I got an email on January 17th letting me know that one of the many bloggers I follow had posted something. This one was by Le Clown. Notifications that Le Clown had posted yet again on his blog could mean only thing; the prolific bastard had published yet another insightful, painful and/or amusing post.
For those of you who didn’t follow him, let’s leave it at this – Le Clown’s blog was what yours (or mine) would be if you (or I) were incredibly talented, wildly creative and highly motivated. Over the life of his blog, “A Clown On Fire”, he added other blog sites, including “The Outlier Collective” and “Black Box Warnings”.
You may have noticed that I am writing about Le Clown in the past tense – how very observant of you. The reason for this is simple; in the January 17th post, Le Clown said goodbye. He ended all of his blogs and bid us all adieu. He thanked everyone for participating and issued a blanket apology to anyone he managed to offend.
I was fortunate to have discovered Le Clown, though truthfully he was hard to miss. I was tickled when he eventually read some of my posts. From my perspective, his blogs were tremendously popular and critically acclaimed. At one point, he asked me to write a post for The Outlier Collective. I was honored and more than a little apprehensive. It’s one thing to read someone’s work and be impressed, it’s an entirely different experience to post your own work on their blog. I wrote a post called “Killing Me Softly With Your Ad” about a tragically stupid and insensitive television ad which Hyundai had briefly aired abroad. As it happened, the post I had written was well received by Le Clown’s vast audience and got a respectable number of hits and comments. This would be a great place to put a link to the post, but upon looking for it, I discovered that like everything else Le Clown had a hand in creating on WordPress, it was gone.
Upon realizing that my post had vanished, I was upset. After thinking about it a little though, I’ve accepted its disappearance. In this mercurial virtual landscape there is no permanence. Everything in the world can flash on your screen for one moment and then be gone the next. Nothing is really forever here, not even Le Clown.
Farewell, Le Clown, see you in the funny papers.
1pointperspective 
…or in the barn…another pair of hands yielding shovel always welcome. I’ll even make the coffee….
Nice one, Dave. Very.
Thank you darling! By the way your profile pic is more enchanting every day.
I should email you the entire photo…it IS a HOOT!!
I had the same reaction when I saw his post in my reader telling that ACOF, TOC and BBW are closed.
But then I read this a couple of days ago:
http://calamityrae.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/outing-eric-robillard-le-clown-the-magnificent-the-predator-with-the-red-nose/
Holy Crap! Talk about your scandal! Obviously, this is the first I’d heard of these allegations, or I would have been more than happy to let this sleeping dog lie.
And again, I had the same reaction to Calamity Rae’s post.
I am sorry that post was lost, I remember that because it was around the time I was dealing with the kid’s issues. I ended up going to BBW and copying my post, just in case (I reposted it yesterday after I saw the site had been taken down).
I wish others had been able to save their stories as well.
The more I think about it, the less I care that the post is gone. It was topical for the time when it was written, but was outdated within a few weeks, when more outrageous things had stolen the headlines. In other news, I recently clicked the link that List of X posted in my comments. Yikes! I was unaware of any sort of impropriety on Le Clown’s part, but then, I am neither female, nor a smoker.
I learned of this particular shitstorm when I read Guapola’s post. Sorry, I’m on the Stupid I pad in a stupid motel room in a stupid town in Florida and I can’t get links to work.
I am sickened and saddened by this whole episode – and sorry that your post is gone. I always, always, since your blog was captured and held hostage, keep copies of everything.
I followed LeClown for a bit, but became uncomfortable after a while. I could not put my finger on what it was, but he had characteristics, mannerisms – if you will – and even used some of the same words that my abusive first husband and wretched, abusive stepfather used I distanced myself, but followed his lovely wife – whom I considered to be a thoughtful and insightful writer. I am, as I have said, sickened and saddened.
This was a valuable lesson for me. I have to trust my instincts on-line just as I would in the real world.
“I am neither female, nor a smoker.” hahaha that’s good stuff.
This has been a nasty bit of drama which hopefully will blow over soon and we can go back to making awards and writing lists of things to do when you have the flu or a hangover.
Bingo! I’m already set to post something different and deal with a new set of fallout issues.
Now that I’ve published this, there have been disturbing revelations about Le Clown. Now I know how Woody Allen’s fans must have felt.
I think it’s possible to be a fan of someone’s work and not be a fan of the person who created it.
Nicely put. Thanks
So well put, X. By the way, the link you provided up top is no longer available, so I’m totally in the dark about what’s going on here. Le Clown and I never really connected. All I know is he is a very gifted writer and he took the interwebz by storm – literally.
Apparently, if what I’ve read since writing the post is accurate, you might be better off having not connected. On a bright note, I’ll post something new soon and we can all move on, sans clown.
He was and he did, I can’t argue with that. And it took another storm to bring him down. Since that link is gone, it appears the storm may have gotten worse. You can try this link: http://guapola.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/angry-doesnt-describe-it/
Ok, I really should stop with the gossip now 🙂
Found out the same way as you – some serious shit floating around this one…..
