My Official Statement

[Fidget12]

Thank you for the transparency @WebmasterJohn

No sarcasm allowed on the Disboards

 

[Her Dotness]

I owe you an apology, Tonyz. You were absolutely correct.

The "sludge" just rolled downhill from the summit in the form of this statement.

I think a mass exodus richly deserved. Join it, anyone?

I am so gone.

 

[midwestdee]

This is a horrendous situation and I hope those victimized get some justice. To the long time Dis members check out the “arrival “ dates of some of the grievously outraged posting on the thread. One person joined the Dis tonight, another joined Monday, and two others joined January. Just seemed interesting ( not saying it’s relevant necessarily just interesting).

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

John is not posting about sundaes and pretzels on some carefree vacation. John and Kevin are hosting and leading an ABD TRIP filled with clients. This is not a vacation, it’s literally their job.

ABD/Disney are perfectly capable of hosting, leading and guiding the Backstage Magic, they do it every single week.

I trust Summer Rose and Ralph are doing their job and don’t need assistants.

 

[SaintsManiac-vol.2]

This is a horrendous situation and I hope those victimized get some justice. To the long time Dis members check out the “arrival “ dates of some of the grievously outraged posting on the thread. One person joined the Dis tonight, another joined Monday, and two others joined January. Just seemed interesting ( not saying it’s relevant necessarily just interesting).

Because quite a few people returned with new accounts after being banned in years past.

 

[loblolly]

Clearly you dont care about anyone but yourselves. Now I see how this could have gone on for so long. The hole keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the owners of Dreams are the ONLY ones responsible. Tell me that you didnt know who Pete was!

 

[Captain Dan]

Finally, an official statement! Honestly, as a long time Dis'er, the silence was deafening. And the IG posts felt incredibly tone deaf (although, in fairness, I am sure the new and most alarming allegations you were not privy too.) And I do agree, some of the statements made on the IG post were grotesque and unwarranted. However, I am still shocked it took you this long to acknowledge the situation.

Granted, I am not in your position and I don't understand the full gravity of it all. No doubt, it isn't easy. However, I would suggest as your company moves forward, please be do not have this prolonged silence again. Even if you cannot speak, tell us! Not hearing anything from you only exacerbated the situation. And when you can be more transparent, do so -- in the hopes that trust can be regained.

I hope you take this knowing it is coming from a place that wants to see success for your employees. No malice.

My empathy goes to Sean, Dustin, and all of the victims whom are still silent.

You mean unless John or Kevin is a victim right? You feel fine attacking them without knowing facts and many board commenters attacked other staffers without knowing who all the victims are.

 

[Strikan]

This is a horrendous situation and I hope those victimized get some justice. To the long time Dis members check out the “arrival “ dates of some of the grievously outraged posting on the thread. One person joined the Dis tonight, another joined Monday, and two others joined January. Just seemed interesting ( not saying it’s relevant necessarily just interesting).

Well I have been here since 2007, long enough for you? Also, a number of folks are coming back after being banned in the past due to criticism of Pete.

 

[Captain Dan]

A slap in the face to the victims AND community board members. Terribly disappointed on how this was handled.

Another person commenting without knowing who all the victims are.

 

[bsmcneil]

John is not posting about sundaes and pretzels on some carefree vacation. John and Kevin are hosting and leading an ABD TRIP filled with clients. This is not a vacation, it’s literally their job.

To me, posting on Instagram about food seems more like the job of food reviewers, influencers, etc and not the CEO of a company going through what one would assume is the most significant issue it's faced (god, I hope). I would hope you'd see that there does seem to be a disconnect (I don't know Kevin's position with the company - perhaps he is more akin to an on-air reviewer and I'm wrong).

If this is about friends and family, I get circling the wagons and it seems like that's true for you (and I regret that I've not been able to make friends with the people involved - there definitely seems to be different circles). I trust that these folks have been very good to you and have the best of intentions. For others, it's about a professional company with employees, clients, etc and I think it's fair for those folks to want one thing from the company (and the company can say, "No, we're going to post pretzels and silly hats in the face of our CEO having used power over employees."). It just seems really weird (and a little unhealthy/dysfunctional) to say, "People can't expect more of this company - be quiet and don't talk about abuse." That is, in fact, how abuse gets to continue in systems.

For most of us, none of this is about you or your personal friends. If the company doesn't want to be taken seriously, it can just be a group of friends who talk to each other about food at Disney and help each other with vacation planning. No one is saying otherwise. But people have had interactions with people involved and have a very real right to feel concerned. People do have the right to reflect on whether they have contributed to one person misusing their power, and whether the others in the upper echelon of selected people have also contributed to that (intentionally, accidentally, implicitly, explicitly). I can't think of any company with which I do business where if there was 7 figure financial improprieties and sexual assault (let alone of employees by the CEO) where I'd be like, "Oh ok. No biggie." Those are pretty serious issues to many people and take a while to process (especially since people have personal experiences and a business like this, where people are sharing personal vulnerabilities vs. a company that makes a product that we put in a car but don't personally engage added to the very real concept of community being built in these very message boards, that has some serious emotional weight for people).

