If you haven’t been keeping your head in a bucket for the last week, you’ll probably have heard about the entertaining case of FunnyJunk[1] hiring a lawyer to sue that nice Mr Oatmeal because he wasn’t happy about them lifting his content. Now in most people’s versions of reality that sounds a bit backwards, but we are talking lawyers here. As I mentioned last week, Matthew Inman’s response to this was superb. Rather than pay the demanded $20,000, he mocked the lawyer and his client, and started a campaign to raise $20,000 for charity. At this moment, the campaign has raised a whisker under $180,000, which is quite a lot.
But the story is far from over. The latest bit is that the lawyer got very upset about being mocked, and is now personally suing Matthew Inman, IndieGoGo (the site being used to raise the funds) and in a fit of extreme silliness, the actual bloody charities. This is all nicely documented (in four parts, so far!) at Popehat:
Hey, Did Somebody Say Something Was Going On With The Oatmeal?
How Dare You! That’s The Wrong Kind of Bullying!
The Oatmeal v. FunnyJunk, Part IV: Charles Carreon Sues Everybody
All of which is highly entertaining, but I think people have missed something. There have been suggestions that Carreon is engaged in some kind of performance art, satirical comedy, or something along those lines, but I have another theory, and the clue is there in his name.
Carreon — Carry On!
Yes, it’s really the plot of a revived, modernised version of those classic[2] British film comedies, such as Carry on at Your Convenience, Carry on Camping, and many more. I’m sure all will be revealed soon, and how we’ll all laugh. Well, most of us are laughing already, which is a good start.
[1] No, still not linking to it
[2] Note: with the possible exception of Carry on up the Khyber, classic may be a little generous…
Clever take, Mr. Bessant. What a circus sideshow it’s become, though it’s a fun bit of anticipation waiting for Carreon to go down in flames. I had to laugh at Oatmeal’s comment:
“It’s interesting to watch a man with his dick in a hornet’s nest try to solve the problem by tossing his balls in as well.”
It’s comedy at its best….
No, no! It’s simply a ruse to get his money back.
He (Carreon) inadvertently donated to the Bear Love campaign and ACS, but realized the money may do some good so ever since he’s been trying to get it back. Everything else is merely an attention-seeking (there’s no such thing as bad publicity) smokescreen.
http://www.popehat.com/2012/06/17/the-oatmeal-v-funnyjunk-part-iv-charles-carreon-sues-everybody/#comment-844452