Behind every performatively woke man is a dark past he’s desperately trying to make sure you don’t see. Such appears to be the case with Devin Faraci, film critic at Birth.Movies.Death.—and a man who’s garnered a reputation for being a “good” guy (if not a little holier-than-thou and obnoxious).
But after tweeting his outrage over Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” comments, Twitter user @spacecrone tweeted at him, accusing him of doing exactly that.
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785179314534875137
When you're woke online but you have a past… pic.twitter.com/vEDQgz0cqx
— Followers For Algernon (@bonerhitler) October 9, 2016
@spacecrone spoke more about her accusation on her timeline, saying he stuck his hand down her pants and told mutual friends he had “fingerbanged” her. “I’ve avoided making that public for over a decade but I guess my rage at trump has uncasked the Gorgon in me,” she wrote. She also said she had given him opportunities to apologize before, and he never did.
Faraci claimed on Twitter that he had no memory of the event, and asked for forgiveness (though he did not technically offer an apology). He hasn’t addressed the accusation again online, though many others are supporting @spacecrone, and saying he’s been a creep for a long time.
https://twitter.com/IanPlakias/status/785470910027427840
https://twitter.com/TessFowler/status/785216535925100544
Devin Faraci sexually assaults women, tries to goad people into suicide & cyber-stalks basically everyone but sure, fandom is the problem.
— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) October 9, 2016
But that'd suggest Devin Faraci actually values women's voices and value feminism as something more than making him look better.
— Dr. Rose Bridges 🌹🌉🌉 (she/her) (@composerose) September 1, 2014
The democratization of language has made it incredibly easy for anyone to appear liberal and open-minded. Call enough things “problematic,” ask for men to “do better,” or mention “rape culture” or “gender is a construct,” and you’ve strung together enough buzzwords you don’t have to prove you’ve got the beliefs to back them up. To really be woke, you have to learn to separate the performance from the person. And that’s a lesson marginalized people have had to learn far too often.
Update Oct. 11, 10:51am CT: Faraci has “stepped down” as editor-in-chief from Birth.Movies.Death., according to a note on the site. It reads: “I’m here to assure you that the site and magazine will continue, with a team of smart, passionate writers dedicated to bringing you the best in pop culture news and conversation today. Devin built this site into something we’re proud to continue and grow in his absence.”
Update Oct. 11, 12:35pm CT: Faraci has also commented: “This weekend allegations were made about my past behavior. Because I take these types of claims seriously I feel my only honorable course of action is to step down from my position as editor-in-chief of Birth.Movies.Death. I will use the coming weeks and months to work on becoming a better person who is, I hope, worthy of the trust and loyalty of my friends and readers.”
Since Faraci’s stepping down, @spacecrone has deleted the tweet, but “not because I’m embarrassed or want to pretend it didn’t happen,” she tweeted, “but because it’s become a focal point for some really vile stuff that I don’t feel is in any way in touch with what actually happened.”
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785870593396793344
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785870791162429440
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785871146692608000
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785871638722187264
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785871843865526273
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785888249961000961
https://twitter.com/spacecrone/status/785888347193417732