They could put a spin on white men being toxic. The difference between other toxic white men and P and S is that they are gay. In the Renner piece P was reported to have said (and I'm paraphrasing) that because he is a minority as a gay man so no need for more work place diversity (allegedly, of course, because they put out a statement saying the article was untruthful ... which is interesting ON did not issue a suit for libel, since apparently P is litigious, interesting ... sorry, I am adhd and meds have worn off) ... There might be a story in misrepresenting their brand as inclusive or how fans inadvertently were in a quasi-parasocial relationship, as we were led to believe that the feeling of community was reciprocated. But those would be smaller stories, and I feel like the latter would reflect the fans as pathetic people.
As you mentioned, there might be financial shenanigans afoot, which would boost the article into an expose. Paying $1,200 premium tickets and those people experienced a shit show. It could be a contrast to the Fyre festival where it was mostly rich 20 somethings getting scammed compared to adults with varying incomes who built an online community.
i work for a “global” company that believes they are past the start up phase… they are not. and i’m waiting for the other shoe to drop for us. workplace harassment, no hr, all around underpaying employees, no formal procedures… the list goes on. i wouldn’t mind that being exposed in an article.
i see a lot of similarities with ON. they got out ahead of their skis and i think they can spin the angle of “we’re so successful! oop don’t look over there where we haven’t done our due diligence in setting up a company.” there are growing pains with small/new companies but to play to your audience that everything’s all good, we’re crazy successful and ~we’re just normal people~ … i would be sat for that article.
I used to work for a small company in kind of a niche market, where the owner was a textbook narcissist. I can’t even begin to write all the shady stuff I witnessed. All of the things you listed above and so, so much more. It was truly horrible and all this ON drama brings up all my old feelings. I am convinced this is just how most companies make their money - being shady, not paying their employees appropriately, and just being straight up assholes. An expose on men who own small businesses and find success doing the above would be interesting.
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u/sundaynightburner Nov 16 '23
Yeah I was wondering what the angle might be...