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INTEREST: Daman Mills Issues Statement About Fabricated Sexual Misconduct Allegations


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CescaHenri



Joined: 17 Mar 2022
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:28 pm Reply with quote
So grateful to see this piece posted. It speaks a lot to the integrity of the staff at ANN who were taken advantage of by a source with an agenda their never could have anticipated.

One thing that may be worth including is the statement from Daman's attorney regarding the line they (the attorney and not Daman) wrote saying the relationship was "consensual and mutual." It's included in this article https://www.cbr.com/daman-mills-accuser-retracts-abuse-allegations/, but I'm also pasting it below for ease:

"Any language quoted from the Cease and Desist sent to Duncan was written by me, and does not represent a statement from my client. To be clear, that language has been misinterpreted; Daman Mills has never had a romantic or sexual relationship with "Duncan." The consensual "relationship" referred to in that legal document uses the word's standard definition — a continued association between two people — in this case, a friendship. Daman vehemently denies any romantic relationship with Duncan, as well as the accusations made against him."
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Weird Guy



Joined: 24 Jan 2018
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:30 pm Reply with quote
Innocent man...just like griffith from berserk
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:34 pm Reply with quote
So, were the messages exchanged fabricated?
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Duncan stated that the messages he provided were fabricated. I cannot independently prove one way or another that they were.

Quote:
"Any language quoted from the Cease and Desist sent to Duncan was written by me, and does not represent a statement from my client. To be clear, that language has been misinterpreted; Daman Mills has never had a romantic or sexual relationship with "Duncan." The consensual "relationship" referred to in that legal document uses the word's standard definition — a continued association between two people — in this case, a friendship. Daman vehemently denies any romantic relationship with Duncan, as well as the accusations made against him."


I am not a specialist in this, but to my knowledge that's not how legal representation works. I've had concerns about how...good this lawyer is. His statements represent his client, what he is again failing to adequately say here is that Daman didn't write the letter. It would absolutely be presumed that the client would approve of messages his lawyer sends on his behalf. Further, it was incredibly shortsighted for a lawyer to respond to allegations regarding a sexual relationship with "the relationship was mutual and consensual." Many a layman would interpret that as a statement about the nature of the relationship, i.e. sexual or romantic in nature.

My personal opinion is that, based on the lawyer's listed expertise, he probably was not a great choice to handle this sort of case.


Last edited by ANN_Lynzee on Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:06 pm; edited 3 times in total
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CescaHenri



Joined: 17 Mar 2022
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:42 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
So, were the messages exchanged fabricated?


Unfortunately, yes. He explains it to a reporter in this article https://www.cbr.com/daman-mills-accuser-retracts-abuse-allegations (I have no real idea how to link things, I'm sorry!) It's reprehensible that someone would go to such lengths to mislead others, especially on such an important issue.

And Lynzee, I couldn't agree more on all counts.
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Etheiria



Joined: 17 Mar 2022
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:59 pm Reply with quote
CescaHenri wrote:
So grateful to see this piece posted. It speaks a lot to the integrity of the staff at ANN who were taken advantage of by a source with an agenda their never could have anticipated.


Don't believe everything you read. Anime News Network had a second, named source on the record, that people are conveniently forgetting about.

penguintruth wrote:
So, were the messages exchanged fabricated?


That's the official story, but it doesn't hold up if you think about it. If you're going to fake messages, why would you go out of your way to include specific dates and times from almost a decade ago that you could've easily gotten wrong? And if you buy that, then Duncan's friend had to have faked the messages he got from Daman too. And I guess the Facebook comments from Daman that seemed to confirm some of what was said were fake too. Everyone was in it!
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ANN_Lynzee
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:00 pm Reply with quote
CescaHenri wrote:


And Lynzee, I couldn't agree more on all counts.


There were very early opportunities in the story cycle for Burke to add the legal context he intended. Waiting until April 25 is mind-boggling to me.
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Etheiria



Joined: 17 Mar 2022
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:16 pm Reply with quote
ANN_Lynzee wrote:
Duncan stated that the messages he provided were fabricated. I cannot independently prove one way or another that they were.

