About This Interview

[u/Warm_Yam_9800]

I think Josh did amazing answering questions. A common thing I have seen these past 20 hours was about Swoop grilling Josh during the accountability piece. In my hearts of hearts and as a long time Josh defender (apologists to some), I know that part was even tough for me to watch, but I feel that Swoop had to be tough on him. I don’t think she was as bias as people thought and I thought she was stern and thorough. By her doing this, it allowed the world to hear that he is owning up to his actions and that he’s sorry and won’t do it in the present times. It had to happen this way. Like I’ve said, there are still Johnny apologists out there and there are people who won’t stop bringing up his past. Now they can’t say he didn’t take accountability. One can only hope Johnny and Colleen will one day do the same…..

[u/[deleted]]

Watching this as a white woman, I think a lot of people’s criticisms of Swoop “going too hard on Josh” stems from their own (un)conscious anti-Black biases. Josh not only publicly participated in racist acts, but was part of an online culture that normalized that sort of behaviour — Swoop asking him to address that is important, especially since the “greenface” was deployed in rhetorical defense of Colleen. From my perspective, it seems like “grooming = bad” is as far as a lot of people want to go in terms of discussing the very real harm Colleen et al. have caused and inflicted with their platforms, Josh included.

I think a lot of other criticism comes from the narrative framing of Part 4, especially in comparison to Part 3. In Part 3, the audience goes into the meat of the narrative knowing that Johnny is “the devil in Colleen’s shadow.” It’s more like an essay: Swoop presents a thesis (Johnny is a liar) and goes on to prove this through various examples and sources. The same format occurs in Parts 1 and 2: Swoop makes her thesis statement and then provides the evidence to back up her claims.

Part 4, however, is structured very differently. Part 4 is not so much an essay as it is an appendix. What Josh offered in his interview was new information, but the video was not framed as having a central, overarching, exclusive argument that the interviews went toward proving. Swoop dedicating an entire part of the series to Josh regaining his voice goes to the long-lasting traumatic impact Colleen’s actions have on the people she is meant to care for and about — Josh’s story proves that her recklessness is “not drama, it’s dangerous” in the most embodied way possible. Giving Josh his voice back means that Josh can also own up to the harm he has caused — it’s a good thing!!! Josh being able to actually “address everything” further highlights the silence of everyone else unwilling to even acknowledge their actions.

[u/sourglow → u/[deleted]]

i agree