The RedLetterMedia thread

[Replies From View]

That just looks like he's doing that classic American thing of redefining perfectly acceptable boozing as alcoholism. But if it makes him happier, fair play to him.

He doesn't state how much he was drinking.  If he experienced it as alcoholism then what evidence do you have of it being something else?  He's candid but he doesn't reveal very much beyond the fact that he was organising his life around the consumption of alcohol, which pretty much summarises alcoholism to me.

I'd go the other way.  I'd say too many people frame alcoholism as "perfectly acceptable boozing" because society frames it as fine and alcohol fits into so many social and solo contexts whatever the season or mood.

It takes guts to recognise you have a problem with alcohol and do something about it before your life is ruined.  I imagine some people might take issue with the broadcast of his alcoholism - his presumption that anyone using Twitter will care about his medical problems.  But communicating our issues can be a big part of identifying them and overcoming them.  If it suits him to use Twitter to do this then I don't feel any kind of urge to judge.

[DrGreggles]

Wheel of the Worst returns!
https://youtu.be/o4eSVXCzRyI

[kidsick5000]

Wheel of the Worst returns!
https://youtu.be/o4eSVXCzRyI

Turtle Dreams is haunting

[DrGreggles]

Turtle Dreams is haunting

Of course, the whole thing is on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/FBlnrRUVfo0

[DrGreggles]

Turtle Dreams is haunting

But not as haunting as...

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

[Phil_A]

I'm starting to think there's something wrong with Mike. He's a sick, sick man.

[bgmnts]

https://youtu.be/pF28Zednl10

Bit of silliness here.

[QDRPHNC]

Mike seemed genuinely hurt at the end :(

[Deanjam]

I laughed at this bit.

[TheBrownBottle]

Shatner (or his publicist) still isn't letting it lie.

Feel sorry for Stoklasa.  Internet twats have harangued his hero into having a go at him.  Though it's not as if Shatner has a stellar reputation for being a cuddly bundle of loveliness (according to his fellow ST cast mates, at least).

[QDRPHNC]

I get the initial confusion, but at this point Shatner is really just acting like an arse. I mean... he has no obligation to RLM of course, but it's just painful to see it happen as Mike is such a big fan and has always said nice things about him.

[Famous Mortimer]

There's not a single person around him (not just Twitter) who's seen an RLM video before and can say "just stop this Bill, you're embarrassing yourself"?

[Kelvin]

Surely a big part of it is that a load of RLM fans are hectoring him, and getting increasingly rude with him, which has made him dig his heels in and say things that will wind them up. Not saying he's not being a prick, but it's bound to be six of one, half a dozen of the other.

[TheBrownBottle]

He's definitely reacting to 'fans' of RLM haranguing him for months - but he's being a massive prick about it all.  Given that he blocked RLM's twitter for a benign joke, he could just as easily use the same block on entitled dickheads pushing him to comment / appear on RLM.  Instead, he spends a few hours insulting Stoklasa, who obviously has far more respect for Shatner's acting ability than anyone except Shatner himself.

Shatner has always come across as a man who has contempt for anyone not on his 'level'.  I don't think he owes the fans of TOS (nor the cast for that matter) anything other than a bit of courtesy, but he's incapable of that. His bullying of Takei & falling out with Nimoy shortly before the latter's death don't speak highly of the man's character.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Shatner is a well known asshole, so I certainly don't want to defend him, but I imagine there are many tedious RLM fans on Twitter and he is an elderly man who is under the impression that the Nerd Crew if the real show.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Bloke from startrek not understanding that fans can be bellends, not representative of their target of fandom

Ridiculous

[Hand Solo]

Shatner's troublesome wife being found floating face-down in a swimming pool and him phoning 911 and waiting there instead of y'know pulling her out is some Barrymore-level dodginess. It's the one topic he wouldn't allow at his roast.

[AliasTheCat]

I did feel sorry for Mike there as this has clearly gone way beyond their control, but am really looking forward to the prospect of a two-and-a-half hour long Re:View of himself and Rich Evans discussing their favourite TNG episodes.
I was a little underwhelmed by the idea of Re:View when it first started for some reason, but I really enjoy those episodes now as I think RLM really shine when they're talking in-depth about something they enjoy. A TNG episode has been a long time coming.

