#not gonna clog the free Palestine tag with this drivel

[leifmeshi]

not trying to be offensive or anything but in your opinion what could damien do to fix this situation? genuinely curious here, sorry, just wanted to know how to fix a mistake like this, because no question it was not handled correctly imo

Take this with a grain of salt, because I’m putting myself in his position and thinking about what I, Erik, would do in his place.

I’d expect that after taking the social media break, however long that may be, coming back and addressing how he handled the interaction on stream. Unblock the OP and apologize for the last comment (pointing out OP’s follower count), and acknowledge why an apology is necessary for that comment. It’s one thing to say “I’m sorry”, but acknowledging why you’re saying sorry shows a genuinely apologetic attitude.

I don’t think he owes anyone outside of OP an apology, considering the interaction wasn’t about them. He can control his twitter timeline the way he wants to.

Secondly, and honestly more importantly, openly showing support for Palestine as he has been doing. Uplifting Palestinian voices, sharing helpful information, and possibly even donating to Palestinian aid & relief causes is the best way to handle it and show that the apology initially delivered wasn’t just performative.

What I’m hoping for is that he expresses a newfound awareness of why the fan was initially upset, and why people are upset with how he handled it as of this post.

If my bias may come forward for just a moment, I do not think Damien is a manchild, a horrible person, a Zionist, or any other hurtful terms. I think he’s someone who went into a fan interaction impulsively, and his assumption on nature of the interaction affected how he responded. It’s socially unaware at best and privileged at the worst. But Damien has proved time and time again in the past, and in the present, to be considerate of marginalized people both in and outside of his community, which I am hoping he is going to continue to express going forward.

I think his break is going to give him time to think on his feelings, and why his reaction to this fan was so hostile in the first place. He expressed it was a point of sensitivity & frustration which he was going to learn from.

To the peeps demonizing OP in my inbox, stop it? Maybe? OP is a Palestinian who’s family is actively witnessing and living through a genocide on their day-to-day, and was sincerely taken aback by an old joke from 5 years ago. It’s valid as hell to want an apology for that. Assuming that the fan was fishing for a reason to “cancel” Damien is parasocial as hell, and I also recommend you take a step back and unpack why you’re so eager to defend him over the marginalized person here. If your trauma was being used as a joke in a TNTL without your express permission, wouldn’t you, too, want an apology? Exercise some empathy why don’t ya.

This is gonna be my final response on it until Damien addresses it himself in whatever form. Until then, I’m going to be reblogging useful information regarding Palestine & Gaza whenever I see it.

My definitive thoughts on this will be linked here and here.

#smosh #damien haas #clever coop #not gonna clog the free Palestine tag with this drivel #thanks for the ask tho! it did get me thinking about what apology I’d find adequate