LGBT Community exploitation and Abuse by Networks

We the artistic LGBT community on a regular basis is exploited by corporations and individuals working for them, in this particular case by Drew Katchen and Brooke Sopelsa.

Please share your stories and put a stop to corporations who are exploiting communities.

subject:

Glamorous gay dance scene a 'family affair' article

By Brooke Sopelsa and Drew Katchen

msnbc.com

updated 9/24/2011 7:17:15 AM ET

Oh dear Drew and Brooke,

We are extremely disappointed and upset with your article about the House Ball community and you should be ashamed of your self by publishing this peace of historic miss-representation and exploitation. I can see now why you haven't been responding to my emails. We reject and disapprove your community insensitivity and disrespect you show in your article. We demand that you delete this disgraceful article online, because your only intention was to build your resume on the backs of the Harlem House Ball community.

From reading the posts and comments about your online article supports my statements 100%, you started nothing but controversy. Because of your incompetence and community abuse you are unable to inspire a positive discussion or at least constructive criticism.

After explaining to you on the phone in detail how this community has rejected Paris is Burning because of the exploitation and the scares it left behind for this community for two decades, we asked you to write something respectful and to help to heal the wounds Paris is Burning left behind.

Instead you completely ignored the request from the community and you went ahead intentionally to write this community insensitive and disrespectful article, by endorsing Jeannie Livingston and her exploitative film Paris is Burning. If you had told me that your intentions are to butcher this community we would have made sure that this article would have never seen the light and would have told Luna to not support your project, but instead you lied to me and others to gain access to this community..

We gave you the opportunity to talk to ballroom historian Kevin Omni, and offered you people that could talk about the exploitation of Paris is Burning first hand, but instead you ignored that completely, because your intensions were not to give something back to a community but rather exploit and take advantage of a community for your own personal gain. You decided to write stuff and to rip open old wounds again by endorsing Paris is Burning, this community is suffering from for two decades and we are trying to heal. How dare you.

It is very unfortunate that people like you get opportunities at networks to miss-represent and exploit communities. Instead of intelligent journalism, you write stuff and are hurting our community, my intern could have done a better job than that and most public access producers I know would have put your article and video to shame.

Show your respect to the community and delete this article online at once before we have to take any legal action,

Wolfgang Busch and Kevin Omni

Artistic and Social Activist, serving the LGBT community for over two decades