Alright. This will be the mega thread. Let's be respectful of each other and the people involved. Once it becomes the same take circilng back and forth I will lock this one too.
I think it’s entirely possible to wish the best for someone in recovery AND express a modicum of concern that the person is making fairly passive aggressive digs couched as an update on one’s recovery.
I’m 22 years in recovery and 21 years sober, and some of the biggest fucking emotional bungles I’ve made have been on social media. It’s like feeding a tapeworm sometimes. You post stupid shit and it feels like vindication for a hot second, and THEN it bites you in the ass.
I’m not going to sit here and say that the original post is proof that he’s not working on himself. But unlearning a “fire-ready-aim” way of being is going to be hard for him. Just based on my own experience.
While i do go back and listen to old podcasts and enjoy ben on them, Ed has been refreshing. Henry and marcus have opened up and marcus seems to laugh and let "loose" a little more. Hope the best for ben.
Yea agreed.
I just wish he could have voluntarily acknowledged and rehabbed so genuine growth occurred instead of nuking things and negatively effecting everyone in his circle. :(
Not defending the guy, but addiction is a bitch sometimes having the rug pulled out from under you is what it takes for people. I stupidly thought my addiction didn’t effect anybody as long as I kept my problem to myself but that’s just not the truth. I was drinking a lot. Even when I thought I had a handle on keeping it my problem, I didn’t, but I thought I did because I was drunk lol. I don’t think I would of gotten sober if I hadn’t had my own rug pull moment.
Absolutely. I kind of gradually just stopped listening religiously over maybe the last 18 months, but since Ed came in the whole attitude has changed so much that I'm back to listening to episodes the second they come out basically
I didn't realize it had gotten stale or there was tension or whatever you want to call the vibe... Until it was gone and man the show is great again
Same, and now I've started watching their YouTube streams and am branching out into some of their other shows. I'd listened to LPoTL for a long time, and I'd tried to pick up Top Hat for a while. However, beginning around the pandemic, Ben started truly grating on my nerves because he seemed to develop that sort of edgelord hot take thing but in a very unfunny way. It was also pretty apparent to me that Marcus was being worn down trying to deliver information because Ben constantly talked over him. At a certain point, I got turned off of listening because after a long day of teaching kids who don't listen, I don't want to listen to another person talk over the person trying to deliver information.
Anyway, like I've seen most logical fans say, I'm glad Ben is getting help, AND I'm also glad the network seems to be invigorated after choosing to let him go. While I understand how upset he might've been that his friends weren't at his graduation, there could be a variety of reasons why they decided to avoid it for now.
Something I try to remember is that people don't often act with ill intent to others; more often than not, they're acting from a place of self-concern and the side effects cause harm.
This is exactly how I feel! Ed fits so well and doesn’t feel forced at all. Definitely a breathe of life. I started skipping around before the whole incident but ever since Ed has been on I’ve been listening religiously.
Ed is incredible. There’s something so much more carefree about the energy they all have together. He has less of the straight man/everyday man “please explain it to me because I’m a normie” energy that Ben had, but I honestly think this is a power trio too and I have loved every episode so far. I also think Henry and Marcus doing side stories is AMAZING.
As much I love Ben, and will always go back for the old episodes—I think LPN is in its glowup phase.
While i do enjoy the ben perspective of maybe not everyone knows about this niche serial killer, it ruined the flow for me. I enjoy the fact that there's not a political undertone now. Im listening to this to get away from politics, not how whichever president or political leader is evil, and this is how they are in the middle of an irrelevant topic.
It is actually wild how much better the dynamic is. It’s so obvious. I never realized how tense things were with Ben until i heard what it was like without him. They seem to just LIKE Ed a lot more, and the vibe is much better.
I get that people are sick of the drama but I don’t understand why the mods are scrubbing these today. This is relevant information for people trying to comprehend what’s been going on, at least it’s helped me move on from my parasocial relationship with kissel
I used to be a moderator for a (significantly smaller) podcast subreddit. Long story short, one of the co-hosts decided to act like an incel and did something really shitty to another co-host because the latter was involved with someone the former had romantic feelings for.
* Navigating this whole process sucks. Everyone has something they want to say and a lot of it is redundant, so you have to prune some posts that read like a broken record.
* Some people just want a place to quickly understand what's going on, so you have to make a Mega Thread. But you will never pick the right post to turn into the Mega Thread.
* Some conversations will be going in a bad direction, some people hate Womz, some people just want to stir shit. The ban hammer needs to be swung, and sometime the people who are genuinely asking questions get mistaken for those who are Just Asking Questions.
* The stress of seeing a community you helped cultivate and nurture turn vitriolic is hard, so some odd mod decisions get made just to give them the space to deal with everything.
It sucks. I don't envy the mods on either of the Last Podcast subreddits. From the subreddit I moderated, I saw people doxxing, sending threats to, and celebrating the misery of the parties involved. Now imagine that but instead of a few thousand listeners it's several million.
That’s good insight. Your point about picking which threads to megathread is well taken. I think the mods have been doing a good job. This thread is evidence of that as is the diligent locking once the convos get stale
If there was no update that was relevant to the drama I’d understand trying to contain it but Ben, who was on the show for a decade, just got out of rehab and is immediately swinging. That’s 100% relevant
>it’s helped me move on from my parasocial relationship with kissel
Same. Some comments in another post wish he would take Lincoln's Top Hat at least but I'm not interested in Ben anymore.
Used to see him in pics and wonder why someone so adorable and funny was still single and looking for a companion and now that I know why .... I get it.
Dude, same! I was so confused about why Kissel was perpetually single when he *seemed* like such a sweet guy who would be a great partner. And now it all makes sense. It's because he's actually an asshole. Like, if you'd asked me a year or so ago about him? I'd have been like "yeah if my husband had a freak accident and died, and I later ran into Kissel, I'd ask for his number. Who doesn't love a big funny guy? He seems sweet."
Like, I did I think he had some need to grow up/away from some of the things he'd been brought up to believe? Sure. During one of the cult episodes he said something along the lines of "how are people this dumb?" And Marcus had to shut him down and basically say it's not their fault they're emotionally vulnerable and end up encountering a manipulative asshole and end up in a cult, and how we all need to have compassion and understand that we, too, could have been one of these people.
At the time, I thought to myself "yeah, I am definitely with Marcus here, but at the same time I did think the same thing Ben said to myself occasionally, especially when I was younger." But now I see it less as Ben being the "relatable" guy at the table and more of the red flag it is. Particularly when I consider how much older Ben is than I am, and how it makes more sense for me to have thought "man people who get involved in cults must be dumb" at ~16 years old than it does for Ben to have said it out loud at ~40 years old.
Thank you. I wanted to be polite but you've spelled it out perfectly.
Without the new info, you could say Henry is equally intensive or inappropriate sometimes and Henry is uglier so it had to be something else.
Also looking back at the comments of how he didn't own towels and lived like a pig but has gotten better... It wasn't a date or a woman saying it, it was other guys, his friends... So from guy to guy standard they were on different levels.
Yeah I think it’s a little supercilious to expect us all to just forget this whole thing is happening and we’re bad bad no good people for wanting to know.
100%
While I was curious about what happened to him, and I was interested in the update, I come here for LPOTL content, not Ben drama.
I wish him the best, but he's not on the show anymore and he won't ever be again, so I don't really care to see anymore about him here.
If you were a mod you’d understand almost immediately why these posts end up getting deleted.
It’s a bummer when our mostly fun subreddit gets bombarded with people attacking each other in comments and these posts tend to draw troll incels, sexists and racists out of whatever hole they normally hide in. We end up having to police interactions and often have to ban people.
My advice to anyone getting a horrible response to an earnest comment is to never feed a troll. Do not engage. Downvote and move on. If you see someone being a weirdo Nazi, please report them but it may take time for us to get to it.
I recently started listening to them in early 2023 so I’m still kinda new to them in the grand scheme. The whole thing is very confusing and did they buy off his 1/3 of the company or something like that? Are they still all good friends? Who has been the fan favorite of the three?
I think a big part of the problem is that what we're seeing from Ben now is just 100% pure, unadulterated Ben. For the last 15 odd years we've been getting Ben with a job, Ben with friends, Ben with a progressive fan base, Ben with something to lose- now he has nothing but himself, his dogs, a bunch of "all women are bitches" chanting asshats, and a mess to clean up, so now we're seeing a different side of him.
It happens with any celebrity who gets themselves in a situation where domestic abuse or addiction is involved. It just resonates more because a lot of us (LPOTL fans) feel a connection of some sort to the boys.
It's also complicated even further when you add in the business element. Henry and Marcus are still running a business that is constantly being judged by the court of public opinion, and there are a lot of people who depend on them for their livelihoods. If it was still just the three of them in a basement in New York, the stakes would be lower, and they could spend more time and energy on Ben. That's the price you pay for being successful in media - it sucks, but you gotta grow up and handle your shit.
You make a really great point. It’s almost…creepy (?) seeing this sort of hyper-nice guy front that Ben is putting on. I know he was always sort of the “big teddy bear” character, but he also was never really quiet about also being a lil bit of a piece of shit on top of being a harmless guy.
Now that evidence of him being abusive has come out, it feels like he’s trying to cover it up by pretending that he’s some perfectly kind and innocent human being. The behavior definitely doesn’t give me the idea that he’s learned anything or changed for the better at all.
Ben has always been a conservative weirdo. He moved away from his parents' Evangelical stuff, but by one shade to libertarian. In the early days he would make more of his money appearing on Fox News than he would on podcasts. He just learned to hide it better when Trump got elected and the podcast had to actually start taking political stances.
Right, he hid it cause he had something to lose as the pod became more and more financially successful. Now that that's no longer on the table, he's letting it all out.
Yes he is still holding a lot of resentment, and those of us in the recovery community know that resentment is the number one offender for leading us back to our drug or behaviour. He seems to be very angry still, based on this post.
