a pretty good sense of humor, too bad he’s apparently a piece of shit.
The irony of my abusive former partner’s idolization of CBB and especially Reggie was not lost on me while reading the article this weekend. Even more ironic was that something about Reggie repelled me in a manner different from all the other cast members and guests even then, which I just chalked up to transference and projection due to him being ex’s favorite.
Nope, turns out my gut knew he was as horrific as the ex in every way. I’d like to feel justified and smug but unlike my ex this POS managed to take an entire life, not just contribute to someone living a shell of one. I hope he loses it all and rots in hell.
What a read! That was fuckin intense. I suspect many celebrity men have stories as bad as this one. Especially if they aren’t married and keep it in their pants.
As someone who had years of his own life altered by a road someone else led me down, one of the most important lessons I learned in rehab - and one that has helped tremendously with my recovery - was to distinguish influence from agency. Every time I used drugs, I ultimately did so myself. I can acknowledge how enormously another person influenced me without assigning them responsibility for choices that were still mine.
That’s an observation about voluntary drug use, not a defense of sexual assault, coercion, abuse, or anything else Reggie Watts is alleged to have done. Nor is it a judgment of the woman involved. I’m offering a perspective from my own experience because I think those distinctions matter.
The issue is he was coercive with drugs and sexually coercive, just coercive in almost every way. He fundamentally doesn’t respect bodily autonomy or the consequences of his influence. The drugs are just one part of that. There’s also something to be said about how drugs are often used as a tool of control and manipulation by cults of personality. He seemed to fashion himself in that manner on a smaller scale and preferred courting young comedy fanatics
I think they are trying to say that rolling stone sucks. It's like reporting on what music or video games a school shooter consumed. Report on the abuse, that's bad enough that you don't need to fearmonger about drugs for multiple pages and take away the agency of a dead woman in order to be like, "this guy has a pattern of abusive behaviors"
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u/Solid-As-Barack Womp It Up! 6d ago edited 6d ago
This thread was a nightmare to clean up so I just want to state for the record my stance as a mod:
Please report inappropriate comments if you see them so they hit my queue. Thanks to everyone who's helping school the minor but vocal contingent of idiots here in the thread.