Andy Signore, Founder of Honest Trailers/Screen Junkies Head, Accused of Sexual Abuse

[MadVillainy]

As the title says, Andy Signore who founded Honest Trailers and was the leader of Screen Junkies has been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment

Andy Signore, the creator of popular YouTube series Honest Trailers, is being accused of sexual abuse.

Two accusers, one who says she was a former intern for Signore, posted publicly on social media Friday that Signore used his position to prey on women.

Emma Bower wrote in a Twitter post that she chose to speak up now, in the wake of an investigation from The New York Times accusing producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse with actresses and employees. Weinstein issued an apology after the story broke and said he was taking a leave of absence.

Bower said when she worked as an intern for Signore, he made inappropriate comments about *********ing to photos of her, and then asked her to come over so he could do that in person. She said he tried to play it off as a joke.

Another woman, April Dawn, was a fan of the Screen Junkies show who met Signore at Chicago Comic Con in 2015. Screen Junkies flew her out to Los Angeles to appear on its Movie Fights YouTube series a few months later.

Dawn wrote that Signore tried to sexually assault her on multiple occasions. She claimed that she and two other women went to the company's HR department, but her complaints of alleged attempted sexual assault were not taken seriously. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to a friend of Dawn's, who was aware of the HR meeting at the time and details of her accusations.

Defy Media, which owns the Screen Junkies channel Signore works for, issued a statement saying it has been investigating the accusations. Signore did not respond for comment to a direct message.

"We at Defy Media have no tolerance for harassment or retaliation of any kind," the company said in a statement. "We have been conducting a thorough investigation into allegations made against Andy Signore and are preparing to respond to those allegations and take appropriate action."

Defy's statement added: "Given the additional statements that were made today, we feel it is necessary to suspend Andy’s employment while we continue our investigation. We will take all necessary action once the investigation is fully complete."

In Dawn's Twitter statement, she said Signore threatened that if she spoke out about what had happened he would fire Dawn's boyfriend, Josh Tapia, a Screen Junkies engineer who goes by the name JTE and has appeared in Screen Junkies videos.

Signore first gained prominence online as the creator of Honest Trailers, a series that skewers films ranging from Ghostbusters to Blade Runner.

Since launching in 2012, Honest Trailers has amassed more than 157 million views and has enlisted stars such as Ryan Reynolds and Michael Bolton to participate, becoming so influential that Captain America: Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo said they imagined what the Honest Trailer of their movie would say as they were working on it. In 2016 and 2017 the series was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Awards in the outstanding short-form variety series category.

Screen Junkies, the YouTube channel that hosts the series and of which Signore has become the public face, has also found success with star-studded stunts, such as Dwayne Johnson's officiating a surprise wedding for Nick Mundy, one of Screen Junkies' then contributors. The channel expanded in 2015 by launching a subscription service and a slew of new shows, including a scripted comedy series.

Some prominent associates of Signore's have begun speaking out. Roth Cornet, who appears onscreen with Signore as editor-in-chief of Screen Junkies News, wrote on Twitter: "I am truly, so profoundly heartbroken, shocked and sad today." Dan Murrell, a producer at Screen Junkies who also often appears on camera with Signore, wrote on Twitter, "I'm numb. I don't know what to do. Questioning everything I thought I knew. To those that came forward - I hear you and I believe you."

The accusations against Signore arrive as other stories of harassment have roiled the genre community. Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles took a leave of absence last month after multiple women went public with stories of sexual assault, while Devin Faraci left Birth.Movies.Death as editor-in-chief last October after allegations of sexual assault. In Los Angeles, the independent film venue Cinefamily suspended its activities in August after executives resigned following sexual abuse allegations.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...tor-andy-signore-accused-sexual-abuse-1046574

 

[MadVillainy]

One accuser's statement. Her boyfriend is an engineer for Screen Junkies

Another's https://www.facebook.com/EmmaRBowers/posts/10155841448755719

And there are a couple of fans who have come forward and posted DMs that Andy sent them

 

[Quasimod0]

Man and I really liked Andy as well Ive watched him talk about movies and host movie fights so many times that it feels a bit like I know him. Whereas with Knowles and Faraci I wasn't very familiar with them so it didn't hit me so hard.