 

[Strikan]

Another person commenting without knowing who all the victims are.

As are you.

 

[bsmcneil]

Well I have been here since 2007, long enough for you? Also, a number of folks are coming back after being banned in the past due to criticism of Pete.

2006 here. Again folks, please don't dismiss things based off of something as spurious as "these people are new and can't matter." It's telling that you would dismiss something as serious as these issues without reflection.

 

[Captain Dan]

Feel free to ban me, but this is just as tone deaf as the original post. None of us care that John & Kevin got mean comments, they are hardly the victims in this scenario and should not be treated as such. As someone who was a victim of sexual assault, that's laughable.

Here’s another one. You don’t know who all the victims are, right? Why do you assume John and or Kevin isn’t a victim?

 

[Indy Jones]

To anyone complaining, John has a business to run. He has people counting on him to make the right decisions because this is their livelihood. They would be foolish not to speak with their attorneys.

John, Kevin, and the rest of the Dis: your fans support you . One person's bad conduct does not reflect your company as a whole. We are with you. Keep moving forward .

 

[Lumpy1106]

To anyone complaining, John has a business to run. He has people counting on him to make the right decisions because this is their livelihood. They would be foolish not to speak with their attorneys.

John, Kevin, and the rest of the Dis: your fans support you . One person's bad conduct does not reflect your company as a whole. We are with you. Keep moving forward .

Yes, yes he does - excellent point, and waiting a week to address serious SA claims from multiple victims, while posting pictures of pretzels and caramel sundaes is no way to run a business. In fact I would say it reflects very poorly on your company - as a whole. But good luck to them.

 

[Strikan]

Here’s another one. You don’t know who all the victims are, right? Why do you assume John and or Kevin isn’t a victim?

You don’t know if they are.

Also, if they are, why do they not say something now? Others with much more to lose have done so before them. There is no employer imbalance with John, he was Pete’s partner, not employee. If Kevin was a victim, how messed up must that be for it to happen in a company his husband co-owns? So, reasonable assumption is that they were not victims like Sean and Dustin.

Now, if they were victims of bullying by Pete, well all the more reason why they should have been aware of the other bullying going on. It is a small company. They would have been sensitive to it. So, which way do you want it?

 

[Fidget12]

Might as well take down all the old Unplugged episodes with Pete. Can’t imagine that anyone could look at them anymore without feeling sick and disgusted.

That should have been done last week. It should be done now if he really is gone from here.

 

[PUSMMA]

Respectfully, I disagree. I have worked in communications in the field of federal law enforcement, and I enjoy geeking out with this sort of thing, so bare with me please. The statement was 318 words.

76 words - Introduction and legal talk
21 words - Statement regarding his pride in the team and employees
59 words - Talks about how Dreams will continue to thrive and grow
137 words - Taking a defensive position regarding the hostility that has circulated social media over the past few days
25 words - Closing remark

So, I think that people aren't necessarily complaining about the information... they just expected.... more of what is in bold above.

Again, I will continue to support DIS as long as Craig and Ryno are around. And I will continue to chat on these boards. But I understand why people are frustrated.

Bingo! Spending almost 1/2 your words playing victim is so tone deaf it’s frightening.

 

[PUSMMA]

Sorry Kathy, but you are way off base here. You complain that arm chair posters are continuing to assert that others knew about Dustin’s SA even after Dustin assured us that no one else knew. You are wrong. After Dustin made that statement, there hasn’t been a single post by anyone making that assertion. Not one. What people are questioning is: Did other managerial level employees know that employees were being emotionally abused by Pete? Did they know that Pete demanded that Oliver work after being informed that Oliver’s family was in town for a visit. And if so, did anyone try to intervene? Did any managerial level employee know that JL was being unjustly accused of stealing money and was terminated on that basis? And if so, did anyone try to step in and intervene? Did anyone in a managerial position know about the mental and emotional abuse being levied against Sean or Fiasco. Did anyone take these situations up with Pete? After Dustin assured us that no one else knew about his SA, there has been nothing but support for him and not a single post questioning his representation. I really don’t know where you got that. It has all been about the overall toxic work environment independent of the SA. All fair questions to ask.

As for “haterz”, there are people here who hate that former employees were being sexually and emotionally abused. There are people here who hate that their money (commissions, Patreon or otherwise) was finding its way into Pete’s bank accounts. There are people here who hate the fact that John posted about pretzels and ice cream before addressing any of this. So go ahead and tell us what part of this “hate” is misdirected or unjustified.

I get it that proper legal advice might caution against saying too much too soon. But tell us what sort of legal advice recommends John posting his fourth paragraph or the entirety of your post. If that is the type of legal advice you are getting, you’d be well advised to find new legal counsel.

Well said. She is so blinded by her faith in The Dis it’s somewhat frightening

 

[garlicth03]

Let’s all just remember the true victims here. John & Kevin. They’ll probably only be able to take 5 ABD trips this year now.