As someone who was autistically involved in all of this circa 2017, it's not nearly as unreasonable as it gets painted retrospectively. We were harassing the shit out of Maddox, getting his sponsors to drop him, etc.
His lawyer was shit, but he probably did have a serious legal case, it was sheer luck of the draw that Maddox got the worst lawyer in the entire country.
nostr:npub1sweetvyurzytyvqthtk45x5hk4kvvat8t7r35ruc6tgc9ak8av9qrwwjk4 nostr:npub108pv4cg5ag52nq082kd5leu9ffrn2gdg6g4xdwatn73y36uzplmq9uyev6 nostr:npub16panqlm27tnq3quttuuqrvzp7dk3rx2jv5l7c6w9yzljp26495hq0ysxgh I'm no Maddox fan but I am severely skeptical of anything Dick says.
There were no good guys in the story, but Dick was definitely worse in the end, and he was charismatic enough to get the entire Internet on his side in spite of years of unhinged behavior.
It’s easy to forget, but Dick’s humor wasn’t always defending child molesters and aggressively laughing into the microphone to interrupt awkward silences. He was actually a talented funny man, and he managed to get away with a lot based on that (and a bit of luck.)
They made fun of him and for the few screwball that did it like the 8chan group was by their own intent.
Also Maddox had Jesse who doxxed constantly.
They didn’t just make fun of him, Dick explicitly directed his viewers to go after Maddox’s sponsors. One of the recurring topics in the early episodes was how many sponsors they’d gotten to drop him.
I don’t remember who shot first. It doesn’t really matter. According to Maddox, on the rare occasion he’s spoken about it, Dick and Asterios were doing the exact same thing to him, getting him kicked out of venues over his edgy jokes. I believe him.
They were both playing politics and trying to professionally outmaneuver one another. The only mistake Maddox made in that respect was not being consistent with his PR game. He let Dick control the narrative and suggest that it was one sided when that wasn’t true.
