"Invincible"
- Group
- ModAP
- Posts
- 3,864
- Status
- Anonymous
|
|
read more...
BRYAN SINGER, GARTH ANCIER, GARY GODDARD, DAVID NEUMAN
By way of introduction of the lawsuit filed by Michael Egan and another young man against their alleged abusers Bryan Singer, Garth Ancier, Gary Goddard and David Neuman, here is a photo taken at one of the parties hosted by director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012) and frequented by X-Men director Bryan Singer.
This particular photo was taken on June 15, 2009 and comes from a source available to all:
The Emmerich/Singer party on June 15, 2009
The text for the above says:
All I can say about the photo in the pool is that I personally see there at least three very young faces.
Two of them should be no more than 14 years old (if not younger) and one more looks like a 15-17 year-old. If you follow the black arrows pointing to their heads in the picture you will realize that the faces of at least two of them are much smaller in size than those of others and this betrays them to be children.
What are these youngsters doing here? And are they to attend an “after-after” party where a clothing is generally “optional” and the select young guys are taken into the house for “private casting sessions”?
Now could you take off your distortion-vision spectacles please and imagine that this picture was taken in Neverland? What a row of cosmic proportions would it have created with the media and prosecution had the photo been taken in Michael Jackson’s pool? What would have Tom Sneddon and Ron Zonen said? And what story would have been told by Michael’s big friend Diane Dimond?
I am more than sure that if the picture had been in any way related to MJ this photo would have become central for the prosecution case and would have possibly sent MJ to prison for the rest of his life. However a quick flash back returns us to the reality and the comments on the picture show that no one is really paying attention to it - this is a typical Emmerich/Singer’s weekend party which is regarded as an almost routine matter with nothing special about it.
Please note the reaction of a disappointed commenter who didn’t look close enough at the picture:
A Bryan Singer event and there are no 15-year-old twinks around? Something here isn’t right.
It is almost impossible to believe that it is in this very city that Michael Jackson is still being trashed on every corner for two books showing “partially nude” boys on the beach and one journal depicting homosexual love which were “seized” by the police like a prized win from a ten-thousand strong MJ’s library.
We here constantly have to explain why one book about boyhood was presented to Michael by a fan named Rhonda and why the other book showing boys jumping into a river was inscribed by him with the words:
“Look at the true spirit of happiness and joy in these boys’ faces, this is the spirit of Boyhood. A life I never had and will always dream of. This is the life I want for my children.”
This book found in Michael Jackson’s home in 1993 is still a matter of “concern” for some people
Incidentally, if MJ were to see the above photo in the pool he would note nothing of the kind – the expression on the boys’ faces is tense, guarded and even apprehensive of danger, I would say. And there is definitely no joy seen there….
The comments from another article add more to Bryan Singer’s
story:
Bryan goes through different boys each week. He promises them big movie roles and then just drops them. He and Roland Emmerich have infamous pool parties with literally hundreds of twinks, you can easily find the pics online. Bryan also certifiably has a thing for young twins. A pair live in his house and I have more pics of him with some other twins.
[a list of names and pictures follows with links to them –below are some of those which are still active]
Bryan Singer's boyfriends
Bryan Singer’s boyfriend
… Here’s another boytoy of the week, I’m actually not sure what this one’s name is but Bryan use to sneak him into clubs even though he’s underage.
Bryan with another teen twink who serves as one of his assistants. Next to Ian McKellen is Gary Goddard, he’s a good friend of Bryan, he is a Broadway producer turned theme park designer.
Bryan Singer’s boyfriend
One of Bryan’s latest acquisitions is a young
model named Frankie Donjae. He lives in New York so he’s Bryan’s go-to boy whenever he’s in NY.
You can find more pics of him and Bryan on Frankie’s tumblr page.
Bryan Singer with another boyfriend and Gary Goddard
http://mpcdot.com/forums/topic/7916-the-ma...f-bryan-singer/
It is obvious that Michael Egan now accusing Bryan Singer and three major Hollywood players of sexually abusing him at age 15-17 is one of these former boytoys.
Well, even if they willingly go for this kind of life 15-year old youngsters know too little of it yet to be able to take full responsibility for their choices. And if they are to be found responsible for their actions how much more responsible should be the men twice their age for using their power, money and promises of stardom for corrupting these boys?
Michael Egan says that after all the activity the elder men introduced him to he found himself on the verge of suicide:
‘I Considered Suicide,’ Alleged Sex Abuse Victim of Bryan Singer Tells The Daily Beast
(excerpts)
Michael Egan III, the 31-year-old man accusing X-Men director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him as a teenager, says he considered committing suicide as he struggled to come to terms with what he alleges happened to him.
Egan, who is heterosexual, claimed in the suit that from age 15 through 17, Singer, as one of a ring of eight to 10 abusers, sexually abused him.
