Christ, Scott Kurtz just doesn't get it. In a post on his site congratulating Rodney Caston (late of Megatokyo) and Rodney's wife on the news that they're going to have a baby, he throws in a swipe at Fred Gallagher. Said swipe read:
Luckily, this is one of Rodney's creations that Fred can't steal out from under him.
Oh yeah...I went there.
So after Fred writes a lengthy post about how the Fred/Rodney split happened and defends himself against this accusation of theft, Scott cries that he was just kidding. "When the Penny-Arcade guys do it [i.e., make a crack at Fred,] everyone thinks it's hilarious."
Jesus, Scott. They didn't make a crack at him. They made a joke, they didn't accuse him of theft. They didn't imply that your friend Rodney created Megatokyo on his own and Fred mugged him and ran away with the strip in the dark of the night, twirling his mustache and laughing like a villain in a Republic Movies serial. Hell, the Penny Arcade guys called Fred before their strip was published to let him know that their joke might be misinterpreted as an attack.
You know what? The PA strip was hilarious. Your accusation of intellectual property theft and screwing his former partner out of everything on megatokyo.com? Much less so.
I'm surprised you need a third-rate cartoonist like myself to tell you this.
Posted at January 15, 2005 07:04 PM
And later that evening, Scott removed the congratulatory/slanderous post from his site. You can still read Fred's reaction at http://megatokyo.com
Posted by: cartoonlad at January 15, 2005 07:08 PMGood point, good point, and, uh...good point. The fact that Kurtz frantically tries to rewrite history by removing the post and protesting vigorously is kind of nauseating. I may have overreacted to it a bit, but for some people, Kurtz's post was a last weighty straw on the back of an annoyed, tired camel.
Posted by: Steph at January 16, 2005 07:38 PMThe thing is I've met Scott before -- very briefly -- and he seems like a nice guy. He was very friendly and rather courteous. What's strange is he has a habit of putting his online foot in his virutal mouth. He doesn't seem that way in person, but when he gets behind the keyboard, he's very acerbic and doesn't realize it. He's mentioned before that when he gets really worked up about something, his wife tells him to wait 24 hours before writing about it online.
What I think happened is Scott honestly thought the swipe was a hee-larious joke. The "Oh yeah... I went there" line points to this. He probably thought that would be a cute li'l jab at Fred, poking fun at the thought that Fred did steal Rodney's creation.
Scott still doesn't seem to comprehend. On his message forum, he states that this is how the "inevitable destination of this thread" will proceed:
---
1) I make a crack at Piro on the PvP site.
2) Megatokyo Zealots take it way too personally and cry havoc
3) Megatokyo Zealots badmouth me in forums.
4) PvP fans and non-Megatokyo fans defend me.
...
---
Look, I'm not a MT fan. In fact, I don't like Megatokyo. I... hate the strip. I really do. (I like the artwork, but the strip just isn't for me.) PvP, I like.
I read Scott's post to my wife who doesn't read webcomics. "What a dick," she replied. Even after Scott sees backlash from people pointing out that he pretty much libeled a fellow cartoonist, he responds with "can't anyone take a joke these days?" He still thinks he just "made a crack", some good-natured ribbin' between cartoonists and that people like me just don't realize that.
Geez.
Posted by: cartoonlad at January 17, 2005 09:56 AM