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The other day we told you about artist Randy Queen going postal on a Tumblr that was mocking his art a wee bit. In a stunning example of the Streisand Effect, his attempt to quell criticism only opened him to more criticism. It should be noted that a comment on the above post by Jimmy Palmiotti suggested that we shouldn’t be to quick to rush to judgement, and indeed, in a Facebook post, Queen basically apologized citing stressful issues in his life:

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to clear up a few things that happened this past week. I have been having a very hard time in my personal life with the loss of my mother and my marriage having fallen apart and found myself in a very vulnerable and fragile state of mind. There were posts on the web criticizing my artwork that were brought to my attention and added to my stress. I reacted without thinking it through, but have now stopped, realizing my response was the wrong one to take. I am doing my best, each day, to get myself back on my feet and getting my life in a better place and realize now that I have just try to move on and get back to my art, the thing I find the most joy in these days. I want to thank those professionals, friends and family who have been giving me their support, understanding and love.

Thanks for listening.

~ R


So yeah, humans do things and then we move on. Let us forgive and forget and go back to making merry, and wish Queen the best for getting things in his life back on track. Above art from the Darkchylde site.

6 COMMENTS

  1. As of his posting, he hadn’t contacted Tumblr to stop the removal of the posts nor has he since. If his apology was sincere, then it should have been made after he attempted to mitigate the damage. His actions left unchecked silences critics and damages fair use.

  2. The problem with Ben’s comment is twofold. One, for some people, no matter what you do to apologize, or “make up” for something you have done, it will never be enough of them. As such, I have serious misgivings about this whole “they don’t really mean it if they don’t apologize the way *I* think they should” mentality. Two, if the posts are removed, then it is left to the imagination how bad the original comments “must have been.” In many cases, transparency is the best way to go.

  3. >> Two, if the posts are removed, then it is left to the imagination how bad the original comments “must have been.”>>

    Since it was Queen who filed the DMCA complaints that had the posts removed, it’s his doing that you can’t see them.

    Reportedly, he’s said he’ll be revoking those takedowns, so the posts will go back up. But they’re not back up yet.

    Still, they were backed up here and there, and some people linked to them. They were just your basic ordinary posts pointing out weird or impractical anatomy in the service of “sexy” drawing.

    >> In many cases, transparency is the best way to go.>>

    Then not filing DMCA takedowns to silence your critics would be the best way to go, too. Eschergirls has been as transparent as they’ve been allowed to be throughout this — explaining what’s happened and why, showing the e-mail communications, and so on.

    The person who was trying to make sure things were hidden was Queen.

    kdb

  4. I’m inclined to be very understanding of someone who has to go through life with the name “Randy Queen.”

  5. The Escher Girls Tumblr reports that Randy Queen has rescinded his DMCA takedown notices and personally apologized to them. They’d like everyone who reported the original story to help get word out that they consider the matter closed.

    [Randy Queen] “personally apologized to me, and I’ve accepted it. He is also withdrawing the DMCA takedown complaints against this blog… I consider this situation resolved with the restoration of the removed content, and I wish Mr. Queen well. If you spread around the initial controversy, please spread this around too.”
    http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/post/94081941096/final-update-on-the-randy-queen-escher-girls-situation

  6. So what did this Queen guy have to apologize for? Other people were using his work without copyright and mocking it? I’d take legal action too

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