Michael Egan at the age of 17. Splash news
Michael Egan at the age of 17 (Herman/Splash news)
The alleged abuse took place first in a mansion in Encino, Calif., which at the time was the home of Marc Collins-Rector, and his then-partner Chad Shackley, according to Egan’s complaint.
Collins-Rector, the founder of the Digital Entertainment Network and a convicted sex offender, was last known to be living in the Dominican Republic. Some years ago, other young men filed lawsuits that Collins-Rector had abused and threatened them at the Encino home; three victims won a $4 million default judgment when he did not respond.
Egan said he had grown up in the Midwest, aspiring to be an actor. He was friends with Scott Shackley, Chad Shackley’s brother, who introduced him to Chad. In court documents, Egan said he was then invited to live in the Encino house.
“Immediately the brainwashing began,” Egan told The Daily Beast. Echoing the allegations in his complaint, Egan claimed that “they would sit me in a room and tell you that you were gay, which I wasn’t, that I had to keep the group happy. They constantly pushed you. The threats began immediately.
They said that if we didn’t keep them happy, harm would come to ourselves and our families. There were threats of weapons. We were told we would be eliminated, our career chances would be destroyed. It was a living hell.”
According to Egan’s civil lawsuit, Collins-Rector once put a gun in his mouth, and locked him in a gun closet. Collins-Rector is not currently named as a defendant in the suit.
The civil suit goes into explicit detail about what Egan claims he allegedly suffered at Singer’s hands, including anal rape and forced oral sex. According to the suit, if Egan refused any of Singer’s demands, Egan claimed that Singer said he would tell Collins-Rector, who Egan was terrified would carry out his threats to harm him and/or his family. In his suit, Egan claims Singer told him “This group,” meaning the men at the Encino house, “controlled” Hollywood.
Egan spoke at a press conference, alongside Herman, about the alleged abuse at the Encino mansion. “At the house, it was drugs put in drinks. Liquor poured down my throat. Rules in the house: No swimsuits, no clothes out by the pool area. I was raped numerous times in that house. Various types of sexual abuse. You were like a piece of meat to these people. They’d pass you around between them.… If I could define what that house was, it’s evil.”
Egan said his mother had reported the alleged incidents to the Los Angeles Police Department in 1999, but “it basically fell on deaf ears.”
Egan said he was so ashamed about what had happened to him he didn’t tell his former wife about it: “I buried it so deep within me. Several people killed themselves. I’m very lucky to be here. I didn’t know who I could trust to talk to.”
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014...aily-beast.html
Several people killed themselves… Whether true or not but judging by the comments of insiders some young people associated with the group have indeed vanished from the public sight.
Liquor and drugs, no swimsuits as a rule by the pool area… Something of the kind was alleged by Victor Gutierrez in his fictional book about MJ but actually never happened in Neverland. Instead it happened in the home of Marc Collins-Rector, a convicted sex offender about whom in contrast to MJ we were told nothing, at least before Michael Egan’s lawsuit was filed.
Now Singer and others say that they have never been to Marc Collins-Rector house, and the location where the abuse took place is indeed a point of some controversy, but the fact that underage parties are held by Singer and the rest of the defendants is hard to dispute as it is confirmed by numerous other sources, even friendly to the group.
Writer Bret Easton Ellis, for example, recently said that he knew that the parties were underage and that fake IDs were important (so all that was required from the underage boys was a fake ID).
A short reminder: the year mentioned by Bret Easton Ellis is 2007. So this was happening only two years after the Michael Jackson trial where the prosecution thundered in full seriousness over MJ alleged ‘administration of alcohol to a minor’. These charges were not proven either but my point is the following one – if at the very same time liquor was poured down the throats of teenagers at Singer’s parties and everyone knew about it, where were our prosecutors and great investigative journalist Diane Dimond, for example, and why didn’t they care?
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014...aily-beast.html
Brett Easton Ellis speaks of Singer’s underage parties and alleges that fake IDs were important
Bryan Singer Sex Abuse Suit: Bret Easton Ellis Says He Dated Two People Who ‘Went Through World of Underage Parties’ (Audio)
Brett Easton Ellis speaks of Singer's underage parties and alleges that fake IDs were important
Brett Easton Ellis speaks of Singer’s underage parties and alleges that fake IDs were important
10:47 AM PDT 4/29/2014 by THR Staff
Michael Buckner
The “American Psycho” author reveals what he heard about the parties involving underage boys that Bryan Singer is rumored to have attended.
In the wake of the sex abuse suit filed against Bryan Singer, reports and rumors have emerged that the director had a proclivity for partying with underage boys.
Now Bret Easton Ellis has weighed in, saying on his Monday podcast that not only had he heard that Singer attended those types of parties, he dated two people who had been through “the kind of Bryan Singer/Roland Emmerich world of parties,” noting that the bashes weren’t identified as “underage parties” but fake IDs were important.
