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On a sidenote, it seems that Brink doesn't work for Emerica anymore, not really my business but I was wondering if Emerica was firing people to save money or if it was for other reasons...
I quit Sole Tech a few weeks ago. Time to move on.
As for the rest of this thread and people addressing me ... I don't know what I am supposed to say. I thought perhaps the words "shocking" and "do not condone" in my original post would make it pretty clear that the story is insane.
But that said, what am I supposed to do? I don't know the whole story, it happened ages ago, I am not the authorities. I still adhere to my original statement that kids do FUCKED UP shit. I've heard so many fucked up stories in my life and know people who have done crazy shit or had crazy shit happen to them that I dunno ... I guess sometimes maybe I am numb to it. But I dunno. Maybe I should say one more time that what happened with the screwdriver is totally fucked!
It sucks that this had to happen to someone. I've been bullied and had lame shit done to me. Nothing that crazy but it sucked nonetheless.
My intention was never to come off "flippant," but when you are doing an interview and you have a show to produce, you have to keep going, and you can't make your guests feel like they should shut up ... you have to roll with it, keep them comfortable and keep them talking.
Was I supposed to get up and punch Chase? Am I supposed to call the police? I mean, what are you guys doing about it? I am as empowered or powerless as you all.
To address being "owned" and not doing "real journalism" and "silent PR" and all that stuff ...
Well, there's a time and a place to "keep it real" and a time and a place to do your job and look out for yourself and not do or say shit that is gonna jeopardize anything you are doing. I've burned a lot of bridges by "keeping it real" over the years and it's not fun. Hopefully you all know the difference ... if you are a waiter and a customer is being an asshole, you suck it up and do your job. You don't go off on them so they never come back and get yourself fired ... to have a career in skateboarding, you have to play along somewhat. And EVERYONE plays along. If that's being "owned" then I guess I'm guilty. And me telling you that is me keeping it real. I know a lot of people who tell you to their face how "core" they are and shit, but really they are just yes men company boys. And they are everywhere.
As for real journalism ... no such thing really exists in skateboarding. But you could always check out my entire portfolio from the last 14 years on my website and decide if what I do in skateboarding and beyond is "real journalism" or not. But that seems to be something that's all opinion-based anyway. The fact that this came out on my show might actually be considered "real journalism." Something relatively gnarly was uncovered. You know?
As for me being silent and PR-ing myself ... If I was worried about PR for myself, I clearly wouldn't have taken an unpopular stance in this thread. If I was "owned" I would just agree with everyone.
To the guy who defended me, that's rad. You explained my thoughts exactly. Thank you.
To the rest of you, it's cool. I get it. I get how shit can come off sometimes ... on my show, on this forum and so on. I bet if I were to sit down and talk to some of you one on one the experience would be totally different and the discussion would be cool and intelligent and we'd agree and disagree and be cool.
I was only suggesting we tell fucked up stories from our childhoods because it seemed like a good segway and a chance for a lot of good reading material, not to take any heat off me or Chase or whatever. No one TOLD me to write that. There's no Berra "damage control" conspiracy. Haha.
I am not too big or too cool or too proud to apologize. If for some reason my reactions, or lack thereof bummed you guys out or made you think I'm lame, dude, that sucks and I'm sorry. Keep on keeping on.
I work for Element now. Still doing the show of course and all my other little side projects. Really hyped on the new rider announcement coming too. If any of you are going to be at the East Coast tour stops or Street League say whats up! I don't carry screwdrivers. Only a camera.
-Brink
Thanks for the answer and good luck with Element, I guess you must have a lot to do with them.
Concerning the story with Chase, I think nobody here has any idea of what or when it actually happened, if Chase made some excuses, or if he is in good terms with said boy. Maybe Chase was 12 and the boy was 10, which is no excuse, but everybody here is acting like Chase did it yesterday to a 10 year old boy after giving him some candies...
The way Chase told that story is still quite eshocking, because it seems like no big deal, but I find everybody here judging quite fast on a story in which we know absolutely no details.
That being said, I'm not defending neither Brink (who needs no defense), nor Chase who is definitely a creepy motherfucker that works for another creepy guy.
Now I'd like to know if "Useless Wooden Bench" has ever been molested by Chase.