For those of you unfamiliar with Devin Faraci, he is a well-known movie blogger going back more than a decade, beginning most prominently with the geek-site CHUD before launching Birth.Movies.Death in 2010. Last October, Faraci stepped down in disgrace after an allegation of grotesque sexual misconduct against him became public. After 11 months of supposed self-reflection and sobriety, this year’s Fantastic Fest was supposed to begin his rehabilitation return.
That is not going very well.
To begin with, very few people are willing to forgive Faraci. The allegations are horrific. In his own defense, Faraci has only said that he was a “blackout drinker” at the time and does not remember anything. He has not, however, denied the allegations.
If you believe in Karma, the bottom fell out of Faraci’s professional life in the most Karmic way imaginable. The leftwing social justice warrior and self-described “feminist” was on Twitter blasting away at then-candidate Donald Trump over the just-released Access Hollywood tape — and then this happened:
@devincf quick question: do you remember grabbing me by the pussy and bragging to our friends about it, telling them to smell your fingers?
Faraci resigned in disgrace the following day. Other less-disturbing but still serious allegations soon came to light.
The other reason very few are willing to forgive is that outside of the above, Faraci was already seen within the movie-blogging community as an unforgiving, swaggering, foul-mouthed, sexist bully — a leftwing social justice warrior besotted with his own power. This included trying to convince people to commit suicide:
One particular incident, in August 2015, saw Faraci attack screenwriter John Gary on Twitter, giddily trying to goad him into suicide before ‘offering’ to look after his wife in the aftermath. He also told critic Greg Cwik to kill himself in tweets that have since been deleted. He’s known for being, to put it kindly, confrontational at public events, towards other critics and publicists. You don’t have to go far to find a critic or person working in film in LA who’s had a nasty encounter with him, be it an intimidating encounter at a screening or one of his stalker sessions on Twitter.
Devin Faraci was never a good guy, even before he was accused of sexual assault. It didn’t matter how hard he tried to cloak himself in the rhetoric of progressive activism and feminist film theory — he was a dick to women.
More from the Daily Beast:
Though Faraci’s bad behavior wasn’t reserved for women … he did display a pattern of virtual and real-life misogyny. One Twitter user recently issued a “casual reminder” that “Devin Faraci and Matt Mira once sent their followers after me, a fat woman, for daring to criticize Jessica Jones,” adding, “Casual reminder Matt Mira and Devin Faraci were liking and retweeting ‘jokes’ about how my rapist must have been into bestiality to rape me.”
And there is just no question that Faraci’s abysmal behavior was tolerated only because his political views were “correct.”
The whole incident blew up again this week when Tim League, owner of the Alamo Drafthouse (which owns Birth.Movies.Death) and co-founder of Fantastic Fest, announced that it was time to give Faraci a second chance, that his byline would again be seen on the upcoming Fantastic Fest brochure.
This did not sit well with the Geek World. A big part of the problem is that League did not appear to be disclosing this decision out of a sense of transparency. Rumors surrounding Faraci’s secret employment had just come to a boiling point. Many believe Faraci was never fired as promised, but worked as a copywriter for League without a byline.
Fairly or not, League now looks like someone trying to cloak his deceit in forgiveness and humanity.
Faced with a high-profile resignation and a firestorm that is only getting worse, League has now hired a crisis-management firm.
The news is even worse for Faraci. According to the Daily Beast, it looks as though the renewed publicity has resulted in another charge of sexual misconduct (this is one I have not seen before). Regardless, if the allegation is true, the “feminist” Faraci truly is every professional woman’s nightmare come true:
“Somehow, Faraci and I ended up stumbling around the last bar together, everyone was drifting back, and Faraci said we needed to go back too. He kept complimenting me, something came up about my not having a boyfriend, and he stopped me in front of the hotel and kissed me. I think he stopped and kissed me a few times. I was VERY drunk, so I can’t say it was entirely consensual. I know I wanted out of the situation… Something finally came to in my brain and I politely excused myself, pointing out he had a girlfriend and it was not something I would do.”
The woman explained that Faraci proceeded to ice her out, unfollowing her on Twitter and ignoring her in person. “While I was working for [REDACTED FILM WEBSITE],” she continued, “I quietly shared my experience with Devin with readers and fellow writers, and learned that this was not only common, but that Faraci had a long history of predatory behavior. Those stories aren’t mine to share, but they were awful, and very much echo the public allegations against him. I count myself lucky I wasn’t subjected to the more violent harassment he laid on other women.”
As a big believer in second chances myself, Faraci is a unique case. This is not a man who told an offensive joke on Twitter, momentarily lost his temper on Facebook, or said something stupid in the heat of a cable news debate. Faraci is a world-class S.O.B. who would have danced on the grave of any professional career he destroyed. Moreover, his alleged misconduct is objectively monstrous.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.