One of Ellis’ exes had gone to those parties and seemed to enjoy the sex and the attention, the American Psycho author explained.
“He said he had been one of those guys who had been invited to those parties for one or two months and he was a sensitive guy. … He wasn’t really into the drugs but he was into the parties and the sex and the attention, and I could easily understand it,” Ellis said. “I guess he was 17. I don’t know how old he was, what was expected of him. He kind of got it and said ‘I’m going to enjoy this now. I understand why I’m here and what my expiration date is and what these people want from me’ and then moved on.”
Ellis also tells a story of having gone to a dinner party in 2007 where a number of guys left early and when Ellis asked them where they were going, they said they were going to one of Bryan Singer’s underage parties in Encino at the M & C estate.
Ellis was surprised those were actually going on, but the guys said “Yeah, you should just see it as a goof.”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/brya...use-suit-699673
Dictionary defines “goof” as a mistake or blunder or “spending time idly or foolishly”. So the underage parties were regarded as some idle foolishness and were brushed off as a mere nothing?
According to another account even thirty-year old guys felt that they were too old for those goof parties. The party described here took place in 2006:
To gain a better understanding of what has actually happened at the frequent parties Singer has hosted and attended, BuzzFeed has spoken with six people who have gone to them, including one friend who said he helps introduce Singer to younger men the director would otherwise be too “shy” to meet. These sources provided a stark portrait of an entrenched system [ ] edging precariously close to the line between legality and illegality.
On June 21, 2006, a gay screenwriter in his thirties working his way through the film industry landed an invitation to the after-party for the Los Angeles premiere of director Bryan Singer’s film Superman Returns. “It started at like 1 a.m.,” he told BuzzFeed. “It was super crowded. Someone told me to stick around as late as I could because after most of the guests leave, the scene in the pool ‘gets freaky.’ There were a lot of twinks inside, just hanging out, and all of them were white. I wandered into what seemed like a screening room or TV room. There was a PlayStation set up, and a blond twink in a tank top who looked like he was 16 was sitting on the floor alone eating fried chicken straight from a KFC bucket. More white twinks showed up. I felt old and gross, so I left.”
Dictionary defines “twink” as “a gay slang term describing a young or young-looking man with a slender, ectomorph build, little or no body hair, and no facial hair. In some societies, the terms fox, plum, chick, or chicken are preferred”.
The yellow chicken keychain is presented to Corey Feldman
In a separate interview Corey Haim also gets his chicken keychain and thanks the host for the present
The “chicken” term immediately reminded me of the chicken keychains presented to Corey Feldman and Corey Haim when they were still very young and were giving some of their first TV interviews.
Corey Haim also gets his chicken key chain and thanks the host for the present
In a separate interview Corey Haim also gets his chicken keychain and thanks the host for the present
The chicken keychains were given to the boys at the very end of the interviews with the words sounding quite symbolic considering the things we now know of the Hollywood ways:
“You are not a movie star unless you have a rubber chicken keychain”.
Beware of chicken keychains presented to you by strangers
The poor boys sincerely thanked the interviewer for the presents (which were accompanied by a cackling sound) never knowing that these rubber chickens were evidently sending a signal to viewers that these boys were now available for sex.
Sorry for the interruption – here is the continuation of the story explaining how Singer picks up new boyfriends and quoting anonymous insiders who “never witnessed underage boys at Singer’s parties” (in contrast to us who have seen them in that Emmerich/Singer photo):
Egan’s suit charges that house parties frequented by young men — hosted either by Singer, or by convicted sex offender Marc Collins-Rector — were the main location where, 15 years ago, Singer allegedly promised Egan a role in a movie, fondled him, and then raped him repeatedly.
(A 2007 story in Radar named Singer as one of Collins-Rector’s “acquaintances” along with Ancier and David Geffen, who invested in his online TV venture DEN.)
But the men who spoke with BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity — including a good friend of Singer’s, and an industry insider who has been going to Singer’s parties for about a year — contended that they never witnessed such criminal behavior by Singer, nor of anyone underage attending Singer’s parties, although they do allege drug and underage alcohol use by both Singer and partygoers on a significant scale.
Wayhe Castro (Twitter: @WayneCastro)
Wayhe Castro (Twitter: @WayneCastro)
To scout for attractive young men to attend his parties, Singer has relied on a network of friends, according to multiple sources.
First among them is Wayne Castro (44 years old, according to public records), whose Twitter biography lists his professions as a “fashion photographer, producer, [and] event promoter.”
“He’s been friends with Bryan for years — very much a confidant,” said another friend of Singer’s, who added that he is one of the scouts who has connected Singer with young men the director might have wanted to meet.
Castro, according to the partygoing insider, is a regular presence at the 18-and-over gay club night called TigerHeat, which happens every Thursday night at the Hollywood club Avalon.