You could've, though it's probably too late for that now given that Duncan has chosen to move on. The way it could've been done was for him to give you the password to his account on Facebook. Have him on standby in case you need a confirmation code if the log on from a new location is flagged as suspicious. It could've been done on a zoom call, with Duncan directing you where to go while you browsed his messages. If Duncan wasn't willing to do that, maybe you pass on publishing their accusation.

I suppose if Duncan's friend was still willing, you could do that with them. I haven't seen any report that they were sent a cease and desist.
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mrsatan



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:23 pm Reply with quote
It wasn't fabricated.
Kid had the texts and pics to prove it.
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ANN_Lynzee
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:28 pm Reply with quote
Etheiria wrote:
ANN_Lynzee wrote:
Duncan stated that the messages he provided were fabricated. I cannot independently prove one way or another that they were.

You could've, though it's probably too late for that now given that Duncan has chosen to move on. The way it could've been done was for him to give you the password to his account on Facebook. Have him on standby in case you need a confirmation code if the log on from a new location is flagged as suspicious. It could've been done on a zoom call, with Duncan directing you where to go while you browsed his messages. If Duncan wasn't willing to do that, maybe you pass on publishing their accusation.

I suppose if Duncan's friend was still willing, you could do that with them. I haven't seen any report that they were sent a cease and desist.


Oh, I know it could be proven if I was given access to a Facebook account or if the messages were shown to me via screen-sharing over a video call. When I said I can't independently prove it, I mean for the reason you stated: he's not going to let me sift through his FB account now.

The unfortunate ramifications of this is that overall it will make it harder for people to come forward and will warrant a further level of scrutiny. Falsifying sexual assault allegations is statistically rare, but now any future allegations would require what you're describing: myself witnessing the individual log-in to social media, open their messages, and scroll to them.
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Etheiria



Joined: 17 Mar 2022
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:38 pm Reply with quote
I also find it hard to believe that literally nothing happened after the article was published on March 8th. If there's been no communication since then, why has Duncan been tripping over himself to write even more about what he supposedly did? The story had seemingly concluded when Duncan told ANN allegations were fabricated on March 17th. Then, almost a month later, he's back with an even longer confession to CBR, one that Daman is so happy with he shares to all his followers.
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ANN_Lynzee
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:43 pm Reply with quote
Etheiria wrote:
The story had seemingly concluded when Duncan told ANN allegations were fabricated on March 17th. Then, almost a month later, he's back with an even longer confession to CBR, one that Daman is so happy with and he shares to all his followers.


The linked document isn't new, it's just new to CBR. He wrote it at the same time that he stated allegations were fabricated.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13557
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:49 pm Reply with quote
mrsatan wrote:
It wasn't fabricated.
Kid had the texts and pics to prove it.

Not for this story per se but the following is a general point: One could somehow falsify a screen-shot to the point that the texts/pics are also fake.
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Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
Posts: 1208
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:55 pm Reply with quote
ANN_Lynzee wrote:
The unfortunate ramifications of this is that overall it will make it harder for people to come forward and will warrant a further level of scrutiny. Falsifying sexual assault allegations is statistically rare, but now any future allegations would require what you're describing: myself witnessing the individual log-in to social media, open their messages, and scroll to them.


This is the main takeaway for me. This whole thing has become so shady on either side that it's hard not to be upset about what it means for other folks in the future. Confused
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Etheiria



Joined: 17 Mar 2022
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 7:02 pm Reply with quote
ANN_Lynzee wrote:
Etheiria wrote:
The story had seemingly concluded when Duncan told ANN allegations were fabricated on March 17th. Then, almost a month later, he's back with an even longer confession to CBR, one that Daman is so happy with and he shares to all his followers.


The linked document isn't new, it's just new to CBR. He wrote it at the same time that he stated allegations were fabricated.


The Google document CBR linked is new. Their article was updated to include it. The last google doc was different. It was short, only a few sentences.
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