Since I was following LC and none of his accusers, I had no idea. It’s somewhat ironic that there was more drama and intrigue in the behind the scenes stuff than in the majority of blog posts I read.
I think I will stick to putting sausages on people’s heads…..
Little did I know…
just so people here are aware – the WordPress staff were extremely kind in giving me back my blog after I’d deleted due me receiving so much hate mail. The link to me outing clown is now back up and available. Thank you. http://www.calamityrae.wordpress.com
As I pointed out in multiple comments, I was totally unaware of the accusations against Eric. I was shocked to read the details. He built one hell of a blog empire, wrote well and helped expose my writing to a much larger audience.
That being said, talent or drive do not excuse the actions of which he’s been accused. The silence of his rebuttals speak volumes.
I apologize to you calamityrae, if I inadvertently lionized someone who does not appear worthy and in so doing, took any gravity away from your unfortunate experiences.
No need to apologize at all. I just felt that since this post and the comments spoke to the original outing, that it was only fair to go ahead and provide that link, especially since I had deleted the blog but someone at wordpress was kind enough to reinstate it. It’s always good to have all the references, ya know? I do appreciate your sentiments and it was an unfortunate situation, all around.
I was just informed of the Calamity Rae blog post and I immediately reblogged it, because I can confirm that Le Clown behaved in an inappropriate manner with several female bloggers, including myself. I wanted to out him for nearly two years, but I was respecting the privacy of others who feared retribution – and rightfully so. Calamity Rae has apparently been threatened and harassed by Le Clown’s carnie contingent since publishing that notorious post – one that is so eerily identical to all the stories that I’ve heard about him over the past couple of years that it can’t be anything but true. Of course, I blocked everything related to him a long time ago – that’s what happens to predators who harass me – so I had no idea this was going on, until another blogger forwarded the link to me this afternoon. Thus, I apologize for responding to this post so late in the game. It’s interesting that he’s deleting everything. Could it be that he’s afraid his blog could turn into evidence?
It was quite surreal to me. I had no idea of the Le Clown, Le Stalker issues when I wrote the post. He had given me a slot and a topic for The Outlier Collective. I was happy with the post, and got a ton of hits and picked up some new followers. After posting my Le Gone post, I learned all of these other things. Very strange indeed, hope I didn’t get any on me.
Don’t worry – you’re no Le Stalker! You are a wonderful blogosphere friend. 🙂
I’ve been making mental notes of the different blogs I wanted to unsubscribe from for one reason or another. His was on that list because, although he’s an engaging writer, there’s something I found “off” about him. I don’t mind egotistical writers as there’s a little bit of ego in everyone. But there were little snippets that indicated he didn’t have his own house in order. And the fact that he had Outlier and BBW to talk about serious issues made that seem disingenuous.
I’m actually surprised that you and all your testosterone were invited to participate. Smoker? (Sorry, couldn’t resist)
This is an all around nasty situation. I feel for the people who’ve been victimized.
The whole thing has been kind of twilight zone-y. As I wrote in the comments, I had no idea about all of the evil shenanigans going on. I’m far from the only male invited to write a post for the outlier collective or black box blogs. As it happened, I was pretty pleased with the piece I did write, and got lots of hits and good comments from readers. That being said, I kind of feel like I just found out my favorite clown painting was an original Gacy.
FYI: No offense taken on the smoking comment – I’m not a smoker, just a wise ass.
Man, when I read about the creepy stuff coming from le “clown” I thought Gacy!
Great minds think alike, plus you and me.
On the Gacy comment….So eerily similar. Now I’m completely creeped out. I came late to the brew-ha-ha. When I email Le Clown about why his blog had disappeared, he wrote back a short note that his family was more important than his blog. Stuff was being said and please don’t judge me. I left it at that. I had only positive interactions with LC. But I was curious last week so I did a little search. As a teacher who encourages online platforms of expression…scary stuff. So what does a blogger do? She writes about it.
http://mrsralf.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/internet-predators/
There have been times when I’ve felt almost guilty for having had positive experiences with LC. His putting me in the Outlier Collective was a big deal to me and helped me grow as a writer. The rest of his activities somehow sully the whole experience. It makes me look at things a little differently. Thanks for your thoughts on it.
I felt the same way. I didn’t want to judge him, he’s popular, he’s going to be unrealistically criticized. Part of me wishes the other two sites were still up, not active, but present, so the work that was done in earnest could still be read. But you are right…it just feels sullied because of it’s underlying intent. Thanks for your post.
As I wrote, I was a little upset because the post I had written was gone, and I was proud of my work. That being said, everything on the internet has degrees of both permanence and transience. I guess I’ll just write something else.
I love clowns.
Apparently, not all clowns are quite so lovable.
As a (male) fledgling writer/blogger, I was charmed and thrilled to be asked to write a post for Eric’s blog. Only later did I read all of the inappropriate things he perpetrated on women bloggers. Very disturbing to say the least.