Ending Silence

This is my compiled statement I made on Twitter; if you’ve already read that, you can jump to the full story by clicking on this link. If not, read on, the same link can be found at the bottom of the page.

In 2020, a woman named Karissa made accusations against me, and so did her close friend, Kelly. The accusations were surprising. They concerned our first meeting almost 9 years ago and they were untrue.

I spent the following year trying to persuade myself these acts were done out of a misguided sense of self-righteousness. I have tried to correct the record, allow voices to be heard, but in keeping silent, I was wrong.

The motivation for these attacks seemed simple, Karissa and Kelly were angry about a bad break up I had had with their friend Jackie nearly 7 years ago.

Jackie was a woman Karissa had encouraged me to hit on at a bar at the same convention a year after Karissa and I first met. It is an unusual thing for someone to do to a friend with someone they believe to be a ‘sexual predator.’

Jackie and I saw each other for a year. We were not dating, we were not boyfriend/girlfriend. We stopped seeing each other 7 years ago. I had to break it off, in no small part to Karissa continually, angrily inserting herself into our relationship — which Jackie encouraged.

I do not know why Karissa waited so long with these accusations. She seemed to be triggered by the posting of an IGN video interview involving me.

To be clear, I did not want to do this video interview. I was told by the PR Evolve liaison at the time IGN ‘insisted.’ IGN’s handling of the interview (cutting out my female lead at the time) seemed to confirm it. This was their decision, I had no involvement in it, and their handling of it disgusted me.

But it was not the content Karissa seemed angered by, it was my presence. Whether it was that I still had a job in the industry or believed I did not deserve the ‘attention,’ I do not know. I certainly didn’t want the attention.

Shortly after, Karissa made her accusations. Her close friend Kelly then supported her with brand new claims purposely worded to be hard (but not impossible) to disprove.

As I said at the time, I believed the breakup with their friend Jackie motivated their attacks. Karissa and Kelly even said as much.

For those of you that asked questions about these accusations — thank you.

For those who offered support — thank you.

For those of you willing to listen before rushing to judgment — thank you.

A long list of digital evidence and witness testimony has been compiled over the past year. With that in hand, I filed a formal response last week, not to silence Karissa and Kelly, but to encourage them to speak more.

Other women came forward, but addressing them is easier done by first challenging Karissa’s statements. This is because Karissa’s claims were, unfortunately, echoed by others as truth, which allowed these falsehoods to spread and seem to be true via repetition. Whether this was done out of malice or ignorance doesn’t matter. They are untrue.

When Karissa’s claims are addressed in court, they will put these other claims in a much different light. Other parts of these stories that weren’t parroted by others are easy to prove false with a little research… if even a little research had been done.

None of the press did any such research I’m aware of, even for the easiest confirmations. For example, a woman, Christy Dena, claimed we shared a night together in 2013 when I wasn’t even on the same continent.

For now, my focus is Karissa and her statements. Making a case on Twitter is pointless. Karissa has told me she owes me “nothing” concerning her accusations. Like her accusations, this is also not true.

When you accuse someone of a crime, when you present falsehoods as facts to harm another, you must provide proof of your claims and address the evidence that shows your words to be false. It’s called accountability.

As I said before, I spent the year following these false accusations trying to persuade myself these acts were done out of misguided self-righteousness. I tried to correct the record, allow voices to be heard, but I was wrong; these attacks were malicious, and they must be challenged.

My expanded statement can be found here: It’s Come To This. More to follow.

7.9.21 Update: For new information and screenshots regarding the allegations, please see Jeff Johnson’s Medium article, “Beyond Politics, Beliefs, or Life Choices — This is About Right and Wrong.” If unfamiliar with the background regarding these events, please continue to “It’s Come To This.” The link to Jeff’s article is at the end of that article as well for convenience — and it’s best you read Karissa’s perspective on our interaction in her own words, not mine.

7.23.21 Update: Audio from conversations involving the allegations in the accuser’s own words was recently uploaded in an article “The Truth Will Always Find You.” The audio gives Karissa’s perspective on events, which is worth listening to. While I recommend reading the article, the actual uploaded video with the audio clips can be found directly here.

8.31.21 Update: In the evidence submitted to the Court of Los Angeles, among them you will find Exhibit 6, where Kelly Bristol’s own witness denies her story (p.88). Again, this wasn’t my witness, it was hers. She identified and called out this witness, not me. Her witness, however, completely discounts her story. But don’t take my word for it — read the evidence and decide for yourself.

In the same list of evidence, you can also find the texts and testimony of Karissa Barrows in her own words, where she indicates both a desire to hang out again, a desire to get me drunk, and frustration over not being able to date me. I had no idea about any of this. I had no idea she wanted to date. I thought she was just upset over the break-up I had with the friend she set me up with, so this was all news to me.

In addition, there is correspondence and additional texts from witnesses who observed Karissa Barrows during the same convention where she related a much different story about what occurred, in many respects, and it does not match the story she told in 2020, far from it. But again, don’t take my word for it-read the evidence and decide for yourself.

The full legal brief can be found here, and a more casual-but-easier-to-read version of events was broken down by the press here.