Valleywag
"I want to apologize to all the black tech bloggers. It could have been any ethnic group. It could have been gay guys, could have been Jews, could have been micks, skinnies, chinks, any of them...It was just your guys' bad luck that it went down that way...I'm a fucking idiot comedian and I did this." When PodTech promised to sign on more "professional producers," did it mean a white guy putting on a blackface minstrel show? Because that's what PodTech talent Loren Feldman has been up to, as part of a freakish little "opera" this videoblogger has engineered over the past week. Here's the story as told in videos, from "TechNigga" to Loren screaming, "No balls on any of you, you're just fucking sheep."
It's particularly painful to watch someone become a vicious cornered little nobody — the kind of cracked-out mess of a man that you see pushing a shopping cart and squalling at strangers — when the victim wasn't that sane to begin with. So it's not fun to write this history of Loren Feldman, who's turned himself from a mildly entertaining jester into the horrible little child you knew in grade school who would grow up beating on younger children to make himself feel powerful.
Feldman made his name in the tech blogging circle by acting out and getting sillier than anyone else dared. I loved one of his early shows, "Jason's Place," in which he parodied self-important entrepreneur Jason Calacanis by wearing a diaper and riding a hobbyhorse:
Months later, Feldman would find himself sucking up to Calacanis, pretending his startup Mahalo is more well-known than Facebook.
Once Feldman had made nice with those he previously mocked, what was left? Feldman turned to the enemies of PodTech, the company he'd mocked in the video above before they became his publisher. I'll admit it got a bit personal when he responded to my articles about the company (I've been a vocal critic of the site) by recording a puppet show with a two-year-old's ass:
But I was at least glad someone was trying to be funny. Unfortunately, Feldman has recently abandoned even this pretense.
This past Friday, Feldman posted a video titled "Where are the Black Tech Bloggers?" In this video, after explaining his question ("I mean black guys love technology. Car stereos, cell phones..."), the white male dressed as a dated caricature of a do-rag-wearing, pot-smoking black gangster hosting a site called "TechNigga."
This screw-up was particularly ironic for Feldman. A couple of months ago, he had physically threatened Guy Kawasaki, calling the entrepreneur a "stupid motherfucker" for saying he learned about selling from his Jewish friends in the jewelry industry:
Now Feldman had resorted to offending entire races. The reaction to "TechNigga" was swift and negative. Unfortunately for Feldman, black tech bloggers do exist, such as Lynne Johnson. The Fastcompany.com editor called the video "bad black face."
Feldman has recently been doing work for the Huffington Post; owner Arianna Huffington told Wired writer Adario Strange about "TechNigga," "I found it both offensive and unfunny."
The next day, Feldman posted a seemingly sincere apology to all he had recently offended in this and other videos, including tech bloggers of all races and Valleywag publisher Nick Denton and myself. He announced he would soon enter one-day sensitivity training at a rehab clinic.
But this now looks like a ruse; during his supposed treatment period, Feldman posted videos such as the following, which includes a soundtrack with the refrain, "My niggas."
Note that the more offensive videos have appeared using Blip.tv, an independent video distributor that any publisher can use without editorial permission, while the more appropriate-seeming clips use the PodTech player and appear on PodTech.net.
Feldman then apologized once more:
And released a rather funny parody of the boring gnaw-your-own-leg-off tech shows at sites like PodTech:
Before ruining everything with a final nasty strike at all who dared criticize his creative genius:
It is here that he questioned the testicular fortitude of everyone in the videoblogging community who had criticized him, as well as copping out with a "Sorry black guys, it could've been the chinks."
The obvious question is why PodTech is still in business with this insensitive, racist, bad-for-business videoblogger, and has not even criticized Feldman. The usually vocal PodTech owner John Furrier has remained silent, despite many calls for his response in a forum he frequently visits. As far as the company's behavior speaks for itself, PodTech and John Furrier apparently support Feldman's racist and hateful messages. This is one Don Imus who won't get fired.
Comments
A reader tells Valleywag:
All the blip.tv embeds have autostart set to on.
How could you possibly have thought that rehab video was "sincere?" I mean, I thought so for a minute, too, but then it became crystal clear that it wasn't, especially when he, uh, mentioned "Nurse Ratched." Also, he was quite clearly drunk, as he seems to be in most of his videos.
I would assume that PodTech is merely making what it can out of publicly presenting the disintegration of a human being as he is eaten away by rage, self-loathing, and substance abuse. I *really* feel sorry for the guy's kids.
Oh, and he's not funny. Oh, and what's with the bad Don Johnson beard? Does he make videos only every four days, after which he takes a shave? Is it 1986 where he lives? Judging by his home's decor, I'd say yes. But if so, why is he also bald?
Anybody want to guess where this guy will be in three years?
@johnnypotatoes:
All the videos were supposed to be one big skit. But Feldman failed to foresee that people would seriously get offended by the first "TechNigga" video and not get his overall "joke."
I watched a bunch of them, though not the last couple because by then I didn't see what more I could gain. I'm not sure how the later ones make him look any better. The guy's not funny -- he's a dime-a-dozen, enraged loudmouth with a serious Short-Man's Complex.
I only watched one video but didn't even have to watch that to think "OMG, WTF!?"
However, the Ho-Trackr concept was funny (didn't have sound on the PC I watched it on so I don't know what was said at the time).
"I'm a fucking idiot comedian and I did this"
I don't know about the comedian part, but I'll grant him "fucking idiot".
I'm not sure why people are so up in arms re: Podtech keeping him on. He meshes well with the same audience that watches Bad Sinatra -- which I imagine is a very small group of people who can handle watching shaky video with distant audio who talk about the same 10 Valleyfolks.