There, Castro maintains a VIP list and produces the “Heaven Lounge” at the event, as well as house parties that happen either the same night or on subsequent nights.
www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/inside-b...hollywood-world
My unverified sources (the commenters on various forums) add much more to the official story. They speak of Bryan Singer arranging drug parties with youngsters in their teens – “more mid than late”, and Singer spreading strong narcotic pills “like candies”, and that some Hollywood parties have a secret underbelly to them – the legitimate party is attended by everyone and serves as an alibi in case someone starts wondering and the illegitimate party takes place in a separate area of the house where access is limited and controlled. It is also alleged that the system is spread all over Hollywood from top to bottom and everyone knows everything about it, but no one dares to speak publicly.
I can easily believe it. While all the media was swirling around Michael Jackson the real weirdos of Hollywood got a free hand to satisfy each of their whims. Anyone would start wondering in circumstances like these – could it be them who sent the public on a wrong track in order to distract attention from themselves? And again, if everyone knew everything about it where were all those vigilant Nancy Graces and Diane Dimonds, I wonder?
Some more comments reveal that there is a great potential for witnesses about the Hollywood underage parties only these people will hardly ever testify – they are indeed afraid, and not of the fictional Michael Jackson “power” but of the real power of the whole industry which will turn them into the outcasts in their profession and will finish their career forever:
This will get buried but, I had a wealthy, gay friend in high school who personally told me he went to parties at Bryan Singer’s mansion where sex and drugs were rampant. My friend told me about all the decadence, depravity, and debauchery. I wasn’t surprised by the title of this post, at all, since I’ve known about shit like this happening since around 2004.
All of this is completely true. The sad thing is… everyone in Hollywood already knows Singer’s penchant for younger boys. He intentionally goes to the 18 and over clubs in West Hollywood/Hollywood (I’ve personally seen him there a handful of times) bc the boys are guaranteed to be under 18. In this neighborhood, 18 year olds find their way into the 21+ bars and 15 year olds hit the 18+ bars. He knows this happens and he preys on them.
I heard this about Singer in 2006 from an agent at a major talent agency. He said Singer shut down the set of X-men for 3 days because he was taking ecstasy in his trailer with some mid to late teen guys and wouldn’t come out. He then said ‘more mid than late’.
First person story: As an 18 year old who went to those parties at Marc Collin-Rector’s house, Gary Godard’s house, Bryan Singer house, and the list goes on and on. I can honestly say this doesn’t surprise me at all. To anyone who says this kid was 16 and should have known better, you don’t understand how manipulative and evil these people are. They scare me to this day. I wasn’t one of Bryan’s targets, but I was the target of one of the other power gays he “introduced” me too. I’ve just always kept my mouth shut because I’m so afraid of them. I’m sick to my stomach just thinking about posting this. And I kept going back too. I feel pretty stupid for it now, but they make themselves out to be people who are looking out for you. They make you feel special. Something that a lot of young gays want desperately, because, especially at the time, coming out usually meant being disowned by your parents. It’s all part of the indoctrination.
And seriously, if you want a trail of the drugs Bryan gave to boys at the time… FOX should just check their books. He was always bragging about how he bought $10,000 worth of Quaaludes somewhere in Europe on his expense account for the first X-Men. He’d give them out like candy at these parties. Bryan is seriously one of the most evil, self-absorbed people I’ve ever met. And that’s saying something in this town.
The biggest problem is Hollywood is pedophilia and various sex rings. I’ve worked in the industry for more than fifteen years now and it’s a problem that most everyone is aware of, but few will talk about. This isn’t something that emanates from mid-level management in agencies or studios, this starts from those who financially control Hollywood (from outside the visible system) and trickles down into the highest levels of studio/agency executives. It then makes it way into certain A-list actors, producers, directors whom are introduced to these events or parties exclusively through a friend or handler. Once you’re in, it’s kind of like the ‘blue shield’ where everyone defends everyone else and no one lets anyone else get taken down.
Sometimes it occurs at parties, where there are in fact, two parties happening… some of these homes in the hills are huge and you would never know that down a certain hallway/corridor is a security guy with a list of names and a secondary party going on. In this way, you can appear to have a long list of legitimate alibis who will truthfully claim that they were at the same party and it was a normal affair, even though you may have been out of sight for an hour in another wing of the home getting your rocks off with a kid.
The other big thing is straight up private events/parties where young boys/girls are flown in. Everyone there will either participate or is okay with this sort of behavior. The boys outnumber the girls, sometimes by 10-1.
I have a few close friends that have confided in me about these types of events; the former and latter. One is a producer whom basically gutted any and all remnants of glamor I had associated with Hollywood. The things they told me were sickening. This person was distraught and angered, but felt there was little they could do. If you speak out, you’re finished. Good bye to your six or seven figure salary…
I’m not saying Singer was involved in this type of stuff. But the type of stuff they’re talking about is very real and is going on every single weekend. There are curators (who manage or control various ‘rings’) and they cater to the needs of their clients. These curators tend to overlap with talent agencies as this gives them a huge farm worth of fresh models/actors coming in every day. This is first and foremost, a business, an expensive one.
