Campaign to save a nightclub event during Winter Party Festival week grows increasingly bitter
In a campaign seeking to damage the success of an unsanctioned, one night event on March 7 and during the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Winter Party Festival weekend, the anonymous group known only as “concerned members of the LGBT community” has now resorted to anonymous posts defaming JustCircuit. The group recently launched www.StopPeter.com in an effort to disrupt a non-sanctioned nightclub event by DJ Peter Rauhofer, a popular New York based artist. Complaints against the website and other individuals and organizations have now been lodged.
“As if the recent Twitter message (www.twitter.com/circuitparty) from an acoount that features Noize Magazine suggesting that JustCircuit ‘steals from HIV patients and the Task Force’ and also accuses us of ‘fraud’ was not hideous and libelous enough, this anonymous group now supports attacks against JustCircuit using an anonymous, libelous post from yet another website that is already under scrutiny by FBI and other law enforcement organizations,” states Shane Rogers, JustCircuit owner. “While we cannot comment on any ongoing litigation or criminal charges filed against TheCircuitDog.com’s Tony Hayden, we can certainly confirm that criminal charges have been filed against him for past physical threats made online, with more complaints in the works.”
Hayden’s blog is well known for attacking select cross-promotional partners of One Mighty Weekend, a series of events during Gay Day weekend in Orlando in June. Hayden, an Orlando resident, has specifically attacked JustCircuit on many levels, including suggestions that JustCircuit is “anti-Semitic”, “guilty of music theft” and “guilty of fraud”. Anti-Semitism charges against JustCircuit were also posted publicly from Noize Magazine’s Steven Ceplinsky in a recent Facebook post. Ceplinsky and partner Gary Steinberg have often suggested these charges privately to JustCircuit partners and advertisers, while seeking advertising and exclusivity in sponsorship agreements from them.
Since the Twitter controversy erupted late last week, which some are calling "Noize Twittergate", Noize Magazine has now begun to distance itself from the Twitter account’s ownership, suggesting that the owner and control of the account is not actually by Noize Magazine. “Circuitparty” and “Noizemag” are listed in the Twitter section of the table of contents in Noize Magazine’s last print issue #62 Winter Edition, which was published last year. Boasting over 17,000 people on its Twitter list, the Twitter account has often been highlighted on other social media sites as Noize Magazine’s fan page on Facebook.com.
JustCircuit continues to maintain neutrality with regards to the Winter Party Festival feud with Peter Rauhofer and has worked closely with both camps for years. “Peter is an advertiser with JustCircuit. We’ve also worked with Winter Party Festival for over a decade, giving tens of thousands of dollars in promotions and support. Our neutrality might be in question by Noize and a few others, but the facts are clear that we were denied the opportunity to sponsor this year’s Winter Party due to ‘exclusivity with Noize’ by the Alex Breitman of the Task Force. We ended our own productions of our Five Ring Circuit event, which last year was co-produced by JustCircuit with the Task Force, because we will NOT compete AGAINST Winter Party Festival events. We alerted all parties at Task Force weeks ago of our decision. We have a history of doing what’s right. Peter Rauhofer’s unsanctioned event is ultimately Peter Rauhofer’s decision and JustCircuit has not been part in his production. This is exactly what Noize claimed when it publicly sponsored the Masterbeat World Tour event during Cherry Weekend a few years ago, which financially devastated Cherry’s main event with an unsanctioned party that charged a very low price for admission. It’s amazing the hypocrisy!"