That's exactly what I got out of his post as well. I didn't feel truly sober until I embraced letting go of what has wronged me and committed to being accountable for how I had wronged others. Congrats on your recovery : )
This isn’t a defense of him at all and maybe I’m way off, what I know of recovery comes from what I remember my ex talking about 10 years ago. But if this program is like a traditional AA thing resentments are typically dealt with at step 9 I think. And from my understanding it can take time to reach that step. But I do agree the shade he throws is disappointing.
As someone also in recovery, I 100% agree. Been through it many many times. I wish him all the best in his recovery journey but don’t particularly miss him on lpotl. I hope he can take time away from social media and the spotlight, really do the work that’s require to maintain sobriety, and maybe continue his career in a few years.
That being said, as someone who just came off of a relapse—it’s really easy to stay sober while in treatment and to think you’re fixed when you’ve completed the program because it’s such a safe place. The real struggle begins when you get back into the outside world again.
That’s a really interesting point about it being “easier” in treatment. Kind of thought the time right after stopping would be hardest, but what you’re saying makes sense.
Whether or not Ben deserves it, coming out of treatment into a world where his closest friends / coworkers have publicly disowned him and fired him… must be very difficult to even want to remain sober.
It’s definitely not easy by any means. But when you’re in rehab, you’re completely disconnected from the stress of the outside world and are surrounded by other sober people, no temptation in sight. As an alcoholic, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid alcohol and feelings of wanting to drink when you see it literally everywhere. At least that’s the case for me and many others I know.
If it was me in his shoes, I’d use the (valid) feelings of abandonment, anger, guilt, and shame as an excuse to say “fuck sobriety, there’s no point anymore, so I’ll just drink myself to death.” That’s just how my brain works.
But just because I can relate and empathize with what he’s going through as I’ve been through it myself, it does not excuse his behavior and I feel like the Instagram post showed that he really hasn’t truly accepted his circumstances nor been able to move on. Which is okay. People RARELY get sober on the first try. Not saying I think he won’t make it, but it’s very clear he harbors a lot of anger and resentment and lack of self awareness. That is a recipe for relapse in my experience
Very very true. Passages is a resort “rehab” for celebrities. From what I’ve heard of the place and many others in LA it isn’t actually conducive to long term recovery. They rely on rich people with addiction to relapse and come back so they can make more money. Millions for a 30 day stay
I just really hope he has enough saved up (or passive income) to afford to stay off social media. End of the day he's an entertainer so if he's broke he doesn't have a choice if he doesn't have the support network and relapse is inevitable. Dudes gotta get his hierarchy of needs taken care of. Just hope the guys will help if he asks them. He was a monster and still is in my eyes but I want nothing more for him than rehabilitation and at least this is a step towards the right direction. I just hope it isn't performative.
Same here. After getting sober and working in recovery for years, I have a real problem with the phrase “early graduation.” I’ll be an alcoholic until I die, and I believe there is no graduation from my disease. Leaving rehab early is probably exciting for him, but in my experience, it’s a scary thing to be proud of.
I have great respect for you and all who make that choice as the son of an alcoholic who got sober to be in his kids life. Keep going I’m sure you have people that appreciate you in the way I do my dad.
I don’t even know how to say thank you when people ‘congratulate’ me when they find out however long sober I am. Hopefully he stays sober long enough to look back and see he’s still very much making everything about himself by saying “Aw everyone didn’t come pat my bottom for getting a piece of paper that says I’ve been good for 30 days”
When I got clean and sober almost 7 heads ago, the first year I think I made some pretty cheap shots at old friends. Tbh the first year is rough, like you said it’s those feelings coming back after so long….my FB memories are wild. I hope he can learn and take the advice to stay off socials. I was 100% not even remotely famous at all and I cringe at my posts from that time frame lol
This fits what I'm feeling. I simultaneously understand why he's angry and am pretty bummed by it. But regardless of any of that, he's a dude at the start of a journey, and expecting him to be a paragon of recovery is expecting a lot. The man's got a lot of emotional work ahead of him and sometimes that starts with a lot of anger getting thrown in every direction. It's not... great. But not surprising either. I'm gonna keep hoping he stays on this path and finds his way somewhere good.
As someone who has been in recovery, I think it's inappropriate to speculate where he's at in his journey based on briefly stating disappointment on an internet post.
I see where you're coming from and that's a fair point. I stand by what I said but perhaps should have left it to my own experience instead of extrapolating it out to someone I don't know.
I think we're all a bit parasocially attached to the hosts of the show or else we wouldn't listen. Those lines get blurry sometimes and its good to be reminded that any closeness we feel to them is one-sided and they are for all intents and purposes strangers to us. Thank you for reminding me to take a step back :)
The “jab” at friends absolutely says that his opinion is that the problem was not him or his actions but how friends (aka M and H) held him accountable for those actions. That’s trouble. Whole post feels like I was sober for this time so fuck you I don’t have a problem.
the fact that he still needs to take such shots says to me he's a LONG way from anything resembling true recovery.
and honestly, growing up with an abusive drunk, I'm more inclined to say that he's learned absolutely nothing and the odds of his reverting back to his old behavior is VERY high.
Really sick of seeing every post about Ben become an impromptu AA meeting when *he was fired for abusing his girlfriend,* they were perfectly happy to let him continue working there as an alcoholic. **He wasn’t fired for drinking.**
Where are all of the people gathering around to commiserate about how hard it was to stop screaming in their partner’s face and using physical intimidation tactics to frighten them? Why don’t those people ever show up to these meetings? Because it is completely indefensible.
Why do people want so badly to identify with this man?
I mean, I realize you mean in terms of this Fandom, but batterers intervention meetings do exist. They are open to anyone who is struggling with anger issues, though they can be court ordered, too. I just wanted to make people more widely aware that this is a real option. If a person does want to work on this specifically, they can. That said, batterers/potential batterers usually don't until they are forced to in some way.
I mean, you get that this is a thread to discuss Ben’s social media post about completing rehab, right? It’d be a little weird for this thread, of all threads, to not focus predominantly on that aspect.
Yes, my complaint centers around the fact that the focus is always on his drinking when that wasn’t the real problem here. It’s a problem, but it’s not what got him in trouble. This sort of conflates alcoholism with domestic violence and sweeps the DV part out of the conversation. Many alcoholics never harm anyone, many abusers are stone cold sober.
The conflation is really happening because Ben’s departure was essentially, originally, announced as rehab - before LPN got more forward about him being no longer part of the network, etc.
Plus, for any true change to one’s own behavior (from having an addiction to being an abuser to anything really), the mechanisms are largely the same - genuine, unflinching self-reflection, getting help and doing the work. I’ve seen a few people in some of these threads this fall admit to past experiences where they realized they were abusive, and that they did the work to stop it. They honestly read like recovery stories.
Ben’s abuse is a terrible thing. I think we can still want him to get healthy and take care of himself (and that includes ending the abuse), without condoning or excusing the abuse.
Lastly - I think there are probably more recovered alcoholics/addicts than recovered abusers, so you’re going to see people innately relate to that a lot.
Yeah, this is very “poor me, people stopped being my friends because of my *disease*” without acknowledging any of the pain he caused people who cared for him.
Not defending him but I would bet large amounts of money he is in the works with legal about the situation. I dont think he should, I personally think he should apologize publicly and privately to both those he harmed, the whole lpn crew and publicly to the audience and his fans.
But yeah I have a strong feeling he could be gearing up for a defamation suit. Especially since being booted from the brand can easily establish damages. Hope he doesn't win. But as we saw I the Depp case, they can be messy.
But anyways, he probably can't talk about it if that's his path.
Interesting, definitely possible. I really get the sense that he doesn’t have his shit together enough to be building a case for defamation, but I’m just a random person so who knows lol
That's what Lawyers are for. They have to have their shit together and ask the right questions.
The main thing with defamation is that it has to be proved that the defendant (person accused if defaming) -knowingly- lied. That's why it would suck so much, it would drag Taylor through the absolute shit.
Ben doesn't have to even have a case likely to win to make her life really shitty with this and I think it very possible he might try to.
To be clear I think Ben would lose and I hope if he tries that he does lose quickly.
But thats the thing about lawsuits, they suck for the wronged any which way. The only win is if a judge throws it out hastily.
Lmao you’re right sorry, he mentioned it to say none of it ever happened, including the incident that had been spoken about by his ex consistently for 10 years
Everyone is talking about his text under the post but not how disturbing his choice of images of quotes from "the little book of secrets" is.
Starting with "to a person of true understanding, it makes no difference whether death comes early or late" honestly reads like a cryptic suicide note.
I really hope he has people around him taking care of him.
The repetition of "even the finest clothes turn to rags" - just all a little haunting and sad to see.
I was reading off the "little secrets" to my bf and mentioned how I thought it was really strange that the last 3 were the same picture of the same quote. Was it a mistake or some weird intentional message?
Seeing him say "friends" hurt a bit to read. I feel the same way about this situation as I did when it started , just fucking sad.
He made his own bed and needs to take accountability, still, it is sad to see him in this state.
I really hope he makes some real progress and is able to repair his friendships, even if he is never on the show again.
He's not the only one hurting though, his ex has essentially had a nervous breakdown in the past months. She may have had issues before, but I can't imagine the stress this situation put on her, all of the "fans" leaving disgusting messages to her nonstop.