 

[Laderlappen]

Being a regular watcher of the Screen Junkies, this is very surprising. Andy Signore seemed like a decent guy. All of them did. Granted I don't know that much about him personally.

 

[Matt Mortem]

This is definitely a shocker. Like Harry Knowles before him there's too much evidence and too many people coming forward for it to be someone trying to ruin him with a grudge. It's a shame too. I'm a big Honest Trailers fan.

 

[Lighthouse]

As heartbreaking as this is, I'm really glad our film community is finally starting to deal with it's dirty laundry and women feel empowered enough to come forward. This is long overdue in many parts of geekdom(I'm looking at you gaming community).

 

[MadVillainy]

And alleged former employee of Screen Junkies said this on Reddit:

I can not attest to any overt acts that I saw as far as inappropriate touching or assault, but what I can attest to is several incidents that seem to form a pattern of fairly creepy behavior towards women. The most vivid stories I can recall come from San Diego Comic Con. And I am also going to involve Jon Bailey in this, because he is also verbally inappropriate towards coworkers and interview subjects.

When SJ goes to Comic Con they always send out roving crews to tape the convention floor. Andy was particularly fond of female cosplayers and literally said "We need boobs. Boobs sell." There we several instances where he would approach female cosplayers and through his questioning make them visibly uncomfortable. I remember 1 woman in particular dressed as Jasmine, Hal was talking to her and Andy was prompting him to ask flirty questions about her costume and looks, Hal wasn't really down but what do you do? Eventually Andy talked Hal into getting her to do a twirl, which she did even though she clearly didn't want to, the interview ended and Hal apologized to her...I am not kidding.

Jon is notorious around the office for making flirty and inappropriate comments to female coworkers, and is a known quantity to be avoided by people in the office. Again at Comic Con we were shooting on the floor doing the bit where Jon epically narrates cosplayers. A young woman with a really cool costume was asked if we could narrate her walking, she called over her mom and they agreed, Jon began narrating as normal following behind her and then started making suggestive comments about the coplayer...she was 14! Again, he was chastised for it and seemed to not do it again, but this was a known problem.

I am really not surprised by this, but I want to make clear this does not implicate the entire SJ family or Defy family. The majority of my former coworkers are driven, talented individuals who do not tolerate this kind of behavior. But a culture of protection and silence pervades amongst those at the top. This is sad to learn, but also inevitable I feel. Anyways, support the good members of the team, ditch the toxic ones.

 

[Matt Mortem]

As heartbreaking as this is, I'm really glad our film community is finally starting to deal with it's dirty laundry and women feel empowered enough to come forward. This is long overdue in many parts of geekdom(I'm looking at you gaming community).

Same. Gotta weed out the bad in the community. Be it fan/critic stuff like Knowles and Signore or big wigs like Weinstein these creeps need to be brought to light.

 

[MadVillainy]

Dani Fernandez @msdanifernandez 8h8 hours ago

Replying to @msdanifernandez
Several of the people in the film community knew this, I know because I told them personally, and continued to work with him.

Dani Fernandez @msdanifernandez 4h4 hours ago
More
Honestly if you post "I had no idea Andy Signore was like this" and I know you did because I told you to your face, I will call you out.

...

 

[Lighthouse]

Same. Gotta weed out the bad in the community. Be it fan/critic stuff like Knowles and Signore or big wigs like Weinstein these creeps need to be brought to light.

And the enablers in high positions that keep this culture alive. Signore isn't the only one who needs firing. Defy's HR department needs to clean house.

 

[Marvolo]

Is Andy Signore the guy that does the voice of the Honest Trailers?

 

[Link]

As heartbreaking as this is, I'm really glad our film community is finally starting to deal with it's dirty laundry and women feel empowered enough to come forward. This is long overdue in many parts of geekdom(I'm looking at you gaming community).

