Dear James Somerton
Your apology simply doesn't cut it.
Trigger warning: Discussions of suicide
For those of you who haven’t been following up the whole scandal as it blew up, I’ll provide a very brief rundown. On December 2nd this year, YouTuber Hbomberguy uploaded a very long video (just for a reference, it’s much longer than Killers of the Flower Moon) entitled “Plagiarism and You(Tube).” It’s a very good video all about the immeasurable harm that plagiarism can do for many up-and-coming writers, and I think it also serves as a reminder for most people who have been publishing their whole life, that they should be more proactive in a community where writers who identify as part of a minority group, are also struggling.
I’ll link the video shortly after this screed, but because of the video’s length, it’s no secret that this issue has been one that continues to plague YouTube as the field can show itself to be competitive. Most of this video is indeed about James Somerton, who has went off comfortably with making video essays on YouTube through the point of view of being a gay man. But the rate by which Somerton had produced his videos unveiled something sinister in turn. His videos had been almost entirely comprised of material that was plagiarized from other queer writers, or in some cases, even blatant historical fabrication.
What else is there to say? It just sucks. It sucks because there are so many queer writers who have been working so hard for meager exposure while someone like Somerton has gone off making thousands of dollars a month from Patreon income and sponsorships, by reading other people’s words off a prompter without crediting them whatsoever. It really sucks because that sort of money would be more than enough to make the livelihoods of so many of those people whose work was stolen and passed off as content for Somerton’s videos.
I don’t think I need to elaborate on that any more than how much Hbomberguy and Todd in the Shadows have done so. But it was the apology video that came after everything he posted had been privatized, that ended up getting my ire more than anything else. That’s the one thing I want to focus on in what I’m hoping will be the only thing I post about Somerton on this newsletter, but even though I never really heard much about Somerton besides the occasional grumblings that I’ve heard from queer friends about an openly gay video essayist on YouTube who has plagiarized from many small writers for so many years.
As it turns out, the fact that it was James Somerton whom I’ve been hearing about in these rumblings just felt like vindication for us. Admittedly, I was someone who’s never heard of Somerton until the controversy arose, but before he privatized all of his videos I decided to attempt to watch at least one of them out of morbid curiosity. It didn’t take long before the thought of his rampant plagiarism made me turn it off, because of his tone and delivery just making it feel like I was enduring one of my worst lectures in school.
By the time that now-deleted apology video was posted (and re-uploaded by many others), something that caught me about it, was just simply the fact he made the whole thing about himself. It was the most unpleasant feeling, too. It was the most unpleasant feeling, because it didn’t really feel like he was sorry – and the manner by which it started, where he stated that he’s been in the hospital following a suicide attempt. And that’s about the extent where I would feel bad for him.
I’ve been in situations like that in the past, I’m no stranger to any of this myself. But in a situation like this, where Somerton is now subject to scrutiny, this isn’t going to cut it with regards to gaining sympathy for you in this whole situation. It won’t be a simple “get out of jail free” card. If anything, it’s an emotionally manipulative tactic as pointed out by so many peers, with the intention of putting himself at the center. Especially when the damage that has been done for many queer writers has been immeasurable, while Somerton has made at least $8000 CAD a month. For many struggling writers, that sort of money would have kept us surviving. But Somerton doesn’t address it.
Also a big part of what’s been bothering me as I think about Somerton’s apology video, is knowing that he still wants to be seen as the “defining” voice of queer media analysis on YouTube. Now, it seems like he’s tainted that image for so many people, especially when they don’t have the exposure that Somerton has acquired. In that same apology video, he talked about wanting to make everything public again and giving whatever ad revenue he makes from the now scrutinized videos to repay all of those who were plagiarized.
Truth is, that won’t cut it either. When you’ve made an entire fortune for yourself, through words that you have consistently been stealing from other writers, it goes beyond not crediting writers in your video (surprise, surprise, he never says the word “plagiarism” at all in his apology). Instead, it’s become a matter where you’ve been making money using the words of other people who are not able make nearly the amount of money that you’ve made, knowing that many queer writers, who have actually been incredibly passionate about the movies being covered, have often had these articles published for free, or just a meager sum.
I think it’s also spoken towards a bigger issue at hand, with how people are often tauted as the “defining voice” for an entire group of marginalized people at hand, but of course, their scope is so limited to the point that it ends up erasing the people who make up that community at hand. Perhaps this is something I’ve also experienced, being a queer Asian writer that likes to talk about films and video games among many things, but obviously, that can only get me so far. I can’t speak for the experiences of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean people just among a few. There’s only a fraction of a collective Asian experience that I think I can speak for, which is where my own perspective comes from.
All this comes down to the discomfort I have with being seen as the only Asian writer that some can cross-reference, especially when I’m someone who’s been watching so many Asian movies all throughout their life. But if I were to talk about Somerton not being willing to address his Sinophobia, in favour of centering the issue only about gay representation in Hollywood, I would be here forever. Though it also speaks to an issue that I think many people of his ilk have continually perpetuated, perhaps because this apology he posted never addressed that this is also a big portion of why people were mad at him to begin with.
Who exactly is James Somerton, to position himself as someone who can speak for an entire community of marginalized people? Not only is this sort of thing he did completely irresponsible, but it speaks to the level of credibility in his own stances (granted, with how much of his videos were plagiarized, I don’t think he had many of his own). Because he lets his own beliefs about the media he consumes ride entirely on his own identity, rather than proper engagement with what he’s covering. Because that just plays into both erasure and superficiality, which has only stained the way that younger people have engaged with film criticism.
There’s a great video by Jessie Gender that speaks towards everything that’s wrong with Somerton’s apology video. Everything he mentions in the video feels like a deflection, but it speaks volumes because I’ve known people who took upon this tactic upon being called out on the internet by so many people. Frankly, I don’t want to rehash everything that Jessie talked about in her video because I’d feel like I were as much of a fake within this whole scenario. But I couldn’t let it slide, because I’ve known people who were plagiarized by Somerton.
And it really hurts. It really hurts, because one thing that keeps fuelling my writers’ block, is the intense feeling of impostor syndrome that I experience, especially because I know there’s a style of writing that certain readers of mine can vibe with. It makes everything all the more difficult for myself, especially because this devotion I have towards films and video games is something that I do out of my own spare time – even while I was still studying film production at Sheridan College.
But you know what? James Somerton, I don’t think you’ll ever acknowledge this newsletter entry, and if you do, I can only imagine that something else I’m about to write, just as easily would be fodder for something you can copy and place yourself atop. I’m not even able to make ends meet financially, because I don’t feel like I have the presence for a video essay with expensive equipment or fancy editing techniques like some of my own friends have. I just do what I can over here because it’s something I love greatly.
And then I just want to say to you, maybe instead of looking for ways to benefit yourself while you’re the villain of the week (or month, at this rate), think about the many people who are still struggling to make a living wage that you’ve stolen from. They don’t have to be just the people you plagiarized, James, they can just as easily be your Patreon supporters. All the people who’ve at least felt they learned something from your videos, because they weren’t your words that you’ve used.
A simple apology directly to the people you’ve plagiarized would be one way to start. But that comes a long way, supposedly.