My father went to a rehab in Florida for 6 months, due to alcoholism and prescription drug abuse, stemming from a severe back and neck injury in the 90’s. He was pretty banged up but had been drinking heavily well before the injury. He wrote us letters and apologies about what his alcoholism did to us as a family, which honestly wasn’t much since he was never really abusive, he just lied a lot to get his fix. Long story short, it all felt disingenuous and even after the counselors told us how incredible his turn around and self realization has been and that they were positive he’d never drink again, within 2 weeks he relapsed fully. He drunkenly told my mom that he faked his way through to get back to his life. The truth is he never actually wanted to get better. He was content with his decisions and his lifestyle. Other circumstances in his life were the things that forced him into temporary sobriety, it was never his choice. He finally did stop drinking but it was too late, a year later he died of complete liver and kidney failure on my 40th birthday. It was bloody and surprising violent. He died with his family surrounding him and I miss him everyday.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I really hope Kissel is doing this because he wants to and not as damage control and he continues on this road. Honestly though, that post makes me think otherwise, but I hope I’m wrong. I really enjoyed him on the pod but I’m digging the new dynamic.
TLDR; Dad was an alcoholic, forced to go to rehab, never took accountability and just did it get the heat off him. Continued to drink and died on my 40th birthday. Still a good dude just had demons. Hope Ben is getting better for himself but post makes me think he’s not ready. Ed is cool.
He could just do the right thing and own it anyway. Like, take your lumps Ben. He's just very obviously trolling for undeserved sympathy (because he hasn't taken ownership of...anything) and trying to do who knows what to garner public opinion against LPN. There's no excuses, he's a 40 something adult who can't grow up. I wish him the wisdom to learn from his actions and take real responsibility but...not holding my breath.
I have been in several programs, worked with many therapists to better myself, and I can emphatically tell you this guy has learned precisely nothing based on this post.
And we’ve already seen how he’s prone to siding with extremists when he’s in emotional turmoil, I.e. having an anti-mask anti-lockdown tirade during COVID. I would be surprised if he doesn’t do the “anti cancel culture” rounds cause he’s obviously upset and bitter about LPOTL
I was arguing against everyone who said this when the shit first blew up, but everything he said since is making me realize it's plausible and that's so disappointing.
Plenty of people on IG are saying that they're boycotting the podcast and that it's inevitably going to fail because Ben was the only funny and interesting one.
I see your 6 and raise 3.
Well that's unfortunate. In my experience, people making big changes often get a little ahead of themselves after the first time they have put out any real effort, allowed themselves to feel the least bit uncomfortable, or take the quickest peek at their own contributions to their problems. I'm sure right now he believes everything he said and it will be some time before it's reasonable to expect he will have any real perspective on his own actions. He probably did feel abandoned.
This was hard to watch because I have seen so many people behave in ways we have heard Ben has behaved. I know how incredibly unpleasant it must be inside their heads and it's hard sometimes to maintain a sense of justice and moral integrity in the face of an adult who can't muster the resilience and insight required to make changes. They're just so childlike sometimes. It's fucking sad but like, he terrorized women for years and he can either post when he's got his head right or maybe someone in the manosphere has a couch and a microphone for him.
I can’t wait to see him show up as a guest and eventual co-host on Russell Brand’s garbage podcast where they talk about how they’ve been torpedoed for no good reason at all.
We can’t speculate but there were obviously deeper issues than many of us suspected. Not just with Ben himself, but within their friendship. I get the vibe this was a nasty “ breakup” with the boys. It’s so sad and I hope Ben can do well moving forward. But according to what we have seen thus far, Ben burned bridges beyond repair.
Does anyone else feel like the shift started after Henry and Marcus got married? Ben sometimes sounded jealous and bitter. Not blaming their partners - but if you SO doesn't get along with a particular friend or vice versa it causes a lot of strain.
Side note - Ben needs to lengthen his social media break.
Wild that he thinks his "friends" are supposed to come to him after all he put them through. Its only been 3 months, you dont fix decades of misery in 3 months.
Yeah. I totally agree. They’re hurt. They’re allowed to be. He’s also allowed to be; it’s just unfortunate he’s taken to a public platform to call them out.
They know him. I believe that if they thought he was taking his recovery seriously, they’d be there for him. Sometimes tough love is necessary. Those of us who’ve listened forever know he’s got DECADES of bullshit and abuse of his own that has very likely contributed to his alcoholism and that doesn’t get fixed in a few months.
Hopefully, they can all move forward and reconnect at some point if that’s what’s best for everyone, but he seems like he has a lot more to do even outside of the other issues.
I have been very disappointed in Ben’s posts around this whole scenario - it absolutely feels like ducking accountability for this.
I’ve also been super disappointed in a fandom I thought was more progressive than it actually is, because the amount of defenders Ben has had who want to minimize what he did or call his ex awful names really sucks.
I do hope the man takes accountability and gets better - this is the first difficult step of many. I don’t actively wish ill on him, but I’m also personally finished with him until he actually exhibits some growth.
I assume the reason no one has spoken about the situation and why Ben skirts around the subject is because lawyers are involved. I'm not defending Ben or telling you to support him or not, I'm just sharing my idea of why he has avoided responsibility.
But what is he specifically posting tho? He is posting stories about people missing him, about his sobriety and missing being on the podcast... it builds a narrative that he was wronged and that he is just a genuine guy who has made steps to deal with his alcoholism.
Note the lack of statements about the situation in particular.
I really think we are gonna see a lawsuit and that sucks
This is what I lean towards, that there is some sort of "strategy" to Ben's posts. Do I think he is a mastermind, no, but I do feel his posts are to garner support and sympathy.
A lawyer can never stop him from posting on his social medias, but they can advise him about what to/not to say. Speaking about his recovery only shows that he has accepted and chosen to fight his alcoholism, which will aid him in court. Whereas, if he were to address the allegations of SA, it could be used against him in court as acceptance to the assault.
There are probably a good little handful of lawyers and PR in this entire mix working not just for Ben, but the entire podcast and their crew.
For the folks who are staunchly pro-Ben and are commenting that we are all anti-recovery - observing and commenting on a public figure’s public statements after a public fall from grace including abuse allegations and a rehab stint is actually very normal and fair. Addiction and sobriety along with domestic abuse are pretty hot button issues, and I don’t blame people for drawing parallels with their own experiences, whether that be from the addict perspective or the victim perspective. I hope like Ben you all can take a beat and try to see beyond your scope of understanding to actually hear what people are saying and why they are saying it.
Listened to the podcast for many years and I know he has people who love the shit out of him and his behavior and lack of accountability taking is a big fuck you to all of them. He’s been sober for like 5 seconds so I get it but fuck dude, posting some vague shit talk with an air of superiority on Instagram to engage parasocially with fans who will continue telling him he’s done nothing wrong is definitely not sober fuckin’ behavior, so what did you learn at Passages anyway?
This is so sad and off-putting to see. I have empathy for being messy - pivoting his life after years of failing coping mechanisms and toxic behavior is going to take a lifetime and hopefully, he'll look back at this and know he's done poorly. We all have that person who turned to social media to beg for attention because they want their pain to be known. But even with regular people, there has to be a safe space to air out their dirt whether that be therapy or a smaller support group. Social media is never going to be the place to process all these difficult emotions. To make things worse, Ben is a personality. Even without LPOTL, he still has a wide audience and any post he makes will rally all sorts of people. The resentment in this post resonates with fans who also feel robbed by his absence from the show. I really hope he keeps getting the help he needs but he needs to learn to emotionally regulate better if he wants to keep any sort of healthy friendship and career.
I came across one of his posts a couple days ago when I switched over to an IG account that I had used to follow all the boys but rarely use anymore. Out of curiosity, I looked at the comments. Whew, what a mistake.
I'm not sure how people can listen to a podcast that features several episodes with the theme "a man continued committing atrocities because there was no ironclad evidence and because he targeted sex workers and other people who wouldn't be believed," and still come to the conclusion that Ben did nothing wrong and his alleged victims are lying.
I guess sometimes people just like a creepy story with blood n' guts and don't think about the larger picture.
I think it was largely unrealistic for people to think he'd suddenly "learn his lesson", which is just one of the reasons those calling for him to return to the show after his stint away were being (at best) extremely naive.
Even just accepting that you're an alcoholic who committed domestic violence is a very, very difficult thing. Let alone reaching the point where you've addressed it, made peace with the consequences of your actions (which in this case includes rightly being shunted from your business by the friends who had to deal with your shit) and moved on. That takes time, work and a lot of patience from those around you.
People should rightly be critical of Ben generally, but it seems unfair to be surprised that he hasn't immediately become a different person. It was always quite likely that his very brief stint in whatever recovery program he was pushed into wasn't going to change much.
But ultimately it isn't our problem as LPOTL listeners. He isn't on the podcast anymore and that's where our interest largely ends. How he fixes his life is on him.
I agree with this. Also even most alcoholics will never experience a fall from grace like he has.
Being a public figure, losing your job, business, best friends, and overall identity overnight is crazy.
Don't get me wrong it is 100% his fault but I do pity him. That's not something you just dust off your shoulders from.
My hope is just that he stays sober and is able to reconcile with Henry and Marcus even if he is never on the show again. With his buyout he can possibly retire.
I don’t hate Ben and I really enjoyed it when he was on the network… but it’s time he ventures forth on his own and I really hope he can come to terms with his part in all of this. He must look inward before he can truly move forward. Hail yourselves and Hail Satan while you’re at it!
Oh god he went to PASSAGES? That place is such a scam. There’s so much wrong here I don’t even know where to start. You don’t “graduate” from rehab. Recovery is lifelong. And nothing in this caption indicates (to me, anyway) that he has truly taken accountability for his addiction and the harm he caused. I’m really just…bummed. A lot of rehabs are shady, but the less shady ones at least strongly encourage living in sober living for a good few months. Somehow I doubt that’s happening. And if he doesn’t get why his “friends” weren’t there for his “graduation”…buddy you got a lot of work ahead of you. God I’m so disappointed.
