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INTEREST: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Animator Milton Knight Alleged Victim of Hate Crime


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louis6578



Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 1857
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:49 pm Reply with quote
Yikes. Sounds like he's suicidal. Poor guy. I think this goes back to before this incident, but things like this could push him over the edge. I'm worried.
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 3:16 pm Reply with quote
While I could SAY some things I won't given the case of another moronic incident. And here we have something more serious. Sadly idiots aren't addressing a TRUE issue. I'm glad that this man came out of this okay and he's pursuing legal actions on this matter.

I want to follow this case because I want to know who the perp is. His name, political connection, etc... reason why because people on both sides of the political aisle those that commit hate crimes and those that perpetrate them for whatever personal gain need to PAY the ultimate price for their actions.
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HeWhoSlapsAll



Joined: 21 Dec 2015
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 3:25 pm Reply with quote
I wonder why someone as accomplished as him is living the life he's been living.
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Steve Minecraft



Joined: 13 Feb 2019
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 3:57 pm Reply with quote
HeWhoSlapsAll wrote:
I wonder why someone as accomplished as him is living the life he's been living.


Most comic artists and cartoonists are not paid very well, even the bigger ones who created huge franchises. Norman Reedus makes tons more money playing Daryl on Walking Dead than Robert Kirkman gets for creating and writing the character in the first place. Comic books and animation are the wrong field to go into if you want to be rich, you do it for the passion of the art form.
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 5:06 pm Reply with quote
Steve Minecraft wrote:
HeWhoSlapsAll wrote:
I wonder why someone as accomplished as him is living the life he's been living.


Most comic artists and cartoonists are not paid very well, even the bigger ones who created huge franchises. Norman Reedus makes tons more money playing Daryl on Walking Dead than Robert Kirkman gets for creating and writing the character in the first place. Comic books and animation are the wrong field to go into if you want to be rich, you do it for the passion of the art form.


I'm pretty sure Robert Kirkman is doing better than average. Wink

The trade collections of The Walking Dead have generally sold VERY well, among the top sellers of graphic novels for years since the show's been a hit on AMC. He's also a consultant on the Walking Dead series and has a production company.

He's definitely NOT hurting right now because producers can get paid a decent amount and I'm sure he's well aware of how people get screwed by Hollywood if they don't have good contracts and DON'T control their IP's and it looks like he's being smart.

The other fellow, the animator/cartoonist has issues. It's unfortunate but very common among creatives. Depression and bipolar disorder seem to go hand in hand with creativity. There is hardly a major writer or artist that doesn't have some form of mental illness. If it's managed and you don't fall into the wrong crowd, you can live a decent life. The problem with show business is there are lot of scumbags and people who will take advantage of you if you're not careful.
All kinds of things happen from people having award-winning ideas taken from them by coworkers or at pitches (Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek at CBS; CBS didn't buy it but commissioned a science fiction series from Irwin Allen! The similarities between DS9 and Babylon 5 are VERY obvious) to being sabotaged by coworkers.
There have been innocent casualties of the MeToo movement in Hollywood and a few of these guys have worked in animation, too. They're NOT John Lasseter or the asshole who worked at Nickelodeon and harassed his coworkers. These are people who just ran across some nasty coworkers who wanted blood and these persons blew an innocent comment or joke out of context. I've had the same thing happen to me from people who have no sense of humor or these are people who automatically assume the worst of other people. A lot of paranoid or trigger-happy types don't take the time to calm down and be careful about their next actions and words. You have to very careful and avoid impulsiveness. Sometimes people are just kidding and aren't trying to be mean. And you have people who are just looking for a reason to screw someone over for the hell of it.
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Steve Minecraft



Joined: 13 Feb 2019
Posts: 120
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:05 pm Reply with quote
GeorgeC wrote:
I'm pretty sure Robert Kirkman is doing better than average. Wink

The trade collections of The Walking Dead have generally sold VERY well, among the top sellers of graphic novels for years since the show's been a hit on AMC. He's also a consultant on the Walking Dead series and has a production company.

He's definitely NOT hurting right now because producers can get paid a decent amount and I'm sure he's well aware of how people get screwed by Hollywood if they don't have good contracts and DON'T control their IP's and it looks like he's being smart.


