Hey there folks. John here.
I have decided to take down the post and just summarize what has happened up to this point. But first I just wanted to tell you how overwhelmed I have been at the outpouring of support from you guys. Thanks so much, it means a lot.
So for now, here is a summary of everything that has happened up to this point:
1) Last week Paramount contacted me and kindly requested that I take down a Bumblebee picture I had up on the site. I complied and took it down.
2) This morning I woke up to find that in the middle of the night my website was taken down because of a complaint that my hosting company received from Paramount.
3) I discovered that the complaint was over an image I had put up WEEKS ago
4) Paramount had NEVER contacted me in any way to request that particular image be taken down.
5) I wrote a very angry letter to Paramount
6) I published that angry letter here on the site for all to read
7) The article has been posted on hundreds of sites, including over 1800 diggs in just a few hours.
NEW 8) Paramount emailed me asking for my phone number so we could discuss the situation
NEW 9) A representative from Paramount called me and apologized for the situation and claimed they that the whole situation was a horrible mistake and that they never intended for my site to be taken down at all.
NEW 10) I explained to the Paramount representative that I’m not convinced it was an accident or that the apology is a sincere one, but rather damage control because of all the negative publicity this story has generated around the web
NEW 11) When the Paramount representative asked me what she could do for me, I told her I wanted her boss, the director of Interactive Media at Paramount to call me to discuss the situation and how something this outrageously stupid could happen.
NEW 12) The rep told me she would pass this along to her boss and have her call me when she is back from a road trip.
So there you have it. That’s the short version. I seriously don’t know what to think about the "apology" at this point. I decided in good faith to take the angry email down for now. Now we’ll just wait and see if they were serious about this and the boss calls me or not. I’m betting she doesn’t call.
This will probably be the main topic for The Audio Edition tomorrow night. Doug and I already had a meeting about this. I wasn’t sure we should even talk about it… but I’ve never seen Doug so angry or upset… so this topic will be on the plate for tomorrow.
I’m 50/50 on if I believe them or not, and I’m not sure this boss will bother calling me. Doug is 100% convinced they are lying weasels just trying to calm down the shit storm they themselves started. We’ll have to wait and see.
Your thoughts?