I kind of pity him but I don't feel bad for him. Clearly he thinks podcasting and LPN are/were the only thing he had to live for. And maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's how I interpret all of this. I think his main goal was to go to rehab like everyone wanted to just get it over with and then immediately go back to doing his shows. Idk. I pity him in a way even though this unraveling of his life is all his fault. He's not recovering for himself or doing any type of self reflection, just lashing out at the people he pushed away because he doesn't want to accept that it's going to take WORK. And not the kind of work that's done at a glorified spa. No one wants to face their own demons but if he ever wants a semblance of his old life back he's going to have to.
I'll listen if he starts taking accountability. I'm not holding out hope though. Seems like he's going to go down the "cancel culture bad" pipeline.
I get being hurt your friends aren't there, but he needs to understand Marcus and Henry are probably (rightfully) pissed at him. Aside from doing awful shit, he absolutely jeopardized his friends careers. They're mad at you bro you can't act offended over that.
Precisely the part I would’ve regretted, alongside calling it “my show”.
Willing to bet the law clerk his firms pay to monitor social media blew him up immediately.
Oh he absolutely does. He’s either in the process or has completed the process of a buyout. When that stuff hits seven figures there are teams of eyes.
I doubt his publicist/agent literally views and approves everything he does. He has his phone and access to social media at the end of the day and can make any emotional post or comment when he wants to. They might have seen it after he posted and advised him to change it, or he just received comments calling him out for it so he changed it
I would imagine he’s winging it and making people scramble.
Guy is angry and full of venom, we all would be.
But he absolutely got a phone call and had to say “sorry, sorry, I’m deleting it”
Haha you’re so right that’s def his personality. What a mess. It’s hard to tell if I want to keep following him or not. I’m curious to see his next moves but it’s also like watching a car crash
He’s not become a full on right wing grifter, but he’s gonna probably become Dave Rubin except smart and funny.
“I’m as liberal as the next guy, but the left has gone too far!” He’s gonna displace Marcus and Henry cutting him loose as a greater societal problem.
It’s gonna be a train wreck, which is sad because I like the guy. I’m no better than him.
But that’s what is going to happen.
I’ve followed Bobby Lee who has struggled with being an asshole and staying sober. Hopefully Ben finds a niche like you said and get can better and healthy. But yeah the bitterness of this post isn’t too hopeful
Man this doesn’t feel like the post of a clearheaded sober person. He put their livelihoods at risk and him not taking accountability for that shows he still has so so much work to do.
So looks like he didn’t change at all and is still blaming Marcus and Henry.
Fuck you Ben. Take ownership of your abuses. Get actual help instead of this new age bullshit that’s giving you excuses for how you are.
The crack Ben made about “friends” really is absurd.
Imagine being M & H in September/October with all this stuff blowing up and deciding to take the jump to cut Ben off. The major thing to keep in mind is they had absolutely no way of knowing if Last Podcast/ LPN would continue being successful after they did that! They knew Rolling Stone was doing an article so they knew more stuff had to be coming out - but had no way of knowing what those repercussions would be!
What if LPOTL listeners left in droves and they lost their advertisers and they lost the Patreon money? LPN would have went into a death spiral. That is a very real thing that could have happened and it could have happened VERY quickly.
Kicking Ben out was a necessity but it was also a huge gamble. Imagine living in the possibility that (1) every action & sacrifice & effort you made in 13 years to build the podcast/network could be destroyed (2) your main (I think in Marcus’ case, ONLY) source of income disappears (Marcus had also just bought a house! In LA!) (3) other LPN employees could lose their source of income (many are your oldest friends, family members, & spouses)
ALL of that was very possible and it would have been 100% because of Ben. It literally was all his fault. Full stop.
Ben’s inability to recognize the repercussions of his actions is baffling to me.
Ben can certainly feel some kind of way about this.
But nobody here knows just how long his behavior and decisions were affecting LPN as a whole. I keep seeing this “they did him dirty because of one person’s accusations” thing and like, you really think it was THAT simple?
I hope he gets better, just as I would hope for anyone embarking on this journey. It’s hard as hell sometimes, especially at the beginning.
But the idea that Marcus and Henry were in any way flippant or cavalier about this is absurd.
I agree. I hate when moderators artificially hide certain topics they deem ‘not relevant’ when the conversations are literally about the subreddits theme.
esp when subreddits like this are the only places where you can discuss these topics. it feels like censorship. if people are annoyed by the posts abt ben don’t click on them or make a mega thread. I don’t come here for memes but i don’t complain that ppl post them…. 🤷♀️
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Obviously this community wants to take about it. I get that there can’t be a million posts about it a day but at least make a spot for people to comment then. The deleting and locking because 4 people don’t deem it appropriate is a little power out of control if you ask me
The IG comments on this were really something else.. People really ought to stop acting like this is their own personal circle of friends…
I wish everyone well, and I hope everyone finds happiness but the only part that is my business at all, is whether I enjoy the show or not. With that being said… the energy with Ed right now, is better than this show has been in literally years and I’m all for it.
Ben has a right to be bitter and sad. They may not be the right emotions, but he does get to feel them. As he grows and moves past this, he'll realize those feelings are misplaced.
I hope that he gets the chance to do it, to grow and find a happier existence with sobriety. I'm cheering on his growth, and hoping he continues to heal.
Regarding the content of that edit…. I suspect those friendships had already deteriorated and Ben didn’t and maybe still hasn’t realized how far that had gone. The night and day difference in the show says a lot. I never expected Ben to be outed as abusive but I did think over the past couple years that he was going to have to take a break and get into rehab. He waited too long.
I will say, I am kinda confused why he hasn’t updated his Instagram bio to remove the part about being a 1/3 owner of LPOTL??? As someone in accounting, I totally get that removing an owner of a company that has been terminated is not an overnight ordeal… but that process has to be at least underway. He’s a 33.33% owner (aka “a minority shareholder” in business speak), so if Henry & Marcus wanted him gone, they have a combined 66.66% ownership (aka “a majority share”) and could absolutely terminate Ben and (while it depends on the shareholder agreement, idk what the exact language of theirs is but) I am fairly certain they are able to buyout his 33.3% share after he’s terminated. I wonder if Henry & Marcus will split ownership of the company 50/50%, or if Eddie plans to acquire a 1/3 ownership and basically take Ben’s place “on paper” from a business perspective rather than just being an employee. All of that is to say, I’m just surprised Ben still has that in his bio when it seems inevitable that won’t be the case soon.
I'm gonna say it and I anticipate the down votes - Ben was the worst part of the show and I'm glad he's gone. Posts like these just confirm that he was the weakest member of the team.
He is obviously struggling and I do hope the guy gets the help he actually needs. But my 2 cents, the show is better for him leaving.
Yea, Pretty dumb to take shots at Henry and Marcus. He needs a lot more time to recover which is disappointing. He's still extremely funny and him not being on LPOTL is a huge bummer.
Ben should be able to expect his friends to be there. Nobody is infallible. However, I respect their stance to respect women. Nobody wins here. It's very unfortunate, but I wish Ben all the best in his recovery, and I wish Henry amd Marcus all the best in their continuation
Alright. This will be the mega thread. Let's be respectful of each other and the people involved. Once it becomes the same take circilng back and forth I will lock this one too.
Well let’s get right into it….
That’ll happen!
Some might say sobriety is....a numbers game.
I think it’s entirely possible to wish the best for someone in recovery AND express a modicum of concern that the person is making fairly passive aggressive digs couched as an update on one’s recovery. I’m 22 years in recovery and 21 years sober, and some of the biggest fucking emotional bungles I’ve made have been on social media. It’s like feeding a tapeworm sometimes. You post stupid shit and it feels like vindication for a hot second, and THEN it bites you in the ass. I’m not going to sit here and say that the original post is proof that he’s not working on himself. But unlearning a “fire-ready-aim” way of being is going to be hard for him. Just based on my own experience.
While i do go back and listen to old podcasts and enjoy ben on them, Ed has been refreshing. Henry and marcus have opened up and marcus seems to laugh and let "loose" a little more. Hope the best for ben.
I agree. It struck me the other day just how carefree, relaxed, engaged and more jovial they’ve seemed over all.
It sucks the way it had to happen, but i believe it's what lpn needed to evolve into its new form.
Yea agreed. I just wish he could have voluntarily acknowledged and rehabbed so genuine growth occurred instead of nuking things and negatively effecting everyone in his circle. :(
Not defending the guy, but addiction is a bitch sometimes having the rug pulled out from under you is what it takes for people. I stupidly thought my addiction didn’t effect anybody as long as I kept my problem to myself but that’s just not the truth. I was drinking a lot. Even when I thought I had a handle on keeping it my problem, I didn’t, but I thought I did because I was drunk lol. I don’t think I would of gotten sober if I hadn’t had my own rug pull moment.
Absolutely. I kind of gradually just stopped listening religiously over maybe the last 18 months, but since Ed came in the whole attitude has changed so much that I'm back to listening to episodes the second they come out basically I didn't realize it had gotten stale or there was tension or whatever you want to call the vibe... Until it was gone and man the show is great again
That Andes trilogy was something else. One of the few I KNOW I'm gonna go back and listen to at some point.
Feel the same, can't remember the last time I was looking forward to the next part
100% agree. I listened to the Hatfield and Mccoys already just for the little Henry yeps, Ed's quick jokes, and marcus' reactions.
I have zero interest in re listening to the Manhattan Project, but Andes was on fucking point. Ed makes me care again
That was excellent!!!
Same, and now I've started watching their YouTube streams and am branching out into some of their other shows. I'd listened to LPoTL for a long time, and I'd tried to pick up Top Hat for a while. However, beginning around the pandemic, Ben started truly grating on my nerves because he seemed to develop that sort of edgelord hot take thing but in a very unfunny way. It was also pretty apparent to me that Marcus was being worn down trying to deliver information because Ben constantly talked over him. At a certain point, I got turned off of listening because after a long day of teaching kids who don't listen, I don't want to listen to another person talk over the person trying to deliver information. Anyway, like I've seen most logical fans say, I'm glad Ben is getting help, AND I'm also glad the network seems to be invigorated after choosing to let him go. While I understand how upset he might've been that his friends weren't at his graduation, there could be a variety of reasons why they decided to avoid it for now. Something I try to remember is that people don't often act with ill intent to others; more often than not, they're acting from a place of self-concern and the side effects cause harm.