LOL I didn't mean to imply Kirkman was down on his luck or a starving artist or anything, sorry. Although looking back he's probably not the best example I coulda used because he founded his own multimedia company that makes television, movies, and games so he's not just a comic writer anymore like he was in the 00s. But yeah, most comic artists make very little and are constantly strapped for cash. Even the ones who work for the Big Two of DC and Marvel are always talking about barely being able to afford rent and food on Twitter and how they need a regular job to make ends meet.
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doctordoom85



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:37 pm Reply with quote
GeorgeC wrote:
These are people who just ran across some nasty coworkers who wanted blood and these persons blew an innocent comment or joke out of context. I've had the same thing happen to me from people who have no sense of humor or these are people who automatically assume the worst of other people. A lot of paranoid or trigger-happy types don't take the time to calm down and be careful about their next actions and words. You have to very careful and avoid impulsiveness.


I mean, I'm not sure which country you're from, but here in the US that's been the deal for as long as I remember (started working in 2004). Anything that feels like verbal harassment and/or discrimination towards a person's gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, etc. can be reported. And I'm not saying what you might say would necessarily qualify, but I feel what some people's definition of what should be considered a "joke or innocent remark" is rather center-minded. For gods' sake, people were actually defending what Roseanne said on Neogaf as a "joke" when it was clearly a racist insult targeted towards someone.

Being careful about what you say isn't an issue with other people, it's just part of the deal with the US workforce that a person saying anything even remarkably sketchy does so at their own peril. Quite frankly, I think it's foolish to do so unless you're like REALLY close to a co-worker (like practically best friends or such). I had a co-worker a few months ago say the F-word (not the cuss word, but the homophobic slur) when I was the only one nearby, and it ticked me off but I didn't say anything as I didn't want to deal with any drama, but he's stupid since he barely knew me and if he says stuff like that loosely he's going to wind up in trouble eventually and it's hard to sympathize with him. They flat out go over this stuff when hiring, anyone who ignores that and instead acts like it's unreasonable anyone should get in trouble over this is kinda missing the point.
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luisedgarf



Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 656
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:56 pm Reply with quote
doctordoom85 wrote:
GeorgeC wrote:
These are people who just ran across some nasty coworkers who wanted blood and these persons blew an innocent comment or joke out of context. I've had the same thing happen to me from people who have no sense of humor or these are people who automatically assume the worst of other people. A lot of paranoid or trigger-happy types don't take the time to calm down and be careful about their next actions and words. You have to very careful and avoid impulsiveness.


I mean, I'm not sure which country you're from, but here in the US that's been the deal for as long as I remember (started working in 2004). Anything that feels like verbal harassment and/or discrimination towards a person's gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, etc. can be reported. And I'm not saying what you might say would necessarily qualify, but I feel what some people's definition of what should be considered a "joke or innocent remark" is rather center-minded. For gods' sake, people were actually defending what Roseanne said on Neogaf as a "joke" when it was clearly a racist insult targeted towards someone.

Being careful about what you say isn't an issue with other people, it's just part of the deal with the US workforce that a person saying anything even remarkably sketchy does so at their own peril. Quite frankly, I think it's foolish to do so unless you're like REALLY close to a co-worker (like practically best friends or such). I had a co-worker a few months ago say the F-word (not the cuss word, but the homophobic slur) when I was the only one nearby, and it ticked me off but I didn't say anything as I didn't want to deal with any drama, but he's stupid since he barely knew me and if he says stuff like that loosely he's going to wind up in trouble eventually and it's hard to sympathize with him. They flat out go over this stuff when hiring, anyone who ignores that and instead acts like it's unreasonable anyone should get in trouble over this is kinda missing the point.