It's the first time in history that women can openly tell about stuff like this, without getting instantly thrown under a bus and ruined. Screen Junkies crew have all openly condemned Signore, so I hope he is quickly sweeped out for good.

 

[Lighthouse]

Is Andy Signore the guy that does the voice of the Honest Trailers?

Signore is the creator of Screen Junkies and Honest Trailers. Jon Bailey is the voice over guy(though it sounds like he's not much better.)

 

[MadVillainy]

Is Andy Signore the guy that does the voice of the Honest Trailers?

Nah but according to an alleged former employee Jon Bailey aka Epic Voice Guy is kinda a creep too.
He also seems to be the only SJ member not openly condemning Signore. All the other main SJ guys have openly condemned Andy.

 

[MadVillainy]

Another bit from the Reddit user

I can only speak for myself, but I am shocked to read April's twitter feed and see the extent of Andy's behavior. I am not shocked that he did it, but I was never aware of the breadth or seriousness of these actions. I felt Andy was creepy and held sexist, atavistic attitudes towards women. I felt that this was toxic. I know that this was known by Dan because we talked about, just like we talked about Jon's behavior. The bottom line is the organization was willfully blind, it was in your best interest to keep quiet and keep complaints within the chain of command. Dan knew Andy was problematic, we all knew Andy was problematic, the problem was that Andy had the power. Andy no longer has the power, that's a good step.

Dan is the de-facto 2nd in command of SJ. Jon is the voice guy from the Honest Trailers


Also a tweet from ralph garman (actor/VO actor)

 

[Lighthouse]

I've watched SJU since they started doing it, and one of the things that constantly bothers me about that show is that all of the dudes on their talk over Roth Cornett. Every time she tries to speak up, one of the guys immediately cuts her off to make some crappy joke or butt in to make his own point. I'm not comparing the behavior to what's happened, but to me it shows such a lack of respect.

 

[Mike_D202]

Jon Baily too?! Ohhh man...EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE

 

[jmc]

**** me, all this stuff coming out in recent months is kinda crazy.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

**** me, all this stuff coming out in recent months is kinda crazy.

Well, once one person comes forward it's like smacking a hornet's nest. It's an embarrassing situation, and people psychologically feed strength off of other people that have been through that same traumatizing experience. Then, unfortunately, you have to sort through what's real and what isn't because sadly, there are almost always someone trying to take advantage of the situation.

Who else has been accused recently? It was Harry right? Anybody else?

 

[Lighthouse]

Well, once one person comes forward it's like smacking a hornet's nest. It's an embarrassing situation, and people psychologically feed strength off of other people that have been through that same traumatizing experience. Then, unfortunately, you have to sort through what's real and what isn't because sadly, there are almost always someone trying to take advantage of the situation.

Who else has been accused recently? It was Harry right? Anybody else?

How could anyone coming forward be taking advantage of the situation? They have NOTHING to gain by doing so, quite the opposite.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

How could anyone coming forward be taking advantage of the situation? They have NOTHING to gain by doing so, quite the opposite.

Very easily. I can't imagine a suit isn't going to be brought against him, so there will more than likely be some sort of monetary compensation. They just need to make sure they investigate thoroughly.

 

[DeadStroke]

Apparently she told Adam about Andy a while back.
https://twitter.com/msdanifernandez/status/916393655023235075

 

[guitarsingerguy]

Y'all, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it isn't true. I absolutely believe that the accusations are legit. I'm just saying that they need to be thorough with their investigation because there is almost always someone that jumps on the bandwagon to get in on the civil suit that will no doubt be filed to get a payday. And it happens ALOT. That's just the documented numbers unfortunately.

 

[BH/HHH]

Just wow, these sick ****ers abusing there power. At least it’s all finally coming out, people got away with stuff for far too long.

Here in the UK the big one was Saville and that sack of **** died before he could face his accusers. There has been way too much of this going on and I only hope these sick bastards get there comeuppance. They should be going to prison not just losing there jobs.

 

[StarLord]

What a bastard.