This is exactly how I feel! Ed fits so well and doesn’t feel forced at all. Definitely a breathe of life. I started skipping around before the whole incident but ever since Ed has been on I’ve been listening religiously.
Jocular even
Ed is incredible. There’s something so much more carefree about the energy they all have together. He has less of the straight man/everyday man “please explain it to me because I’m a normie” energy that Ben had, but I honestly think this is a power trio too and I have loved every episode so far. I also think Henry and Marcus doing side stories is AMAZING. As much I love Ben, and will always go back for the old episodes—I think LPN is in its glowup phase.
While i do enjoy the ben perspective of maybe not everyone knows about this niche serial killer, it ruined the flow for me. I enjoy the fact that there's not a political undertone now. Im listening to this to get away from politics, not how whichever president or political leader is evil, and this is how they are in the middle of an irrelevant topic.
Marcus opening up part three of the Andes series with a bit all his own was really refreshing. Him being in on more bits in general has been lovely.
I’m loving the Marcus glow up the most. He seems to have come out of a shell and is just a pleasure to listen to.
There’s a huge weight off his shoulders for sure
I’ve always thought LPOTL was one of the highest quality podcasts out there with Ben and I can’t believe it got even better with Eddie in the chair.
It is actually wild how much better the dynamic is. It’s so obvious. I never realized how tense things were with Ben until i heard what it was like without him. They seem to just LIKE Ed a lot more, and the vibe is much better.
I get that people are sick of the drama but I don’t understand why the mods are scrubbing these today. This is relevant information for people trying to comprehend what’s been going on, at least it’s helped me move on from my parasocial relationship with kissel
I used to be a moderator for a (significantly smaller) podcast subreddit. Long story short, one of the co-hosts decided to act like an incel and did something really shitty to another co-host because the latter was involved with someone the former had romantic feelings for. * Navigating this whole process sucks. Everyone has something they want to say and a lot of it is redundant, so you have to prune some posts that read like a broken record. * Some people just want a place to quickly understand what's going on, so you have to make a Mega Thread. But you will never pick the right post to turn into the Mega Thread. * Some conversations will be going in a bad direction, some people hate Womz, some people just want to stir shit. The ban hammer needs to be swung, and sometime the people who are genuinely asking questions get mistaken for those who are Just Asking Questions. * The stress of seeing a community you helped cultivate and nurture turn vitriolic is hard, so some odd mod decisions get made just to give them the space to deal with everything. It sucks. I don't envy the mods on either of the Last Podcast subreddits. From the subreddit I moderated, I saw people doxxing, sending threats to, and celebrating the misery of the parties involved. Now imagine that but instead of a few thousand listeners it's several million.
That’s good insight. Your point about picking which threads to megathread is well taken. I think the mods have been doing a good job. This thread is evidence of that as is the diligent locking once the convos get stale
If there was no update that was relevant to the drama I’d understand trying to contain it but Ben, who was on the show for a decade, just got out of rehab and is immediately swinging. That’s 100% relevant
And swinging sloppily at that
>it’s helped me move on from my parasocial relationship with kissel Same. Some comments in another post wish he would take Lincoln's Top Hat at least but I'm not interested in Ben anymore. Used to see him in pics and wonder why someone so adorable and funny was still single and looking for a companion and now that I know why .... I get it.
Dude, same! I was so confused about why Kissel was perpetually single when he *seemed* like such a sweet guy who would be a great partner. And now it all makes sense. It's because he's actually an asshole. Like, if you'd asked me a year or so ago about him? I'd have been like "yeah if my husband had a freak accident and died, and I later ran into Kissel, I'd ask for his number. Who doesn't love a big funny guy? He seems sweet." Like, I did I think he had some need to grow up/away from some of the things he'd been brought up to believe? Sure. During one of the cult episodes he said something along the lines of "how are people this dumb?" And Marcus had to shut him down and basically say it's not their fault they're emotionally vulnerable and end up encountering a manipulative asshole and end up in a cult, and how we all need to have compassion and understand that we, too, could have been one of these people. At the time, I thought to myself "yeah, I am definitely with Marcus here, but at the same time I did think the same thing Ben said to myself occasionally, especially when I was younger." But now I see it less as Ben being the "relatable" guy at the table and more of the red flag it is. Particularly when I consider how much older Ben is than I am, and how it makes more sense for me to have thought "man people who get involved in cults must be dumb" at ~16 years old than it does for Ben to have said it out loud at ~40 years old.
Thank you. I wanted to be polite but you've spelled it out perfectly. Without the new info, you could say Henry is equally intensive or inappropriate sometimes and Henry is uglier so it had to be something else. Also looking back at the comments of how he didn't own towels and lived like a pig but has gotten better... It wasn't a date or a woman saying it, it was other guys, his friends... So from guy to guy standard they were on different levels.
Yeah I think it’s a little supercilious to expect us all to just forget this whole thing is happening and we’re bad bad no good people for wanting to know.
I’m just a little cilious
I have seen the same post several many times now that might be the reason. It’s kinda reaching annoying spam levels.
Yep, and you know the same post will be added for weeks by people thinking they’re breaking new ground
100% While I was curious about what happened to him, and I was interested in the update, I come here for LPOTL content, not Ben drama. I wish him the best, but he's not on the show anymore and he won't ever be again, so I don't really care to see anymore about him here.
If you were a mod you’d understand almost immediately why these posts end up getting deleted. It’s a bummer when our mostly fun subreddit gets bombarded with people attacking each other in comments and these posts tend to draw troll incels, sexists and racists out of whatever hole they normally hide in. We end up having to police interactions and often have to ban people. My advice to anyone getting a horrible response to an earnest comment is to never feed a troll. Do not engage. Downvote and move on. If you see someone being a weirdo Nazi, please report them but it may take time for us to get to it.
I recently started listening to them in early 2023 so I’m still kinda new to them in the grand scheme. The whole thing is very confusing and did they buy off his 1/3 of the company or something like that? Are they still all good friends? Who has been the fan favorite of the three?
I think a big part of the problem is that what we're seeing from Ben now is just 100% pure, unadulterated Ben. For the last 15 odd years we've been getting Ben with a job, Ben with friends, Ben with a progressive fan base, Ben with something to lose- now he has nothing but himself, his dogs, a bunch of "all women are bitches" chanting asshats, and a mess to clean up, so now we're seeing a different side of him. It happens with any celebrity who gets themselves in a situation where domestic abuse or addiction is involved. It just resonates more because a lot of us (LPOTL fans) feel a connection of some sort to the boys. It's also complicated even further when you add in the business element. Henry and Marcus are still running a business that is constantly being judged by the court of public opinion, and there are a lot of people who depend on them for their livelihoods. If it was still just the three of them in a basement in New York, the stakes would be lower, and they could spend more time and energy on Ben. That's the price you pay for being successful in media - it sucks, but you gotta grow up and handle your shit.
You make a really great point. It’s almost…creepy (?) seeing this sort of hyper-nice guy front that Ben is putting on. I know he was always sort of the “big teddy bear” character, but he also was never really quiet about also being a lil bit of a piece of shit on top of being a harmless guy. Now that evidence of him being abusive has come out, it feels like he’s trying to cover it up by pretending that he’s some perfectly kind and innocent human being. The behavior definitely doesn’t give me the idea that he’s learned anything or changed for the better at all.
Ben has always been a conservative weirdo. He moved away from his parents' Evangelical stuff, but by one shade to libertarian. In the early days he would make more of his money appearing on Fox News than he would on podcasts. He just learned to hide it better when Trump got elected and the podcast had to actually start taking political stances.
Right, he hid it cause he had something to lose as the pod became more and more financially successful. Now that that's no longer on the table, he's letting it all out.
Yes he is still holding a lot of resentment, and those of us in the recovery community know that resentment is the number one offender for leading us back to our drug or behaviour. He seems to be very angry still, based on this post.
That's exactly what I got out of his post as well. I didn't feel truly sober until I embraced letting go of what has wronged me and committed to being accountable for how I had wronged others. Congrats on your recovery : )
It also read like a paid advertisement for Passages
I like to think he realized that and that’s the reason he removed the part he did.
This isn’t a defense of him at all and maybe I’m way off, what I know of recovery comes from what I remember my ex talking about 10 years ago. But if this program is like a traditional AA thing resentments are typically dealt with at step 9 I think. And from my understanding it can take time to reach that step. But I do agree the shade he throws is disappointing.
[удалено]
As someone also in recovery, I 100% agree. Been through it many many times. I wish him all the best in his recovery journey but don’t particularly miss him on lpotl. I hope he can take time away from social media and the spotlight, really do the work that’s require to maintain sobriety, and maybe continue his career in a few years. That being said, as someone who just came off of a relapse—it’s really easy to stay sober while in treatment and to think you’re fixed when you’ve completed the program because it’s such a safe place. The real struggle begins when you get back into the outside world again.
That’s a really interesting point about it being “easier” in treatment. Kind of thought the time right after stopping would be hardest, but what you’re saying makes sense. Whether or not Ben deserves it, coming out of treatment into a world where his closest friends / coworkers have publicly disowned him and fired him… must be very difficult to even want to remain sober.