Also, keep in mind American culture is notoriously vindictive, and many Americans doesn't like being saw as fools, especially by someone who they don't like, or when they feel their money was wasted. This is the reasons you hear a lot the phrase "My taxes pays (insert whatever crap they felt their money was wasted)" or "The taxpayers pays this" or similar stuff in American media.
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friedtofu



Joined: 28 Feb 2019
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:08 pm Reply with quote
"Alleged Victim of Hate Crime"? He was a victim and it was a hate crime. Please reword the title. Using "alleged" downplays and wrongly represents Milton's experiences.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:13 pm Reply with quote
friedtofu wrote:
"Alleged Victim of Hate Crime"? He was a victim and it was a hate crime. Please reword the title. Using "alleged" downplays and wrongly represents Milton's experiences.


The wording here is meant only to show that the only account we currently have of the crime taking place is Milton's Facebook post. It could be updated in the event that a police report/arrest record/court records are obtained.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1544
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:31 pm Reply with quote
HeWhoSlapsAll wrote:
I wonder why someone as accomplished as him is living the life he's been living.


Because creative industries pay horribly, especially animation. If you work in TV cartoons, unless you're one of the lucky few who create a show that goes on to be a hit franchise, you're going to be working for peanuts. This has gotten a bit better since Knight was active in the industry, but not that much better.

GeorgeC wrote:

Depression and bipolar disorder seem to go hand in hand with creativity. There is hardly a major writer or artist that doesn't have some form of mental illness


That's...complete nonsense. The "crazy artist" stereotype has been disproven plenty of times. Movies and TV tend to interpret famous creatives as being mentally ill because it makes for a more interesting story than "he wrote some books that turned out to be really good, then later he died, the end." So small quirks get exaggerated to the point of caricature. Yes, some artists are mentally ill (a surprising number of people in ANY line of work are mentally ill, but many people learn to hide their illness so it's not always obvious who is suffering from them) but the idea that it's somehow a requirement to work in a creative field is ridiculous. It's just like any other kind of work: some people have the skills or talent for it, so they do it.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:58 pm Reply with quote
friedtofu wrote:
"Alleged Victim of Hate Crime"? He was a victim and it was a hate crime. Please reword the title. Using "alleged" downplays and wrongly represents Milton's experiences.
pretty sure the "alleged" part is there because until it's been fully proven there could be issues involved in treating it like a sure thing. plus if it doesn't get proven (there's not enough solid proof it was or it becomes too much of a time and/or money hassel to keep pushing until it's proven) then whoever was accused of those actions could potentially take legal actions against news sources reporting it in a way that makes it seem proven.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:04 pm Reply with quote
friedtofu wrote:
"Alleged Victim of Hate Crime"? He was a victim and it was a hate crime. Please reword the title. Using "alleged" downplays and wrongly represents Milton's experiences.


The worst part is that from a legal standpoint they have to say "alleged" because unless it was caught on video the only thing that could be proven is that the assailant was arrested and jailed for battery as mentioned. It really REALLY sucks but unfortunately that's journalism. Also for the record, I'm Black and I studied journalism so it's pretty frustrating on my end.
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Theodore Relic



Joined: 21 Aug 2017
Posts: 63
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:32 pm Reply with quote
Man...I never watched the Sonic cartoon, but I fondly remember Mr. Knight's comics from the 1980s, specifically the 1930s-inspired Hugo, from Fantagraphics. It was a fun (and extremely raunchy) funny-animal comic.

Sadly, I've seen too many comic artists end up in his situation over the years. Steve Rude (co-creator of Nexus with Mike Baron) almost ended up homeless with his wife some years back, and William Messner-Loebs (creator of Journey in the early 80s and also writer of Wonder Woman and The Flash) was in a similar predicament. One of the legends of American comics, Spider-Man co-creator and Dr. Strange creator Steve Ditko just last year, after working on small-press comics for the last nearly 20 years, died alone in his New York apartment at the age of 90.

There are organizations that can help like The Heroes Initiative so it isn't quite as bad as the days when people like Batman co-creator Bill Finger died penniless in a ratty apartment he was about to be evicted from, in 1974. Hopefully, if Milton Knight hasn't already he should contact them for help. Because the American comics industry sure as hell won't.
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Firefly251



Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Posts: 354
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:33 pm Reply with quote
sucks he has these kind of problems Sad

I was born in '89. Sonic cartoons were what I grew up watching every saturday morning (back when sonic loved his chilidogs and eggman was still robotnic)

hope he can overcome this.
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