I don’t know the man personally but I know what he said in regards to the situation(s) being discussed here.
Apparently the other parties involved felt the comments were in bad taste at the least otherwise it wouldn’t be an issue.
You state that some are in the wrong for assuming he is in fact racist or inconsiderate with his remarks but then ask to assume that he made in contents in good faith and with knowledge of the significance of red in regards to Juneteenth.
I don’t know who said he needs to be cancelled but I people should be allowed to vote with their dollars and that’s what I’ve heard on this thread.
Just fyi
I started this so we all have a set place to talk about it
On other places its hard to keep track
I think for things like this it helps to have a place where it can discussed
My opinion is nothing will change
Ben will prob stay off social media for a bit and come back like nothing happended
When the evan stuff went on ben said he was stepping back from doing yyf social media
They got a player in to do it
And a week later ben was back
This is a classic deflection used when defending racism “oh but how can you say that in his heart of hearts he’s a racist, you don’t know him/his mind”. It is impossible for anyone else to know what’s in Ben’s mind aside from him, but what’s in his heart of hearts doesn’t particularly matter when he has now shown a pattern of racist behaviour.
The one thing in that astounding pile of waffle that makes sense.
For someone so educated about Juneteenth, I would have expected you to be familiar with the term “old boys’ club.” This is not an obscure term.
Traditionally, when Ben, or some other “pillar” of the community, does something inappropriate, a group of people rush in to his (or their) rescue. Typically, these people tend to be in the 30+ age range. I myself am approaching my 40s. So, no, this is not a matter of ageism. Apologies for the disappointment if you were looking for something to be offended about.
I think that edit is an important thing to note. If there was some sort of… weird good natured intent at a joke (?) it didn’t work and seems like it had the exact opposite impact. That alone makes Ben 1000% in the wrong. Props to Colin for not losing his cool and ‘escalating’ things. My wife is black, if someone comes up to her and offers her a red lollipop and says anything other than Happy Juneteenth while wearing the most sincere smile ever…it’s going to be a bad day for everyone.
As a middle schooler, i prolly shouldn’t comment on this because i clearly have not experienced enough to make a fair judgement, but here’s my take. Ben said something dumb, his true intention, we’ll never know for sure. Given his history, we can assume he either has a racial prejudice, or has the average middle schooler’s sense of humor. The problem is, people in this forum want to keep going back and forth on ALL the details, and it might cause more problems than leaving it be. More arguing = more division, and that won’t get us anywhere. Y’all should either agree to disagree or pull out your least biased argument, otherwise nothing good will happen. Again, I have no right to talk about this, but just my thoughts since im constantly checking the thread.
A quick edit to clear up some questions in response to this post:
This is in response to those who are making the argument that Ben may have been educated about traditions and culture:
Is it plausible that Ben happened to educate himself about Juneteenth and its traditions.
Sure.
However walking up to someone and attempting to flex your random knowledge in this way is downright weird. This was not some discussion about historic traditions and becoming more educated. This was uncalled for.
Regardless of intentions, those who were present felt it was an offensive and disrespectful conversation, and I agree. This is a yo-yo contest where everyone should feel welcome.
Let’s also not forget about all the previous history Ben has. The fact that these, “bad jokes”, have not resulted in higher levels of punishment/intervention is insane. At this point many companies would have removed their staff for lesser things.
Big props to NYYL for handling this, for the community for having hard discussions and holding people accountable.
You have EVERY right to talk about this. Your post was very rational and if you hadn’t outed yourself as a middle schooler, no one would have known. I saw racism for the first time in my 6th grade class. Even then i didnt need someone to tell me that it felt wrong to treat people that way. My only disagreement with you is about staying silent. Thats how these things persist. I didnt stay quiet and 6th grade, and I never will. But well thought out post and never let anyone tell you that you dont deserve to be a part of a discussion. Your a human with your own mind and opinions and you should express that
Some folks here are showing me why we have to take corporate inclusivity training which I actually sent to Hans as a suggestion during the Evan thing but whatever. Y’all need to learn how to act in public
Fortunately, the day you can say ‘anything’ to offend me, ‘that’ offends me…… is certainly not in this lifetime.
Ben, you are a pretty Sharp guy. You are approaching 40 and everything you have accomplished in life(so far) you have done without a single molecule of my advice.
But that being said, your seeming compulsion to react to my posts, are always pleasantly amusing but I never find them insulting.
I am actually appreciative my oratories compel your attention.
I respect that you step up and speak/albiet contrary, when most others just watch and whine without speaking their own minds in fear of outing themselves.
Ben started this himself… and deserves to be called out on it.
This is also building upon past bad judgements. He literally got pulled off representing yoyofactory on social media last year because he could not be trusted with their socials…
(Screenshots grabbed from a previous post by another member here)
Now, just one year later he goes and does it again after all again.
The national yoyo league did not kick out the main representative from one of their biggest sponsors for no reason. Clearly they felt it was justified and went out of their way to make it public.
Maybe some of you dont care about what he said, but it is clear this was bad judgement, against the yoyo league goals, against yoyofactory goals, bad timing, and a bad look. Its not us startinf this mess, it was Ben. Blaming anyone else is just deflecting and an inadequate excuse for poor judgement that has been displayed at the biggest national stage we have.
Imagine being one of the primary forward-facing members of one of the biggest yoyo companies in the world and the premier sponsor that supports US Nationals only for the NYYL to immediately remove you from the venue because of something you said
Imagine having to step down from your forward-facing position for the exact reason because you did the same thing a year ago
Imagine a group of people confirming that Ben indeed said something incredibly racist to one of the most prominent members of the US yoyo community
Imagine Colin himself directly stating the following:
