Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Robert at Venerable

My wife, Libertad Green, recently entered a pin-up contest hosted by Robert At Venerable.  He (or perhaps his representatives) selected my wife to compete in person as one of twelve finalists in this contest, which he has announced at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1502352063380789/

Libertad Green graciously accepted his invitation to compete in person for the top prize, at the Boondocks, and submitted one of the head shots I had taken of her, to appear on his flyers and advertisements for the event.  On or about January 21, 2015, Libertad Green noticed that he had published the flyer with her picture, but with her name misspelled, as "Liberated Green."  She sent him a private, Facebook message, asking him to correct the spelling of her name.  He apologized to her via private, Facebook message, but a week later, had not posted a public correction, nor apology.  Instead, he posted comments about getting drunk and being hung over, as well as pictures of other women.

After a week, when Libertad Green saw that Robert had taken to action to rectify the misspelling of her name, she posted a polite, professional remark on the Facebook event page, informing him and all concerned that she would not be attending the event as advertised, because Robert had neglected to correct the misspelling of her name.

I also posted several polite, professional remarks, including the following:

"First of all, no one should have the gall to expect beautiful, talented women such a my wife, Libertad Green, to provide entertainment for free, so that anyone besides said women can profit from their labor. Secondly, if such a woman is gracious enough to grace your establishment/event with her presence, it would behoove you to spell her name correctly in any and all advertisements of the event. If you misspell her name, and she asks you to correct it, you should publish an apology and a correction, via social media, immediately - not after you recover from a hang-over and post pictures of other women."

I also indicated that I had taken the photo of Libertad Green, which appeared on the flyer, and asked him to remove it, since she and I considered it to be a violation of our copyright.

He apparently blocked us, but removed the flyer, and posted another, without her picture and name on it.  He also removed our remarks.  Then he posted the following:

"Almost a week ago one of the PinUp contestants [presumably Libertad Green] notified me about a miss spelling [sic] of her name.  Two letters were swapped in place of each other.  I am immediately notified my editor [grammar] to take care of the situation, and apologized and told her it would be fixed.  During the events of me being extremely busy with work [and getting drunk and hung over, apparently], this show, etc. I dropped the ball and I take full blame for it not getting fixed.  She announced today that she is withdrawing from the contest.  A friend of hers [Karmilia Cruz, apparently], and her husband [I, the Vaughanster] posted on [there] talking a bunch of trash.  I apologize for that as well.  Again this was my fault for dropping the ball, but there are proper ways and classy ways of handling things.  I will be posting the new PinUp contestant [sic] later today."

Karmilia and I did not "talk a bunch of trash" on Robert's event page; we politely and professionally asked him to remove my wife's head shot from the flyer.

However, within minutes several remarks were made in support of Robert, such as:

Alyssa Perez:  "An honest mistake, I was published with my first and last name before it happens."

Brandy Temblor:  "I'm so sorry that happened to you that is not cool"

Sophia Sirana:  "My name gets spelled wrong allllll [sic] the time.  The event isn't until March!  Calm your tits lady.  Don't blame yourself Robert At Venerable you're only human."

Don McGowan:  "That's very childish and diva-ish of them sorry you had to deal with this."

Elisabeth Mesa:  "If that's all it takes for someone to fall apat?!?  You don't need them on ur [sic] side."

Mimi Le Minks:  "dont [sic] blame your self..  my name gets spelled wrong all the time and you never see me throwing a hissy about it.."

I have a few questions for Alyssa Paez, Brandy Temblador, Sophia Sirena, Dawn McGowan, Elizabeth Meza, Mimi La Minkz, and all the others who share their opinions on this matter:

Would you participate in an event with your names misspelled on the flyer?  Would you inform the host and his other guests that you weren't going to participate, or would you just not show up?  What would be the proper, classy way to handle this?