Hi,
My name is Joe and I run Don Giovanni Records. Sex Stains label. I can't claim to understand anything about what you are all trying to investigate as far as the bigger picture and political connections or Comet Ping Pong or anything involved in your broader investigation. I also believe that this kind of stuff is really important and worth investigating, I just haven't had any time to read up on anything related to the broader scandal.
With that said, it seems like my label and one of our bands, Sex Stains is now somehow part of your investigation. Instead of being investigated though, we are just being harassed.
I've had people email me and ask me questions which I've answered but I guess those answers aren't getting back to this community so I made an account to come answer whatever you want to know about us and Sex Stains with the goal of you realizing we really have nothing to do with this whatsoever and that hopefully it will lead to us not being harassed. As a label, and as artists we are all very outspoken with our music and writing about sexual assault and exploitations in all its forms. We work to police and investigate matters our own punk/diy community. I know what its like for victims not to be believed.
When someone told me that there was symbol for pedophelia in one of our videos I was horrified. Even if it was unintentional since i don't think most non-pedophiles are aware of those symbols (I certainly wasn't till someone linked me to the FBI document because of its supposed connection with the video), I wouldn't want it showing up in the video. But when I looked at the symbol in the document and the one in the video they really didn't seem all that similar. In an email I wrote someone else it would be like the difference between an "M" and an "N" or something. There are similarities, but they have different amounts of lines in different directions and thus have different symbolic meaning. This site I am on right now (Voat) seems to have a blue triangle for a logo, for example. I doubt it is part of this whole (though if people feel its worth investigating, then maybe it is).
I guess the point of this all is that I really have no issues with the investigation of pedophelia or any kind of abuse whatsoever, in fact, I agree it should be investigate if there is reason to. Like many of you, I also believe that there are large scandals especially in the mainstream that are covered up by the MSM and the government.
I don't know how the rest of your investigation is being conducted, but I can tell you that what is happening with Sex Stains and our record label isn't investigation. For every email or tweet I have received asking em questions about it, I have received a dozen of harassing comments. Please investigate. Ask me any questions you have about Sex Stains and my label and I will answer them as fast as I can (I am home with my family on thanksgiving. I was hoping to deal with this on Monday but the harassing comments are too numerous and piling up too fast).
I am, and always have been very accessible. My email is public, my label has no walls to hide behind and is fully owned and operated by me. I will now answer all your questions here too (or if you tell me a better place I will do it there too).
Joe
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Spuddlebuns ago
Joe, thank you for taking the time to join the community, and post a very calm, rational, and accessible post. I cannot speak for others, but I would like to apologize for the rabid vigilantes who may be harassing you. Sadly, as more and more people become familiar with the situation, you may find yourself under more and more stupid harassment. Sadly, although those individuals are not investigating, they will be lumped in with the people who honestly are trying to sift facts from hearsay, innuendo, and rumor.
Hopefully, by being so forthright with this community, the cynical eyes will soon look elsewhere and the harassment will stop. The only suggestion I can give, is for you to take the time to create a "disclaimer" page somewhere, showing your argument about the Sex Stains symbol, and visually debunking it, with the ability to post the link to show people. No, it will not make the harassment go away, but it may hopefully tamp it down somewhat.
Again, thank you for rationally communicating, rather than playing a victim of harassment card, like so many others in this situation are doing.
dongiovannirecords ago
I appreciate hearing that, and like I tried to say, any interactions I've had like this via email with people in your group are also very kind and just seem to have questions. At the same time though, like I said, during those interactions this band and then now me and the label are being harassed for what seems like no reason. It took me a while to even figure out what was going on honestly since I didn't really know anything about the pizza thing.
Here is something I had sent someone privately via email who was discussing it with me, which is advice for your general investigation:
"As for whatever is going on with Comet Ping Pong, I don't really know enough about the controversy to even try to comment on it. But I can tell you as someone that works with many artists and has played in bands themselves, that when a band is on a national tour like Sex Stains was (they are from LA and that venue is in DC) they have very little say or even knowledge of the places they are playing. Where bands play on tour usually just has to do with what spaces promoters are able to find available that night. It is often the case that a venue will have a very bad reputation for one reason or another, not usually as extreme as this, but for something like not paying the bands properly or the owner being a drug dealer or something, and bands don't even know about it till they show up. So I would be careful about reading too much into the type of bands and names of bands etc. that play the venue, especially if they are nationally touring bands because most just play wherever the promotor is able to book them."
I'll just add to that too, because truly the only thing I can help shed any light on related to this whole thing just has to do with music and bands work, not pizza, sex trafficking or politics work, is that I really wouldn't read too much into bands names or imagery in the punk community. While I personally do not agree with this mentality, there is a general mentality in many parts of punk to try to be as offensive and vulgar as possible as a way to essentially celebrate freedom of speech and push its boundaries. While I am a huge free speech proponent, I personally tend find this stuff immature and somewhat offensive (though I believe they have the right to say it). So its true, that I would probably be very offended by a band with a name that alluded to child sex trafficking, it would be because i was offended that they were making light of a serious issue, not because i believed they were involved in it.
My label and the bands involved, like Sex Stains, and truly most of the bands that would play a room as small as the one at Comet Ping Pong do not make any money and do not have any money. Many are barely scraping by with money from day jobs making coffee and stuff like that. So I would also try to keep that in mind too. If you are trying to make an argument that there are these power brokers out there covering up huge scandals, like I said earlier, I do believe that happens. But it would be a joke to think myself or any of the bands involved at this scale are power brokers. If anything is really happening, they are just caught up in it because of where the DC promoter booked them on their tour.