I dealt with some defenders yesterday and as a survivor I do not appreciate people who insist that I MUST continue watching him or I don't believe in restorative justice. Which isn't what that means!! Jesus christ. I feel so betrayed, so devastated as a big fan. And deplatforming him is not an overreaction, it is consequences. We don't get to forgive him, only the survivor can, and people who insist we can disgust me. My family forgave my rapist and I will never stop being angry.

I'm just tired. This has been an awful week to be a survivor with PTSD.

I feel so bad for the victim. She just wanted some consequences for his actions back then, but 1) there were pretty much no consequences and 2) now her assault is a media circus and a bunch of freaks will try to dox her for a decision she did not make. I think the people that gave him money and attention and connections are justifiably upset that this information was withheld from them, but that poor woman, dude. I just don’t want any of this to affect her. I can’t imagine the wounds this opened and the fear she now feels. I just hope she’s supported, loved, and safe.

To all victims or survivors of SA, SH, and abuse, you didn't deserve what happened. It wasn't your fault ❤

You're SO RIGHT about acephobia being part of rape culture.

Like. I've had people say they can "fix me", and literally what other implication is there besides "if I foce you into sex you'll be forced to like it".
I'm not a virgin. I'm not even sex repulsed! But so many people get so fucking weird and creepy about me not seeking out sex and think my relationship with sex is something they need to "fix" or comment on, or they think I owe them explanations and justifications for why I'm not actively trying to get railed. No means no, until the person is ace, then it's suddenly ok to try pressuring and coercing them into sex.

It's especially upsetting when it comes from other queer people, who literally repurpose homophobic talking points to use against ace people. "You just haven't found the right partner (to fix you) yet", "you just need to get over it and be normal", "you could just hide who you are and fit in easily. Your aren't really oppressed".

It's frustrating and gross, and people act like I'm the weird one when it's other people who are being invasive and inappropriate towards me.

I genuinely don't understand why Geller went on to have a public platform after what happened in 2016. If he was so committed to changing himself and honoring the victim's wish for anonymity, did he not think that becoming a popular YouTuber would bring more scrutiny and attention on him, and thus might adversely impact the victim? I just don't buy it.

As a (now former) subscriber of Geller's who doesn't have a Bluesky, I had no idea about any of this until I saw Maggie's tweets about it. And she is spot on in her points. I believe in restorative justice and rehabilitation, I think Jacob has the right to live, I just don't think he's entitled to a public platform and a progressive audience.

It's so interesting that people were able to understand this concept and were pro-deplatforming when it came to James Somerton over proof of plagiarism, but not for a man admitting to sexual violence.

As someone who enjoyed Geller's work but wasn't too into the fandom, I really want to believe that he's being sincere and has grown... but this isn't some crime you can just leave and forget. He did irreparable damage to someone, I don't think people realize how rape can break someone.

We don't know (nor are we entitled to know) how the victim really feels. But the public is allowed to have a reaction and understandably most people are deeply hurt and upset by this.

Rehabilitation is all well and good, but becoming an online persona and collecting patreon pledges while your past is hidden is not Rehabilitation.

No matter how "progressive" one can be, we all are living under a patriarchy. Some men won't feel the need to deconstruct THAT (women too), which breeds their misogyny, and adverse feelings towards anything to do with supporting/uplifting women.

Some people are ignoring that jacob's statement is inherently biased as we're unable to hear the victim's side unless they or a proxy come forward themself. The "we mutually agreed" part feels like he's downplaying the situation as it emphasizes a grey area when we know he's guilty. I both don't think the victim should feel pressured to say anything, and I think people should take one sided statements with a grain of salt.

Those of who have experienced sexual assault, of any gender, will ALSO often immediately empathize and identify with the person who abused us. That's one reason why we minimize what happened to us, or try to think about what "we" did (either to 'cause'/'invite' it or how we didn't have the 'correct' response at the time).

It's not just patriarchy or internalized whatever, though. It's a survival thing our brains do without asking us first. It's why children who are abused usually blame themselves. We're desperate to believe that what happened to us is something we could have controlled/prevented, so we can believe that we can control/prevent it from happening again. Accepting that it wasn't our fault means accepting it could  happen again - and that's incredibly painful and overwhelming. Of course we avoid it.

There aren't many things in the world that are as easy as NOT raping someone. That bar is in hell, and he still tripped over it.

Just a tip for everyone, because this is what I do myself: the minute you start to look at an internet personality or celebrity and think "I bet if we met IRL, we'd be best friends...", that's your sign to log off, touch grass, and stop engaging with that person's output for awhile. Parasocial attachment is scrambling our damn brains.