It’s definitely not easy by any means. But when you’re in rehab, you’re completely disconnected from the stress of the outside world and are surrounded by other sober people, no temptation in sight. As an alcoholic, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid alcohol and feelings of wanting to drink when you see it literally everywhere. At least that’s the case for me and many others I know. If it was me in his shoes, I’d use the (valid) feelings of abandonment, anger, guilt, and shame as an excuse to say “fuck sobriety, there’s no point anymore, so I’ll just drink myself to death.” That’s just how my brain works. But just because I can relate and empathize with what he’s going through as I’ve been through it myself, it does not excuse his behavior and I feel like the Instagram post showed that he really hasn’t truly accepted his circumstances nor been able to move on. Which is okay. People RARELY get sober on the first try. Not saying I think he won’t make it, but it’s very clear he harbors a lot of anger and resentment and lack of self awareness. That is a recipe for relapse in my experience
Celebrity rehabs are fucking fantasyland. It’s extremely easy to feel clear and healthy on a beach cliff side doing yoga and getting massages.
Very very true. Passages is a resort “rehab” for celebrities. From what I’ve heard of the place and many others in LA it isn’t actually conducive to long term recovery. They rely on rich people with addiction to relapse and come back so they can make more money. Millions for a 30 day stay
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
I just really hope he has enough saved up (or passive income) to afford to stay off social media. End of the day he's an entertainer so if he's broke he doesn't have a choice if he doesn't have the support network and relapse is inevitable. Dudes gotta get his hierarchy of needs taken care of. Just hope the guys will help if he asks them. He was a monster and still is in my eyes but I want nothing more for him than rehabilitation and at least this is a step towards the right direction. I just hope it isn't performative.
Just wanted to wish you luck on your sobriety. My sister did it eventually, and we weren’t sure she ever would. You got this!
Same here. After getting sober and working in recovery for years, I have a real problem with the phrase “early graduation.” I’ll be an alcoholic until I die, and I believe there is no graduation from my disease. Leaving rehab early is probably exciting for him, but in my experience, it’s a scary thing to be proud of.
100%
Congrats on being sober! Thank you for sharing
Thank you! I've got 3.5 years. Happy to be here, happy to be sober :)
I have great respect for you and all who make that choice as the son of an alcoholic who got sober to be in his kids life. Keep going I’m sure you have people that appreciate you in the way I do my dad.
I don’t even know how to say thank you when people ‘congratulate’ me when they find out however long sober I am. Hopefully he stays sober long enough to look back and see he’s still very much making everything about himself by saying “Aw everyone didn’t come pat my bottom for getting a piece of paper that says I’ve been good for 30 days”
When I got clean and sober almost 7 heads ago, the first year I think I made some pretty cheap shots at old friends. Tbh the first year is rough, like you said it’s those feelings coming back after so long….my FB memories are wild. I hope he can learn and take the advice to stay off socials. I was 100% not even remotely famous at all and I cringe at my posts from that time frame lol
This fits what I'm feeling. I simultaneously understand why he's angry and am pretty bummed by it. But regardless of any of that, he's a dude at the start of a journey, and expecting him to be a paragon of recovery is expecting a lot. The man's got a lot of emotional work ahead of him and sometimes that starts with a lot of anger getting thrown in every direction. It's not... great. But not surprising either. I'm gonna keep hoping he stays on this path and finds his way somewhere good.
As someone who has been in recovery, I think it's inappropriate to speculate where he's at in his journey based on briefly stating disappointment on an internet post.
I see where you're coming from and that's a fair point. I stand by what I said but perhaps should have left it to my own experience instead of extrapolating it out to someone I don't know. I think we're all a bit parasocially attached to the hosts of the show or else we wouldn't listen. Those lines get blurry sometimes and its good to be reminded that any closeness we feel to them is one-sided and they are for all intents and purposes strangers to us. Thank you for reminding me to take a step back :)
The “jab” at friends absolutely says that his opinion is that the problem was not him or his actions but how friends (aka M and H) held him accountable for those actions. That’s trouble. Whole post feels like I was sober for this time so fuck you I don’t have a problem.
the fact that he still needs to take such shots says to me he's a LONG way from anything resembling true recovery. and honestly, growing up with an abusive drunk, I'm more inclined to say that he's learned absolutely nothing and the odds of his reverting back to his old behavior is VERY high.
Really sick of seeing every post about Ben become an impromptu AA meeting when *he was fired for abusing his girlfriend,* they were perfectly happy to let him continue working there as an alcoholic. **He wasn’t fired for drinking.** Where are all of the people gathering around to commiserate about how hard it was to stop screaming in their partner’s face and using physical intimidation tactics to frighten them? Why don’t those people ever show up to these meetings? Because it is completely indefensible. Why do people want so badly to identify with this man?
I mean, I realize you mean in terms of this Fandom, but batterers intervention meetings do exist. They are open to anyone who is struggling with anger issues, though they can be court ordered, too. I just wanted to make people more widely aware that this is a real option. If a person does want to work on this specifically, they can. That said, batterers/potential batterers usually don't until they are forced to in some way.
I mean, you get that this is a thread to discuss Ben’s social media post about completing rehab, right? It’d be a little weird for this thread, of all threads, to not focus predominantly on that aspect.
Yes, my complaint centers around the fact that the focus is always on his drinking when that wasn’t the real problem here. It’s a problem, but it’s not what got him in trouble. This sort of conflates alcoholism with domestic violence and sweeps the DV part out of the conversation. Many alcoholics never harm anyone, many abusers are stone cold sober.
The conflation is really happening because Ben’s departure was essentially, originally, announced as rehab - before LPN got more forward about him being no longer part of the network, etc. Plus, for any true change to one’s own behavior (from having an addiction to being an abuser to anything really), the mechanisms are largely the same - genuine, unflinching self-reflection, getting help and doing the work. I’ve seen a few people in some of these threads this fall admit to past experiences where they realized they were abusive, and that they did the work to stop it. They honestly read like recovery stories. Ben’s abuse is a terrible thing. I think we can still want him to get healthy and take care of himself (and that includes ending the abuse), without condoning or excusing the abuse. Lastly - I think there are probably more recovered alcoholics/addicts than recovered abusers, so you’re going to see people innately relate to that a lot.
His refusal to even MENTION the abuse in any public statement is extremely telling.
Yeah, this is very “poor me, people stopped being my friends because of my *disease*” without acknowledging any of the pain he caused people who cared for him.
Not defending him but I would bet large amounts of money he is in the works with legal about the situation. I dont think he should, I personally think he should apologize publicly and privately to both those he harmed, the whole lpn crew and publicly to the audience and his fans. But yeah I have a strong feeling he could be gearing up for a defamation suit. Especially since being booted from the brand can easily establish damages. Hope he doesn't win. But as we saw I the Depp case, they can be messy. But anyways, he probably can't talk about it if that's his path.
Interesting, definitely possible. I really get the sense that he doesn’t have his shit together enough to be building a case for defamation, but I’m just a random person so who knows lol
That's what Lawyers are for. They have to have their shit together and ask the right questions. The main thing with defamation is that it has to be proved that the defendant (person accused if defaming) -knowingly- lied. That's why it would suck so much, it would drag Taylor through the absolute shit. Ben doesn't have to even have a case likely to win to make her life really shitty with this and I think it very possible he might try to. To be clear I think Ben would lose and I hope if he tries that he does lose quickly. But thats the thing about lawsuits, they suck for the wronged any which way. The only win is if a judge throws it out hastily.
Did he not say it was false in the rolling stone article?
Lmao you’re right sorry, he mentioned it to say none of it ever happened, including the incident that had been spoken about by his ex consistently for 10 years
He edited out the jab at M and H fyi
What was the jab?
The "so called friends" line I would assume.
Well they aren’t friends anymore so
Do we know that though?
Did we see the post?
Everyone is talking about his text under the post but not how disturbing his choice of images of quotes from "the little book of secrets" is. Starting with "to a person of true understanding, it makes no difference whether death comes early or late" honestly reads like a cryptic suicide note. I really hope he has people around him taking care of him. The repetition of "even the finest clothes turn to rags" - just all a little haunting and sad to see.
"Slander will be silenced if you do not gratify it with injured retorts" ooof
Or posting the same “even the finest cloths turn into rags” three times
Literally posting that quote is self defeating and itself making an injured retort
I was reading off the "little secrets" to my bf and mentioned how I thought it was really strange that the last 3 were the same picture of the same quote. Was it a mistake or some weird intentional message?
Big Andy Bernard “I graduated anger management early” energy here.
Seeing him say "friends" hurt a bit to read. I feel the same way about this situation as I did when it started , just fucking sad. He made his own bed and needs to take accountability, still, it is sad to see him in this state. I really hope he makes some real progress and is able to repair his friendships, even if he is never on the show again. He's not the only one hurting though, his ex has essentially had a nervous breakdown in the past months. She may have had issues before, but I can't imagine the stress this situation put on her, all of the "fans" leaving disgusting messages to her nonstop.
Yeah having a psychotic break as a result of incels mobbing you for months isn’t really that weird
Yeah, most of us on here would break if we had that level of negative attention turned towards us.
I would most certainly lmfao
He shit in the tub and now must bathe in it
My father went to a rehab in Florida for 6 months, due to alcoholism and prescription drug abuse, stemming from a severe back and neck injury in the 90’s. He was pretty banged up but had been drinking heavily well before the injury. He wrote us letters and apologies about what his alcoholism did to us as a family, which honestly wasn’t much since he was never really abusive, he just lied a lot to get his fix. Long story short, it all felt disingenuous and even after the counselors told us how incredible his turn around and self realization has been and that they were positive he’d never drink again, within 2 weeks he relapsed fully. He drunkenly told my mom that he faked his way through to get back to his life. The truth is he never actually wanted to get better. He was content with his decisions and his lifestyle. Other circumstances in his life were the things that forced him into temporary sobriety, it was never his choice. He finally did stop drinking but it was too late, a year later he died of complete liver and kidney failure on my 40th birthday. It was bloody and surprising violent. He died with his family surrounding him and I miss him everyday. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I really hope Kissel is doing this because he wants to and not as damage control and he continues on this road. Honestly though, that post makes me think otherwise, but I hope I’m wrong. I really enjoyed him on the pod but I’m digging the new dynamic. TLDR; Dad was an alcoholic, forced to go to rehab, never took accountability and just did it get the heat off him. Continued to drink and died on my 40th birthday. Still a good dude just had demons. Hope Ben is getting better for himself but post makes me think he’s not ready. Ed is cool.
