I won’t say too much because I’ve been guilty in the past of putting a lot out there when in essence, I should’ve kept my mouth closed.

But this here…lawd. I am probably gonna say too much. #kanyeshrug

First off, let me say that blogging is uber messy. When you have a personal blog, that’s one thing. But the moment you take on the task of blogging about other people and their lives, it becomes a sticky situation.

That being said, almost two weeks ago, I broke a story on my website regarding a Falcon’s player who had a relationship with a young man, tried to pay him off on some bribery shit when he got his deal but eventually left the man feeling a little cheated.

Let me say that before I even agreed to post the story, there was a LOT that was done on the back end, INCLUDING (but not limited to) verifying the claims made by the gentleman AND reaching out to the accused (personally as well as professionally) to see if any statement would be made.

That being said, I felt that I went a WEE bit above and beyond the call of what a normal blogger would do. Bloggers aren’t journalist but for some reason, people seem to think so. I am not required to practice any level of journalistic integrity as a blogger. Having a blog with no degree means that I am free to post my opinions without really verifying a damn thing. Without question, that’s irresponsible as hell but with a story regarding an alleged gay relationship, I felt that it was very necessary to at least TRY to verify what I could.

When the story broke, I didn’t think that very many people would pick up on it but they did. Eventually, people wanted to know the identity of the letter writer and so he agreed to create a short clip and post it on my youtube channel.

As with any story in the blogging world, stuff becomes “old news.” I was 100% prepared to “let go and let God” on this whole story but then today happened.

I was browsing Youtube, minding my business and watching my subscriptions when I received a message that stated that the person who was IN the video filed a DMCA claim against me, claiming copyright infringement and because of that, Youtube would delete my video. My first reaction was obviously that of anger b/c I have spent weeks communicating with this gentleman and felt slighted that he would go behind my back and file a claim against me, rather than simply asking me to delete it.

I immediately contacted him to ask him what the damn deal was, only for him to tell me “Um, Jia…I didn’t do anything of the sort. I wouldn’t even know how to file a claim against you on Youtube.” I also spoke with my friend from college (who is also his friend and how I got the story) and she assured me that this wasn’t the case.

They became just as pissed off as me. Not understanding how DMCA claims work on Youtube, he said “Can you just upload it again?” I COULD, yes…but then Youtube would go all bitter bitch on my black ass and completely delete my account.

SUPER long story cut short (haha)…come to find out that somebody (and this is the part where I WILL keep my mouth closed b/c, well…now it’s a legal matter) pretended to be the guy in the video…filed a copyright claim and had the video removed. Now understand this…since this story broke TWO weeks ago, there have been a lot of things going on behind my back that would get reported back to me by other bloggers and industry folks. What it boils down to is someone….somebody….is using a lot of scare tactics to keep everyone else from talking about it but decided to do something ‘sneaky’ to get at me.

As a defiant bitch and pure asshole, I’m re-uping the video to VIMEO until Youtube receives and verifies MY written statement, the guy in the video’s written statement PLUS identification, a copy of the email exchange between the guy and me, verifying that the video was created for my site and I had permission to post it where ever I pleased. At this point, it’s not even about having a story…its the principle behind the shit. Don’t do any sneaky, under handed shit and think that you can muscle mufuckas b/c you have money. At the end of the day, it is illegal to take on the identity of someone else. Had Youtube REALLY been on their shit from go, they would’ve been able to simply WATCH the video and see that the vid was considered exclusive content. With words coming from the man’s mouth saying WHO the video was created for, there shouldn’t have been an issue but I digress. I’ve faced issues like this with Youtube once before where they said that another video I created (and was IN, mind you) didn’t belong to me.

I said all that to say this….I’m a bit slicker than your average and that’s absolutely no lie. I can let things go and actually, do a damn good job at it. But when I feel as though you’re trying to play my face, all bets are off. When I feel that you’re trying to be sneaky in order to get what you want…what your friend wants…what your client wants…that’s a problem. I don’t know (yet) who sent the claim in to Youtube but I have a pretty GOOD idea and b/c the guy in the video has to have his identity confirmed and provide a statement that says that he did NOT send the copyright infringement request in to Youtube, that information will have to be released, more than likely to MY attorney…and it will be handled from there.

I didn’t get into the business of blogging to be pushed around. If there is something that anyone would like to address to me, be it professionally, personally or on legal grounds, that’s fine. Just be an adult or professional about your shit. But when you make the decision to start playing ugly, watch who you’re messing with. I don’t like my toes stepped on either.