Not naming any names. Nothing needs reply, the gist of it is all there. I personally can’t wait for all this crap to get out. We could use some fresh air in Hollywood. TLDR; Hollywood’s biggest problem is pedophilia, second only to Washington DC.
My friend is one of the former boytoys of a hollywood elite – not Bryan Singer, but you would know the name. The allegations of the teenage abuse are spot on. My friend was a rising actor in early 2000s and is still a “bit part” actor which is how he makes his living for his wife and children, so he will not come forward with any allegations. No matter how much encouragement his friends give him and no matter the number of ways we’ve tried to convince him (primarily: don’t let other people get hurt) he is not ready to divulge anything publicly.
We noticed a turn for depression in the early years after he moved to LA. It took a direct confrontation from multiple of us to realize what was happening and to get it out of him. I won’t go into many details for fear of “outing” him but he essentially had to agree to “date” this person in exchange for a career. I use the term “date” to mean, essentially “be available at nearly any and all times” for drugs, sex, and debasement. He once refused and tried to get out of the circle which lost him nearly all employment for months. He was given a “second chance” and went back into the circle for a few more years. Technically he was a willing participant, but only because of this horrible imbalance of power. Eventually he just became old enough to not be desirable anymore and he kind of “aged out”.
For years I campaigned large message boards (IMDB, bodybuilding, even DIGG and FARK) talking about this issue and trying to spread awareness. It just does not get traction. Ever.
www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/23...of_raping_teen/
The point about the imbalance of power and boys being unable to tear away from the system is impressive. So you either keep up with their rules and are part of their wall of silence or ….? One can only guess what the other alternative is and why these people are so terrified to name names and tell the truth.
Incidentally the ‘intimidation’ factor was widely alleged about Michael Jackson too, with the only difference though – some of his maids and bodyguards sued MJ for wrongful termination of their jobs and the “fear” they allegedly had for their employer did not stop them from wanting to go back or making wild claims for a pay of hundreds of thousands of dollars for overtime.
Another observation from the commenters – that the abusers “financially control Hollywood from outside the visible system trickling down into the highest levels of studio/agency” – reminded me of the fact that the defendants in Michael Egan’s lawsuit are no small people in the entertainment industry either.
A short wiki check-up produced the following results:
Gary Goddard (left), Garth Ancier (center), David Neuman (right)
Garth Ancier, 56 is a media executive who programmed three of the five US broadcast television networks and was Founding Programmer at Fox, at The WB (now The CW) and NBC Entertainment. In 1999 he rose to President of NBC Entertainment. In 2001 he returned to Time Warner as Executive Vice-President and programmed at Turner Broadcasting, CNN, TBS, TNT, etc. In 2003-2006 Ancier worked as Co-Chairman and then Chairman of the WB Television Network. In 2007-2010 he served as President of BBC Worldwide America.
Gary Goddard, 59 produced several shows on and off Broadway, directed movies and TV shows. Now he is head of company The Goddard Group that has created several large-scale attractions for Universal Studios in Hollywood, Japan and other places.
David Neuman is the former President of Walt Disney Television and was Vice president of comedy development at NBC. His other posts were the Pesident of programming at the now-defunct Current Media cable news network and Chief programming officer at CNN. Neuman was actually the one who left Walt Disney to become President of DEN company founded by Mark Rector Collins (a registered sex offender cited in Michael Egan’s suit).
Little do I know of all these abbreviations (WB, TBS, etc.) but the ones I do show that the power of the above three people in TV and entertainment world is simply enormous. Look at the posts they were holding with NBC, Fox, CNN, Walt Disney TV and BBC Worldwide America!
Will there be any questions now why the TV “programming” they were responsible for never included stories about their drug-filled parties with teenagers or information about their association with the infamous Marc Collins-Rector, and why all the media attention was focused on Michael Jackson instead?
There is actually one more side to the story.
Remember an interesting comment that “once you’re in, it’s kind of the ‘blue shield’ where everyone defends everyone else and no one lets anyone else get taken down”? If this is the case it is logical to conclude that considering Michael Jackson’s singular trashing for so many years, he was not part of their club and this is why their ‘shield’ did not cover him and this is why none of those Hollywood people ever said a word in his defense.
Well, it is great that Michael wasn’t one of them, though for him it was a very big problem as this was probably the very reason why he was so viciously harassed.
THE DEN COMPANY AND “CHAD’S WORLD”
The mysterious Marc Collins-Rector and his DEN company (with David Neuman as its president) were mentioned here so many times that it is impossible not to tell their story. The best source for it is a Radar Magazine article which is offline now, but can be read on the wayback machine.
The article goes back and forth between mid 90s and 2007 which was the year of its publication. The period is interesting as it places the described events exactly into the time span when the witch-hunt against Michael Jackson was at its worst.
