Joel Michael Singer Abusing DMCA Complaints and Bribing Redditors
(Author’s note: This is a huge break from my niche, but I can’t let stuff like this go unnoticed. I have tried to publish this on other platforms with little to no luck.)
A video of Joel Michael Singer assaulting a restaurant worker has been widely shared on Reddit despite alleged efforts on Singer’s part to fight the spread of the video. User TheLazyDucky, owner of the subreddit Noah Get the Death Star, came forward after receiving bribes of varying amounts that increased with each attempt. TheLazyDucky has refused all four of these offers which come from various Reddit users claiming to be connected to Singer in some way.
One of these bribes, worth US $75,000 came from a user who identified themselves as “David Dudley Field II”, a lawyer who has been dead since 1894. As a “final offer”, the user threatened “legal action” against TheLazyDucky and told him to remove his other posts about Singer.
However, Singer’s efforts appear to have succeeded elsewhere. The video has been taken down from the subreddit I am a Total Piece of Shit after user gregaforce7 has drawn an apparent confession from its moderators. In this conversation, at least one of the moderators has confessed to accepting money (10,000 yuan or approximately 1400 USD) from Singer.
The source of Singer’s apparent wealth is unknown. Although Heavy previously reported that an Internet user had identified Singer’s workplace as Coastal Wealth in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I have reached out to Coastal Wealth and have not received any confirmation of Singer’s employment.
After talking of the moderators myself and receiving responses from three of them, two of them denied that Singer or anyone who knows him has contacted them, let alone offered them money. One of them claimed that the takedown was accidental due to a mass influx of users posting that same video while another claimed that it was obvious that they did not accept money from Singer.
This is far from the first time Joel Michael Singer has attempted to take down the video of him assaulting a restaurant worker. Since September 18, 2019, Singer has filed multiple DMCA complaints that call the video “video of me being attacked” and, in a complaint filed in April of 2020, described the video as “enticing threat and violence”. Although others have brought up doxxing as a concern for Singer, the public nature of DMCA complaints would enable doxxing to take place more easily.
The infamous video shows Singer confronting a cashier while another in a white shirt, most likely the manager, stands by. At 0:20, Singer knocks the man in the white shirt into a stack of what appears to be foam mats. After that, a man in a black shirt holds Singer in a headlock and pins him to the ground. Another man in a red shirt is seen assisting in restraining Singer until a female police officer arrives and removes Singer from the scene.
Despite Singer, his father’s and his legal team’s efforts, the video has been widely disseminated on Reddit. Some posts of the video or relating to Singer have been removed by the Reddit legal operations team due to a copyright claim made by a third party. These removals are likely related to Singer filing DMCA complaints.
Singer has yet to comment about the video and the mounting accusations against him.
Update 5/28/20: The YouTube video I included has been removed. I will appeal the removal.
Update 5/28/20: It appears that my video is back up.
Update 5/30/20: My video got age-restricted to viewers 18+. The video contains footage of physical confrontations and strong language, but not nearly enough to justify this. I have requested a review of the age restriction.