Podtech gets a spike in eyeballs; rent is paid; the sun sets behind the Valley again.
I'll stick with Drinking With Bob though... he's a Ranter, but at least he doesn't have some odd fixation with Calacanis and widgets on The Facebooks.
It's a ruse? You don't say, do you Nick.
On all ends, I know a lot of the players in this, and can see all sides. Loren's a friend of mine, and I know his sense of humor and his bite. I can see this as his Lenny Bruce moment.
Do I agree with everything he does? Of course not, but who does agree with everything that their friends do.
I think of Nick as a friend, and yet think this vendetta against Podtech is more personal than it should be. Does that mean I don't think there are stories there? Not at all.
Isn't "Podtech talent" quite the oxymoron?
This reminds me Michael "Kramer" Richards' infamous racist breakdown during a stand-up comedy show last year. The difference? Feldman's shit lasted for DAYS, not minutes.
[www.youtube.com]
I nugg it.
"Hey, Chuck Manson is a friend of mine. Do I agree with everything he does? Of course not, but who does agree with everything their friends do?"
He looks better, err, more at home, in a formal wife beater than in suit-n-tie.
Yeah, I know a wife beater is a tank, thus the "formal" part.
@johnnypotatoes: I'll stand up for Loren on the beard bit, being a personal believer myself in the beauty of the Wednesday shadow.
I enjoy watching Loren Feldman. He's a nutjob. The suit doesn't work. He should wear a Mets jersey or something..
How many times have I been mocked about my nationality, who cares.
In the end it seems that we are more puritan that ever.
"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone"
give a break to this poor Loren.
Thanks for the lorenmeme, well first off hello and welcome to the lonelyman43 show! what an interesting set of videos and comments.
Second, like usual everyone takes everything too serious. Im so bored with this conversation about race and satire. Maybe im just too liberal and think any topic should be open for satire, i dont know. If you are offended dont watch it, its not like there is a shortage of content out there for any race/creed/sex/species.
Drunk Loren Feldman Explains It All To You.
Can I get a job babbling my finest drunken insights into a webcam? I'm sorta cute, and I have a good speaking voice. My opinions are at least as valid.
I love how he tells off the whole tech industry, how he's got THAT market cornered. Being a comedian makes you an expert, I guess. That was one of his more fascinating videos -- I actually lost the thread of where he was going, he was so incoherent.
And I love his reasoning that it's okay to offend the blacks because he woulda done it to the Jews or any of the other races he slurred. Yeah, that's okay behavior, mm-hmm.
I think he's operating on the Paula Abdul Principle: be a big enough trainwreck and people will watch you.
Some folks with a long memory emailed me for my opinion on the latest Feldman meltdown.
As a "regular" on my former site Loren created some truly funny moments as my "site security guy" and travelled with me to WordCamp to play that character live in a presentation I gave about compelling content. He also went to New Orleans for me and brought back some compelling videos on the recovery there.
I consider Loren a friend and I'm a Black guy.
That being said, I found the Technigga videos cringeworthy, desperatly unfunny, and having no point. His personal Pluto Nash, Michael Richards,Don Imus new media moment.
The real question is what, if anything, should be done now.
Probably nothing.
It's a wash for PodTech (this is the age where any attention is valuable) and for Loren the stigma of being labeled a racist comedian is pretty bad. And being an unfunny one is even worse.
Exactly right. I'm not offended as a non-racist. I'm offended as a comedian.
What everyone's missing is the tacit assumption that it's OK to viciously lampoon African Americans, to a degree that simply wouldn't be done with other groups. This is consistent with the sense of humor prevalent in the music and film business, where videos and feature length productions respectively perpetuate the notion of illiterate thugs making millions. Fortunately, the younger generation of black tech-savvy kids, my son included, recognize this for what it is: the pathetic attempt of an establishment that's lost all creative originality and is now falling back on the historic American device of slamming the national symbol of our country's self-hate.
Since vloggers are in such an uproar over this video, I thought I'd see some response videos by that prolific crowd. Not a one, except for this YouTube remix or mashup or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
[www.youtube.com]
I've never heard of this guy, but I just watched a few of his videos. Basically, he's an unfunny douchebag.
I hadn't heard of this person until earlier today. I viewed part of his video. It is offensive in both content and image. I am a Black blogger and a member of BDPA (an association of African American IT professionals). We are having our 29th annual conference in Washington DC next week. To have such a video and commentary is a sign that our industry still hasn't overcome issues of race, discrimination and that organizations such as BDPA (www.bdpa.org) are still needed.
peace, Village
Electronic Village
[electronicvillage.blogspot.com]
Hey Valleywag where's the commentary on this:
[www.podtech.net]
PodTech and 1938 Media agree to end relationship
By mutual agreement, 1938 Media and the PodTech Network terminated their distribution agreement effective today. Loren Feldman, president of 1938 Media, is a highly creative professional in the emerging video blogging industry and is constantly pushing the boundaries of humor and social networking commentary. However, some of his content is increasingly inconsistent with the editorial direction of PodTech.
Steve Gillmor and Paul Sherer
The chief executives of PodTech, a tech-news company, and Technorati, a blog search engine, separately announced their departures today — neither move is unexpected from these formerly high-flying companies Both launched a couple of years ago, when the promise of podcasting and blogging were...
@BarelyFitz:
However, some of his content is increasingly inconsistent with the editorial direction of PodTech.
I love spin doctors.
Thanks for posting this!
Just seen this. I don't know about you, but I found it HILARIOUS.
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