And when you start comparing it turns out that Marc Collins-Rector and his associates got away with making porn movies with 14-year old boys, feeding them hard narcotics and threatening them with murder – while Michael Jackson’s home was repeatedly turned upside down in search of compromising materials (there were none) and trashed for keeping Playboy magazines sold on every corner.
FAST COMPANY
A high-flying Web start-up, DEN imploded among allegations of drug use, guns, and pedophilia
By John Gorenfeld and Patrick Runkle
(excerpts)
“Historians of the Internet bubble might remember Collins-Rector as a cofounder of the Digital Entertainment Network, an online video empire that was one of the most talked-about new media launches of its day, before its spectacular flameout.
Accused of molesting numerous teenage boys who worked for him, the 48-year-old entrepreneur went on the lam to Europe. Apprehended 21 months later, he was extradited to the United States, where, after what seems a rather lackluster prosecution, he pled guilty to eight counts of luring teens across state lines for sex, and paid a small fine. Two years later, here he was, as the Sun put it, “swanning around Britain in a chauffeur-driven limo and surrounding himself with young boys.”
Such brazen behavior wouldn’t surprise anyone who knew Collins-Rector back when DEN was riding high. In those heady days before the Internet bust, a Who’s Who of gay Hollywood flocked to notorious all-night bashes at the “M&C estate,” so named for Marc and his twentysomething cohort Chad Shackley.
PASTY MONSTER Collins-Rector strikes a pose for the Florida sex-offender registry
The pair, who met on an online bulletin board (remember those?) when Shackley was just 15, collaborated on a number of tech start-ups, including an early Internet service provider, Concentric Network Services.
Flush with cash from their successful ventures, Collins-Rector (who had changed his name from the more pedestrian Rector) and his young colleague landed in Encino, California, where they took a special liking to a $4.2 million Spanish colonial McMansion that had previously belonged to Death Row Records rap impresario Suge Knight.
Streams and waterfalls traced the carefully manicured 1.5-acre grounds, which housed a tennis court, an enormous gazebo, a swimming pool, aquariums, a home theater, and a hot tub built for 12.
Among their new acquaintances in Los Angeles were such industry heavies as David Geffen, uber-manager Sandy Gallin, then–NBC Entertainment president Garth Ancier, and Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer.
It’s also where they hatched an audacious plan for a Web-based television venture. They called it DEN, and staked its business model on “narrowcasting,” or marketing to thin demographic segments. An early attempt to capture the online video zeitgeist that eventually blossomed with YouTube, den.net was instead rooted in original programming. The plan attracted major investments from key players in Hollywood, the tech industry, and Wall Street, ranging from Geffen and Singer to Intel, NBC, and Microsoft.
Another regular at the mansion was DEN executive VP Brock Pierce. He was aggressive and self-assured, with blond hair and an insouciant pout. He was also still a teenager—17 years old and coming off a successful career as a child actor, with The Mighty Ducks and First Kid among his credits.
According to a DEN board member, Pierce was hired as “the guy who could tell us what Gen Y-ers were likely to think.” This talent came in handy not only in targeting the youth demographic, but also in bringing a supply of beautiful young men to the estate, lured with vague promises of fame as the Internet’s first TV stars.
Eventually, a number of these acolytes would file lawsuits alleging they were raped and/or sexually abused at M&C by the three cofounders. Their charges are remarkably consistent—all claim they were bullied and drugged to coerce sexual compliance, and in some cases, threatened with loaded guns. When the plaintiffs filed civil suits against Collins-Rector, Shackley, and Pierce, the three suddenly disappeared with what remained of their fortune—turning up two years later living in a villa in Spain.
They were arrested by local authorities, who uncovered “an enormous collection of child porn,“ according to Spanish police reports. In their absence, the plaintiffs were awarded default judgments in the amount of $4.5 million, but have collected only a small fraction of that.
For a company that brought in nearly $100 million from world-class investors [ ] its product was stunningly bad—even by dot-bomb standards. The business plan was lacking in many respects. A major selling point that Collins-Rector touted to investors was a feature that would allow viewers to click on, say, a shirt or lamp in one of the shows and immediately buy it online.
Unfortunately, the click-to-purchase technology never materialized. “We all bought into [Marc's] vision of the technology,” says DEN’s chief marketing officer, Edward Winter “but soon we were being told by Internet experts that ‘you can’t stream video right now.’ It became pretty clear that it wasn’t going to work.”
 
Bryan Stark played Chad when he was 14
[ ] Instead, DEN’s founders devoted most of their attention to the network’s flagship show, Chad’s World, which targeted gay and questioning teen boys. Filmed at the M&C estate, Chad’s World was the founders’ most personal creative effort. Co-written by Collins-Rector, produced by Pierce, and loosely based on Shackley’s life, it featured one of the boys who would later accuse the DEN founders of molestation.