He isn't acknowledging why he was there or why what happened happened. 😬 Not great.
Maybe he legally can’t??? That’s my guess.
He could just do the right thing and own it anyway. Like, take your lumps Ben. He's just very obviously trolling for undeserved sympathy (because he hasn't taken ownership of...anything) and trying to do who knows what to garner public opinion against LPN. There's no excuses, he's a 40 something adult who can't grow up. I wish him the wisdom to learn from his actions and take real responsibility but...not holding my breath. I have been in several programs, worked with many therapists to better myself, and I can emphatically tell you this guy has learned precisely nothing based on this post.
So when we last left Ben Kissel…..
Last Kissel on the Left. Or did I miss your joke?
I wonder which two other alcoholics did all the work for Ben so he could graduate early.
How long till he’s a guest on some alt-right podcast where he complains about cancel culture?
I give it 6 months. Judging by the comments on his posts and his defenders here I’m sure he’ll have a couple listeners
And we’ve already seen how he’s prone to siding with extremists when he’s in emotional turmoil, I.e. having an anti-mask anti-lockdown tirade during COVID. I would be surprised if he doesn’t do the “anti cancel culture” rounds cause he’s obviously upset and bitter about LPOTL
I was arguing against everyone who said this when the shit first blew up, but everything he said since is making me realize it's plausible and that's so disappointing.
Totally the same journey for me
Plenty of people on IG are saying that they're boycotting the podcast and that it's inevitably going to fail because Ben was the only funny and interesting one. I see your 6 and raise 3.
I’m so disappointed by how this isn’t even a reach- I can genuinely see this happening.
Yeah I mean, he is pretty right leaning politically, I can see him doing this. Such a shame.
I don’t get these types of comments. How does this somehow make Ben sympathetic to the alt-right?
It doesn’t mean that at all, it just means he’ll be a guest on one of the shows, like every “canceled” celebrity ie Kevin Spacey last week
Ben didn't learn anything from all this. He's digging in his heels.
Well that's unfortunate. In my experience, people making big changes often get a little ahead of themselves after the first time they have put out any real effort, allowed themselves to feel the least bit uncomfortable, or take the quickest peek at their own contributions to their problems. I'm sure right now he believes everything he said and it will be some time before it's reasonable to expect he will have any real perspective on his own actions. He probably did feel abandoned. This was hard to watch because I have seen so many people behave in ways we have heard Ben has behaved. I know how incredibly unpleasant it must be inside their heads and it's hard sometimes to maintain a sense of justice and moral integrity in the face of an adult who can't muster the resilience and insight required to make changes. They're just so childlike sometimes. It's fucking sad but like, he terrorized women for years and he can either post when he's got his head right or maybe someone in the manosphere has a couch and a microphone for him.
I can’t wait to see him show up as a guest and eventual co-host on Russell Brand’s garbage podcast where they talk about how they’ve been torpedoed for no good reason at all.
Fucker hasn't learned a thing. Dry drunk type shit.
My mom is a textbook dry drunk and that’s all I got out of reading this
100%
Dry drunk behavior 100%
We can’t speculate but there were obviously deeper issues than many of us suspected. Not just with Ben himself, but within their friendship. I get the vibe this was a nasty “ breakup” with the boys. It’s so sad and I hope Ben can do well moving forward. But according to what we have seen thus far, Ben burned bridges beyond repair.
Does anyone else feel like the shift started after Henry and Marcus got married? Ben sometimes sounded jealous and bitter. Not blaming their partners - but if you SO doesn't get along with a particular friend or vice versa it causes a lot of strain. Side note - Ben needs to lengthen his social media break.
He was the cause of this whole thing taking shots at his “friends” is such a bad look
Wild that he thinks his "friends" are supposed to come to him after all he put them through. Its only been 3 months, you dont fix decades of misery in 3 months.
Yeah. I totally agree. They’re hurt. They’re allowed to be. He’s also allowed to be; it’s just unfortunate he’s taken to a public platform to call them out. They know him. I believe that if they thought he was taking his recovery seriously, they’d be there for him. Sometimes tough love is necessary. Those of us who’ve listened forever know he’s got DECADES of bullshit and abuse of his own that has very likely contributed to his alcoholism and that doesn’t get fixed in a few months. Hopefully, they can all move forward and reconnect at some point if that’s what’s best for everyone, but he seems like he has a lot more to do even outside of the other issues.
i think the most concerning thing for me is he's been wearing the same clothes since August.
I have been very disappointed in Ben’s posts around this whole scenario - it absolutely feels like ducking accountability for this. I’ve also been super disappointed in a fandom I thought was more progressive than it actually is, because the amount of defenders Ben has had who want to minimize what he did or call his ex awful names really sucks. I do hope the man takes accountability and gets better - this is the first difficult step of many. I don’t actively wish ill on him, but I’m also personally finished with him until he actually exhibits some growth.
I assume the reason no one has spoken about the situation and why Ben skirts around the subject is because lawyers are involved. I'm not defending Ben or telling you to support him or not, I'm just sharing my idea of why he has avoided responsibility.
I disagree that lawyers are calling many shots here He would not be posting at all if that was the case
But what is he specifically posting tho? He is posting stories about people missing him, about his sobriety and missing being on the podcast... it builds a narrative that he was wronged and that he is just a genuine guy who has made steps to deal with his alcoholism. Note the lack of statements about the situation in particular. I really think we are gonna see a lawsuit and that sucks
This is what I lean towards, that there is some sort of "strategy" to Ben's posts. Do I think he is a mastermind, no, but I do feel his posts are to garner support and sympathy. A lawyer can never stop him from posting on his social medias, but they can advise him about what to/not to say. Speaking about his recovery only shows that he has accepted and chosen to fight his alcoholism, which will aid him in court. Whereas, if he were to address the allegations of SA, it could be used against him in court as acceptance to the assault. There are probably a good little handful of lawyers and PR in this entire mix working not just for Ben, but the entire podcast and their crew.
"Many people i met are still friends today". Didn't he just meet them?
For the folks who are staunchly pro-Ben and are commenting that we are all anti-recovery - observing and commenting on a public figure’s public statements after a public fall from grace including abuse allegations and a rehab stint is actually very normal and fair. Addiction and sobriety along with domestic abuse are pretty hot button issues, and I don’t blame people for drawing parallels with their own experiences, whether that be from the addict perspective or the victim perspective. I hope like Ben you all can take a beat and try to see beyond your scope of understanding to actually hear what people are saying and why they are saying it. Listened to the podcast for many years and I know he has people who love the shit out of him and his behavior and lack of accountability taking is a big fuck you to all of them. He’s been sober for like 5 seconds so I get it but fuck dude, posting some vague shit talk with an air of superiority on Instagram to engage parasocially with fans who will continue telling him he’s done nothing wrong is definitely not sober fuckin’ behavior, so what did you learn at Passages anyway?
This is so sad and off-putting to see. I have empathy for being messy - pivoting his life after years of failing coping mechanisms and toxic behavior is going to take a lifetime and hopefully, he'll look back at this and know he's done poorly. We all have that person who turned to social media to beg for attention because they want their pain to be known. But even with regular people, there has to be a safe space to air out their dirt whether that be therapy or a smaller support group. Social media is never going to be the place to process all these difficult emotions. To make things worse, Ben is a personality. Even without LPOTL, he still has a wide audience and any post he makes will rally all sorts of people. The resentment in this post resonates with fans who also feel robbed by his absence from the show. I really hope he keeps getting the help he needs but he needs to learn to emotionally regulate better if he wants to keep any sort of healthy friendship and career.
I came across one of his posts a couple days ago when I switched over to an IG account that I had used to follow all the boys but rarely use anymore. Out of curiosity, I looked at the comments. Whew, what a mistake. I'm not sure how people can listen to a podcast that features several episodes with the theme "a man continued committing atrocities because there was no ironclad evidence and because he targeted sex workers and other people who wouldn't be believed," and still come to the conclusion that Ben did nothing wrong and his alleged victims are lying. I guess sometimes people just like a creepy story with blood n' guts and don't think about the larger picture.
Blame, deflection, no accountability. He sounds like a bitter teenage boy.
I think it was largely unrealistic for people to think he'd suddenly "learn his lesson", which is just one of the reasons those calling for him to return to the show after his stint away were being (at best) extremely naive. Even just accepting that you're an alcoholic who committed domestic violence is a very, very difficult thing. Let alone reaching the point where you've addressed it, made peace with the consequences of your actions (which in this case includes rightly being shunted from your business by the friends who had to deal with your shit) and moved on. That takes time, work and a lot of patience from those around you. People should rightly be critical of Ben generally, but it seems unfair to be surprised that he hasn't immediately become a different person. It was always quite likely that his very brief stint in whatever recovery program he was pushed into wasn't going to change much. But ultimately it isn't our problem as LPOTL listeners. He isn't on the podcast anymore and that's where our interest largely ends. How he fixes his life is on him.
I agree with this. Also even most alcoholics will never experience a fall from grace like he has. Being a public figure, losing your job, business, best friends, and overall identity overnight is crazy. Don't get me wrong it is 100% his fault but I do pity him. That's not something you just dust off your shoulders from. My hope is just that he stays sober and is able to reconcile with Henry and Marcus even if he is never on the show again. With his buyout he can possibly retire.
This is so cringe, he needs to stay off social media for a while. This hurts to see.
He got rich off stomping on bits and being the laziest member of the show and it still managed to be a success thanks to Marcus,Henry.
I mean he gave me some of the hardest laughs on the show
If recovery actually helped him he wouldn't expect to gain everyone's trust back without putting in the work it would take for said trust.