[WhoMe]

All well and good, but have any of you had to live your whole life with 'Shat' literally in your fucking name? No.

[beanheadmcginty]

Saw Shatner live in person at the Hammersmith Apollo two days before lockdown and he was fucking amazing. A force of nature. Incredibly funny and entertaining and despite being about 90 he ran around the stage like Lee Evans. Made Patrick Stewart look like an especially decrepit Thora Hird. Won't hear a bad word said against him since then.

[dr_christian_troy]

Hmm.

https://medium.com/@WilliamShatner/the-toxic-empires-of-egoligarchies-e4b38e697726

[PlanktonSideburns]

All well and good, but have any of you had to live your whole life with 'Shat' literally in your fucking name? No.

actually, my name is Stephen Shat

[JamesTC]

Hmm.

https://medium.com/@WilliamShatner/the-toxic-empires-of-egoligarchies-e4b38e697726

Creasing laughing when it got to the picture of Jay.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Can't decide which moment is greater, William Shatner writing a 50,000-word Medium diatribe about the "two gentlemen" who run RLM, or Dick the Birthday Boy appearing on Ellen.

"I get bored after 10 minutes, that's why I have spent several hours writing a detailed essay and hired an assistant to pull screen grabs of a video I didn't bother to watch in which RLM went out of their way to defend me."

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

This has intrigued me enough to actually visit the Red Letter Media subreddit, and it seems like there is persuasive evidence that (surprise) Shatner's Twitter account is entirely handled by some weird internet bully who he has a cryptocurrency marketing deal with. That makes much more sense than 89-year-old William Shatner spending most of his day posting about "Gamer Gate" and "Social Justice Warriors" on Twitter/Medium.

[Kelvin]

"I get bored after 10 minutes, that's why I have spent several hours writing a detailed essay and hired an assistant to pull screen grabs of a video I didn't bother to watch in which RLM went out of their way to defend me."

I dunno, he's obviously annoyed by it all, and he's perfectly entitled to say he doesn't like doing podcasts - the stuff about getting bored might be him being diplomatic about how he chooses them, or because he generally doesn't like the longer format. I thought it was kinda shitty of RLM to play those clips of him doing other podcasts as if he has to justify why he doesn't want to do theirs. Maybe he met those other podcasters beforehand, maybe he just liked what he saw of their stuff, maybe he got a recommendation from someone that isn't Macaulay Culkin. He doesn't owe anyone an explanation for that, and picking apart his given reasons is more than a bit shitty, imo.

I also think he's absolutely right to say that RLM knew their fans would go after him, but they wanted to get the clicks with that video. I'm not saying Shatner's an angel, or that he isn't playing this situation for publicity himself, but I do think he's justified in saying they knew what they were doing.

[robotam]

I think it was fair enough of red letter media to do a video about the weird, funny situation they found themselves in. It makes sense to explain what was going on from their point of view. Youtube is the place to do it, as that's where their fans are more likely to see it.

If they didn't say anything, all the info you would have is what Shatner initially said; that RLM invited him to do a show, he declined saying he doesn't do podcasts and RLM got offended that he would dare call their shows 'podcasts'. Which didn't happen and makes the RLM guys look like complete dicks.

I don't think they were seriously trying to do a 'gotcha' with the clips of Shatner on another podcast. It was just a quick joke. They talked about how it was absolutely fine and understandable that Shatner didn't want to do anything with them and that their fans should leave Shatner alone.

If you have a lot of fans, you are probably going to have a lot of bad ones. They were going after Shatner anyway. This was RLM telling them to stop. Yes they also made the video for clicks because they make funny videos (sometimes not funny) for clicks for a living.

[idunnosomename]

Mike Stoklasa genuinely looking like he wants to cry. I liked that video because they're very reflective on their content and it was interesting

Shatner is being a really nasty projecting bully now though with that medium piece.

[Famous Mortimer]

But they didn't want to do anything with him, right? The suggestion that he team up with RLM came from a fan on Twitter, not them. Or am I totally misremembering the videos? They were merely pointing out that he does do podcasts, when his initial argument was that he didn't.

And the 10-minute, 15-minute thing was Shatner referring to major media outlets, not podcasts:

Also I say again, I give major media outlets 15 mins and I get bored after 10 so it's not a good fit?