Chad’s World starred a 14-year-old actor named Brian Stark as Chad, and Seann William Scott—who shortly thereafter won a starring role in American Pie—as Jim, a California entrepreneur based on Collins-Rector. While the film’s production quality was more in line with down-market porn than network programming, the producers doled out a mind-boggling $12 million in salaries for the series.
The pilot episode revolves around two young men coming to terms with their sexuality. Chad convinces his close friend Paul to com
Bryan Stark played Chad at the age of 14
Bryan Stark played Chad when he was 14
e out of the closet to his cartoonishly repressive parents. Upon learning that his son is gay, Paul’s father calls him an “abomination against God,” provoking the spurned boy to blow his own brains out. “It’s for the best,” Dad muses. Brushing off the brains of his friend, a despondent Chad runs outside and makes a “Why, God?” gesture to the skies as grunge rock burns in the background.
Before long, he meets his high-flying benefactor, Jim, who lives with Chad’s older brother at a suspiciously familiar mansion. The duo, who are shuttled around in dark sedans and surrounded by phalanxes of black bodyguards, invite young Chad to live with them, generously dispatching a few of their bodyguards to stomp Paul’s homophobe dad on his lawn.
Cheerfully, Chad moves to Encino to play-wrestle with his new roomies and enjoy a lavish new lifestyle. “Oh, yeah!” he exults after being presented with a BMW and black driver of his own. “I think I’ll be able to hang here!”
When Chad’s World debuted on den.net in June 1998, many critics couldn’t even download it—which was probably a blessing for all involved. “Chad’s World was the first signal that maybe things weren’t right [with the company],” says Winter. “It was definitely, um, ahead of its time.”
It felt like a “gay pedophile version of Silver Spoons,” adds another industry observer who saw the pilot and five unaired episodes. “I first thought it was some sick fantasy of theirs,” he adds. “When I found out about the molestation charges, I realized that it was more a case of art imitating life.”
A shot from Chad’s world. “At first I thought it was some sick fantasy of theirs, but when I found out about the molestation charges, I realized that it was more a case of art imitating life”
Other DEN shows also targeted thin slices of the adolescent male demo, including young Latinos (Tales From the Eastside, in which, according to one former employee, every line of dialogue began, “Yo! Ese!”), Asians (The Chang Gang), Christians (Redemption High), frat boys (Frat Ratz), and punks (Fear of a Punk Nation). Though the company promised to reach 1.5 million viewers, den.net never surpassed 5,000 hits per day.
A $75 million IPO was planned for October 1999 [Initial public offering (IPO) is the process by which a private company can go public by sale of its stocks to general public], but days before it was filed, a young man from New Jersey, identified in court filings as Jake W., served papers for a lawsuit claiming he’d been molested by Collins-Rector for three years, beginning in 1993 when he was just 13.
Collins-Rector quickly paid a settlement, and his attorney fired back in the press, calling the suit “classic IPO blackmail” and describing the settlement as “a token payment to save the company.”
In the same way he’d met Chad, Collins-Rector had connected with Jake via an Internet bulletin board. The executive offered the boy a job at his pre-DEN venture, Concentric, and Jake began working from home for $10 an hour. Soon, though, Collins-Rector decided he needed Jake at the Michigan office and flew him out from New Jersey, lodging him in a spare bedroom. During the visit, according to the lawsuit, Marc repeatedly asked, “Do you trust me?” with his hand roaming across the boy’s body. Then he performed fellatio on him.
With the FBI investigating Jake’s allegations and investors panicking, all three founders immediately quit their executive posts (retaining substantial stock positions), leaving DEN’s new chairman, Howard Ritts, in charge of the company.
Chad Shackley
Chad Shackley, co-founder of DEN
Within months, all three of the company’s founders had been hit with a flurry of civil lawsuits. Boys who had been paid for vague jobs with the company under the condition that they agree to attend parties at the M&C estate began telling stories of sexual abuse at the hands of Collins-Rector, Shackley, and Pierce, as well as other highly placed Hollywood figures.
One of the alleged victims was identified as Mike E. The slim, dark-haired 14-year-old, who attended a small private high school in the Valley, befriended Chad’s brother Scott, who led him to DEN. Mike had an interest in acting, so when Collins-Rector outlined the possibilities for stardom offered by the site, the boy began spending time at the mansion, where there was one key rule.
He recalls: “If you were going to sleep over, you had to get into either the pool or the hot tub—and you had to be naked to do so.” In an exclusive interview, Mike E. confirms having been forced to engage in anal and oral intercourse with Collins-Rector, Shackley, and Pierce while under the influence of drugs that he claims were fed to him without his knowledge. At the same time, he says, Collins-Rector and Shackley were pushing him to become a legally emancipated minor.