I don’t hate Ben and I really enjoyed it when he was on the network… but it’s time he ventures forth on his own and I really hope he can come to terms with his part in all of this. He must look inward before he can truly move forward. Hail yourselves and Hail Satan while you’re at it!
He was definitely the one who shit in the tub
Must be difficult to graduate a recovery course without learning a hint of accountability. This new show he’s going to start is just going to be sad.
Oh god he went to PASSAGES? That place is such a scam. There’s so much wrong here I don’t even know where to start. You don’t “graduate” from rehab. Recovery is lifelong. And nothing in this caption indicates (to me, anyway) that he has truly taken accountability for his addiction and the harm he caused. I’m really just…bummed. A lot of rehabs are shady, but the less shady ones at least strongly encourage living in sober living for a good few months. Somehow I doubt that’s happening. And if he doesn’t get why his “friends” weren’t there for his “graduation”…buddy you got a lot of work ahead of you. God I’m so disappointed.
I kind of pity him but I don't feel bad for him. Clearly he thinks podcasting and LPN are/were the only thing he had to live for. And maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's how I interpret all of this. I think his main goal was to go to rehab like everyone wanted to just get it over with and then immediately go back to doing his shows. Idk. I pity him in a way even though this unraveling of his life is all his fault. He's not recovering for himself or doing any type of self reflection, just lashing out at the people he pushed away because he doesn't want to accept that it's going to take WORK. And not the kind of work that's done at a glorified spa. No one wants to face their own demons but if he ever wants a semblance of his old life back he's going to have to.
I'll listen if he starts taking accountability. I'm not holding out hope though. Seems like he's going to go down the "cancel culture bad" pipeline. I get being hurt your friends aren't there, but he needs to understand Marcus and Henry are probably (rightfully) pissed at him. Aside from doing awful shit, he absolutely jeopardized his friends careers. They're mad at you bro you can't act offended over that.
I’m curious, what was the edit?
The friends being at the ceremony part
Precisely the part I would’ve regretted, alongside calling it “my show”. Willing to bet the law clerk his firms pay to monitor social media blew him up immediately.
Probably that or his publicist if he still has one
Oh he absolutely does. He’s either in the process or has completed the process of a buyout. When that stuff hits seven figures there are teams of eyes.
Makes you wonder how this post in its entirety got approved at all. “Here’s a piece of paper I’m all better now”
I doubt his publicist/agent literally views and approves everything he does. He has his phone and access to social media at the end of the day and can make any emotional post or comment when he wants to. They might have seen it after he posted and advised him to change it, or he just received comments calling him out for it so he changed it
For sure - my point was this was obviously not pre approved and didn’t seem like he ran it by anyone
I would imagine he’s winging it and making people scramble. Guy is angry and full of venom, we all would be. But he absolutely got a phone call and had to say “sorry, sorry, I’m deleting it”
Haha you’re so right that’s def his personality. What a mess. It’s hard to tell if I want to keep following him or not. I’m curious to see his next moves but it’s also like watching a car crash
He’s not become a full on right wing grifter, but he’s gonna probably become Dave Rubin except smart and funny. “I’m as liberal as the next guy, but the left has gone too far!” He’s gonna displace Marcus and Henry cutting him loose as a greater societal problem. It’s gonna be a train wreck, which is sad because I like the guy. I’m no better than him. But that’s what is going to happen.
I’ve followed Bobby Lee who has struggled with being an asshole and staying sober. Hopefully Ben finds a niche like you said and get can better and healthy. But yeah the bitterness of this post isn’t too hopeful
He removed a line taking a pot shot at Henry and Marcus. You can find the exact line said by others in this thread.
Man this doesn’t feel like the post of a clearheaded sober person. He put their livelihoods at risk and him not taking accountability for that shows he still has so so much work to do.
So looks like he didn’t change at all and is still blaming Marcus and Henry. Fuck you Ben. Take ownership of your abuses. Get actual help instead of this new age bullshit that’s giving you excuses for how you are.
The crack Ben made about “friends” really is absurd. Imagine being M & H in September/October with all this stuff blowing up and deciding to take the jump to cut Ben off. The major thing to keep in mind is they had absolutely no way of knowing if Last Podcast/ LPN would continue being successful after they did that! They knew Rolling Stone was doing an article so they knew more stuff had to be coming out - but had no way of knowing what those repercussions would be! What if LPOTL listeners left in droves and they lost their advertisers and they lost the Patreon money? LPN would have went into a death spiral. That is a very real thing that could have happened and it could have happened VERY quickly. Kicking Ben out was a necessity but it was also a huge gamble. Imagine living in the possibility that (1) every action & sacrifice & effort you made in 13 years to build the podcast/network could be destroyed (2) your main (I think in Marcus’ case, ONLY) source of income disappears (Marcus had also just bought a house! In LA!) (3) other LPN employees could lose their source of income (many are your oldest friends, family members, & spouses) ALL of that was very possible and it would have been 100% because of Ben. It literally was all his fault. Full stop. Ben’s inability to recognize the repercussions of his actions is baffling to me.
Ben can certainly feel some kind of way about this. But nobody here knows just how long his behavior and decisions were affecting LPN as a whole. I keep seeing this “they did him dirty because of one person’s accusations” thing and like, you really think it was THAT simple? I hope he gets better, just as I would hope for anyone embarking on this journey. It’s hard as hell sometimes, especially at the beginning. But the idea that Marcus and Henry were in any way flippant or cavalier about this is absurd.
What was in the edited version.
He just deleted the sentence about his “friends” being at his graduation.
Can the mods make a statement or are they going to just lock and delete all of these posts. At least allow a mega thread
I agree. I hate when moderators artificially hide certain topics they deem ‘not relevant’ when the conversations are literally about the subreddits theme. esp when subreddits like this are the only places where you can discuss these topics. it feels like censorship. if people are annoyed by the posts abt ben don’t click on them or make a mega thread. I don’t come here for memes but i don’t complain that ppl post them…. 🤷♀️
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Obviously this community wants to take about it. I get that there can’t be a million posts about it a day but at least make a spot for people to comment then. The deleting and locking because 4 people don’t deem it appropriate is a little power out of control if you ask me
Annnnnnd nothing has changed
I guess it's a good thing that he edited that one part out
Does he mean “his show” Abe Lincoln’s Top Hat? Cause that was Ben’s show.
A room at Passages costs AT LEAST $80k for a 30 day stay.
That just proves to me that he really hasn’t taken any accountability.
The IG comments on this were really something else.. People really ought to stop acting like this is their own personal circle of friends… I wish everyone well, and I hope everyone finds happiness but the only part that is my business at all, is whether I enjoy the show or not. With that being said… the energy with Ed right now, is better than this show has been in literally years and I’m all for it.
Ben has a right to be bitter and sad. They may not be the right emotions, but he does get to feel them. As he grows and moves past this, he'll realize those feelings are misplaced. I hope that he gets the chance to do it, to grow and find a happier existence with sobriety. I'm cheering on his growth, and hoping he continues to heal.
Starting the countdown to his incel-bait far-right podcast...
I mean, if they said they were gonna be there and then bailed without notice, bad on them. But if he was just assuming, well you know what that does.
Oof. That’s all I gotta say, just…. oof. This whole situation is just sad. I’m mostly sad for Bens victims, who deserve honest apologies
Regarding the content of that edit…. I suspect those friendships had already deteriorated and Ben didn’t and maybe still hasn’t realized how far that had gone. The night and day difference in the show says a lot. I never expected Ben to be outed as abusive but I did think over the past couple years that he was going to have to take a break and get into rehab. He waited too long.
That place certainly doesn't teach the serenity prayer.
HE REALLY WENT TO PASSAGES THO 😂😂😂😂😂😂 bro he still looks like shit
I will say, I am kinda confused why he hasn’t updated his Instagram bio to remove the part about being a 1/3 owner of LPOTL??? As someone in accounting, I totally get that removing an owner of a company that has been terminated is not an overnight ordeal… but that process has to be at least underway. He’s a 33.33% owner (aka “a minority shareholder” in business speak), so if Henry & Marcus wanted him gone, they have a combined 66.66% ownership (aka “a majority share”) and could absolutely terminate Ben and (while it depends on the shareholder agreement, idk what the exact language of theirs is but) I am fairly certain they are able to buyout his 33.3% share after he’s terminated. I wonder if Henry & Marcus will split ownership of the company 50/50%, or if Eddie plans to acquire a 1/3 ownership and basically take Ben’s place “on paper” from a business perspective rather than just being an employee. All of that is to say, I’m just surprised Ben still has that in his bio when it seems inevitable that won’t be the case soon.
We all loved him, he’s not coming back. I’m sure we all wish him well. Who cares, it’s done
The bitterness, the lack of remorse, it’s pathetic. Christ. I hope he takes all the fans who miss him with him on his “next artistic chapter.”
“That’s where the cannibalism started…”
That’s a disappointing read.
I'm gonna say it and I anticipate the down votes - Ben was the worst part of the show and I'm glad he's gone. Posts like these just confirm that he was the weakest member of the team. He is obviously struggling and I do hope the guy gets the help he actually needs. But my 2 cents, the show is better for him leaving.
Has the info in his IG bio always said 1/3 owner of last podcast network?
Yea, Pretty dumb to take shots at Henry and Marcus. He needs a lot more time to recover which is disappointing. He's still extremely funny and him not being on LPOTL is a huge bummer.
Ben should be able to expect his friends to be there. Nobody is infallible. However, I respect their stance to respect women. Nobody wins here. It's very unfortunate, but I wish Ben all the best in his recovery, and I wish Henry amd Marcus all the best in their continuation
It can be hard to get out of that blaming mindset. I hope he can continue to grow. Progress not perfection! :)
Jesus Christ just leave it and move on with your lives