I was assaulted by an employee at a 7-11 once, late at night, when I was the only customer in the store. He came up to me while I had the case open, getting a soda, and touched my arm and started talking all flirty and asking if I came there alone, and I panicked and froze. I totally understand that response now. It doesn't make sense to people, but all I can say is my life flashed before my eyes and my heart sank to my feet and I was thinking, "this is it, I'm gonna die. Forensic Files was right" and I could. not. move. I just lied to him and said no, I wasn't alone, BOUGHT THE DAMN SODA FROM HIM after all that, and fled. And the only people I told at the time was my husband, and a small private facebook group of mom friends, because I thought everyone would all blame me for going somewhere alone that late at night. I was too terrified to even go to the police. It was 14 years ago and I remember it vividly.

It has been interesting seeing the discussions about rehabilitative justice and the responses of extreme reactions between people wishing him death and calling you a cop if you don't forgive him (real tweet).

My current feelings are that he should have a place on society, but it doesn't sit right with me that he built a successful platform with such a hidden rotten foundation, specially with the themes and topics that he tackles and the type of audience that he has cultivated, an audience that most likely wouldn't have existed had they known about what he did.

Someone on Bluesky asked him an interesting question, paraphrasing, "you admit yourself that your punishment at the time was not enough and was a slap on the wrist, so I want to ask you, what do you think the proper consequences should've been?", and if I'm being honest, a one semester suspension and him becoming a deeply respected figure of authority and trust in societal issues doesn't sound right, besides any remorse and regret that he may or may not have after all this years.

Ultimately, there's no one in this situation I feel sorry for other than the victim. I can't even start to imagine what she must be feeling right now. Hoping that she's never identified without her consent might be wishful thinking, but that's all that I can hope for.

Edit: 100% agree he should post his statement on YouTube. Him not doing that at all would be cowardly as fuck

It’s really hard to see and process the responses of a lot of these defenders. I’m a victim of SA who went through an extremely similar situation as what Geller put his victim in. I never told anyone and it’s because of society’s attitude towards perpetrators. What happened to me happened I think the same year this crime happened. All of these discussions about the potential consequences for the perpetrator being unfair… all of that went through my head when I was assaulted. “Well he’s a great student in college, smart, capable, I’d be robbing him of a future if I spoke up about what he did to me.” A lot of victims think about this and ignore the future that was robbed from us. I lived with PTSD related fear, insomnia, and nightmares because of what happened. Truthfully, we deserve to see people wanting justice for us, not excusing it and moving on. I don’t know what would have happened if I told someone but knowing my school, they probably would have just told me to get over it. Or that I invited it or whatever other victim blaming thing. I sometimes wish I told someone. Not for myself, but for people younger than me to realize that they deserve better and that they don’t have to bear that suffering in silence. Thanks for standing up for us, D’Angelo.

as a survivor i really appreciate how you covered this. i think you are doing a lot just talking about it so logically and empathically as a man.

also im so sorry that happened to you- the brain can do some crazy dissociative things to protect itself. it doesn't mean it didn't happen or that it didn't effect you. freeze is a very common response to fear. i know you probably already know that, but sometimes its good to hear it from someone else.

1:07:35 can confirm it does harm. i experienced sa while in college and i went through a “restorative justice” process that i’ve since learned is in fact not restorative justice. we throw around these words without actually them meaning anything and then people who’ve been harmed and want to do it and prevent harm from happening to others get fucked over by people who don’t know how to follow transformational justice in a way that’s actually healing. the facilitator for my “process” BECAME FRIENDS with MY ABUSER AFTER they were introduced because of MY ASSAULT DURING the “investigation”. people throwing this phrase around confuse the public about what it actually means and how much work it actually entails and it causes real harm to victims.

2:27:21 The wooden teeth thing is a lie to cover the fact that one of the primary sources of teeth in his dentures was teeth forcibly removed from slaves… they have his dentures on display at Mount Vernon and at least the sign tells the truth because you can obviously see they’re not wood…

Dr. Luke, Chris Brown, Etc. still have a careers and rake in so much money that they dont know what to do with it and fans and there people out here thinking these guys should keep those careers and that stopping their platform is "Too Much" and akin to putting them to death somehow in 2026... THEY CAN WORK AS A CASHIER WHY DO THEY NEED TO HAVE A BIG PLATFORM???

Hey D’Angelo, thank you for sharing your story.

Thank you for this video. Shout to you constantly posting. I, as an avid viewer appreciate all your work.

Thank you for telling your story, I do so much blaming myself and discrediting of my own story but the deep sadness I felt for you hearing your story made me realise how cruel I’ve been treating myself. I hope we can all heal <3