Meanwhile, in addition to paying the boy $1,000 a week, Collins-Rector dangled a starring role in a DEN series called The Royal Standard, which was being developed by Randal Kleiser, the director of Grease and The Blue Lagoon.
Another alleged victim, Daniel, tells a similar story. After being subjected to sexual abuse at M&C, he wrote a suicide note: “I can’t stop crying! Please God help me. I can’t go on. I let them use me as a sex tool. I let those assholes do all those terrible things to me. Goodbye.” His brother found the note and alerted their parents before Daniel made any attempt on his life.
Another young man who frequented the estate, Alex B., was not a minor at the time, but also eventually became a plaintiff against the men. Alex claims he was threatened with physical harm, often after being given drugs. At one point, Alex secretly shot a video inside the M&C estate to document what was going on. In a jittery scene, he removes a canvas bag from a closet and shows off a massive stash of drugs in amber vials—Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax, Valium, marijuana, and ecstasy among them.
Another former DEN employee tells of receiving and rejecting numerous sexual advances at the M&C mansion—until one evening when he was surreptitiously drugged and woke up nude in Collins-Rector’s bed, with Collins-Rector asleep beside him.
In addition to the money and promises of stardom, Collins-Rector allegedly used physical threats to keep the boys in line. One tactic, according to several victims, was to brandish a gun. “Do you know what I can do with this?” he would say, leveling the barrel at them, “and get away with it?” He also threatened the lives of their families.
On one occasion, Alex recalls, Collins-Rector asked a bodyguard to stand in the room wearing earmuffs. The DEN chairman told Alex the guard would choke him if he didn’t consent to sex. (Radar tracked down the guard in question, who had gone on to do security work for a big Hollywood talent agency. He confirmed the basics of the boy’s account and seemed disgusted by the memory. “Marc told me to put on the earmuffs and stand in the room facing him and Alex,” he says. “I was there for about two hours, but that is all I want to say about what happened.”)
Brock Pierce
Brock Pierce, co-founder of DEN
As the lawsuits against the company mounted in early 2000, DEN—in which Pierce held nearly one million shares and Collins-Rector still owned a majority stake—began to hemorrhage money. By May 2000, the start-up was bankrupt.
Around Hollywood, rumors flew that Collins-Rector, Shackley, and Pierce were about to be arrested on embezzlement and sexual offenses. Before any charges were filed, though, the three men disappeared.
They didn’t turn up again until May 2002, when a tip to Interpol led authorities to raid their luxury villa in Marbella, on the Spanish Riviera—an area British tabloids have dubbed the Costa del Crime due to its high population of English-speaking fugitives.
Among the items recovered from the residence were guns, machetes, a trove of jewels, and child pornography. Pierce and Shackley were held for about a month by Spanish police and then released.
The prosecution of Collins-Rector also proved difficult. He remained in a Spanish jail for almost two years, fighting extradition, before finally being brought to the United States, where he pled guilty to eight charges of child enticement, a comparably minor offense.
He was soon out of prison—receiving credit for the time he’d served in Spain. Since most of his alleged crimes took place at the mansion in Encino, it was up to L.A. County prosecutors to make any further charges stick, but the DA never took steps to do so. (The L.A. County district attorney’s office refused to comment about the status of any DEN investigation.) The victims sought justice in the civil courts, however, winning a total of $4.5 million in summary judgments. Except for a small side agreement with Pierce, the award has yet to be paid, lawyers say.
Chad Shackley, co-founder of DEN
Brock Pierce, co-founder of DEN
In 2007 Marc Collins-Rector was seen in London accompanied by a young lad. And he doesn’t look like a 18 -year old.
Meanwhile, Collins-Rector appears to be up to his old tricks in London. In 2006, a U.S. District Court judge granted him “emergency” permission to leave the country to receive treatment for a brain tumor. Every week, his physician must assure a U.S. probation officer that the medical leave is vital. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark, New Jersey, which prosecuted the case against him, acknowledged being aware of Collins-Rector’s residence in London, but said his parole was being handled by court officials in Florida and refused further comment.
After Collins-Rector made his cameo in the Sun, it appeared that officials were losing patience with the arrangement and making an effort to bring him back to the United States. “It’s a slap in the face to the victims,” says attorney Brian Brandt, who represented Daniel.
In a 2007 motion requesting termination of Collins-Rector’s supervision requirement, his attorney argued that “life-changing medical events he has experienced have profoundly affected him and augur well for the success of his rehabilitation.” In its response to the motion, the U.S. Attorney’s office revealed that Collins-Rector had come up with what it called another “ploy to circumvent British immigration law,” by claiming he “fell in love” and will form a civil union with a British citizen—which would allow him permanent residence status.
As it happens, his love interest—who also works as his personal assistant—is a young man who just turned 18.
11/05/07 2:14 PM
http://web.archive.org/web/20080418073324/...tor_1-print.php
Edited by valerie77 - 24/6/2014, 18:38
|
|
.
