It’s been some time since I’ve been able to give you any updates, as I’ve been SO BUSY!
I’ve got new designs up in my very own RedBubble Store as well as merch on CafePress! I’ve had several film premieres, hosted #Wuggstock and #BurningMouse festivals as well as monthly virtual birthday parties for pals in my social media community.
I’ve created a haven from hate and bullying within the #ChillTent online and turned it into a 24/7 safe place, full of music, food, fun and emotional support.
Yet one thing has remained constant during my time on Twitter (now X): the attacks and hate that began almost three years ago are still having an affect on me to this very day of writing to you, dear furriends.
The harassment was so bad it included death threats and attacks on me outside the platform on which it began.
To the point I had to leave Twitter to keep myself sane and alive.
Good pals encouraged and supported my return, but I would not return to that place without telling my story.
I’d been compiling screenshots and evidence to combat the effects of the extreme gaslighting, as well as to present to the authorities, because this was getting downright criminal!
So now I present to you this saga of over 420 tweets. It’s an exciting read – grab your popcorn!
Thank you all for your love and support over the years – it means more to me than I can express. Let’s continue onward and upward together – excelsior!
Update: 1/2/2022: The links I’ve provided for the reader to see tweets I’ve cited are no longer valid – these accounts have deleted their tweets within days of my blog posting. This is why it is important to keep screenshots of emotional abuse. I am now providing these in the body of my post so the truth will not be lost in the mists of the gaslight.
Hello everyone!
Apologies for taking so long to write a new blog post – I’ve been busy with so many projects I can hardly keep up, let alone write about what they all are!
Sadly, one of the things that has been taking up way too much of my time is dealing with bullying and emotional abusers on Twitter.
I am hearing accounts of many individuals who are leaving various social media platforms because of emotional abuse, bullying and harassment. I cannot speak for them, I can only speak of my own experiences, which I am about to share with mew. It is a long tale, and I thank mew in advance for reading it….
In March 2021, I and another account were victims of a public lynching/hazing initiated by Olly the Cat (@AlanSla90124663). We all belonged to the same Anipals club on Twitter, the Edible Cats Club.
On March 18th, the day after my first twitter anniversary, Olly blocked my account, then posted a tweet filled with lies about things I had done to the club and rallied everyone around him to demand the blocking and removal of myself and this other victimized account from the Edible Cats Club.
He later deleted the tweet, unblocked me and apologized. But the damage was done to me psychologically/emotionally, and in my twitter community as well. I have no link to this tweet, as I was blocked at the time and it is now deleted. What is still available to the public are the responses from other accounts to the tweet, which I will provide links to/screenshots of upon request.
The apology went like this: After Olly removed the tweet, he unblocked me and then stalked me in DMs demanding a chance to talk, to apologize for what he had done, although he said he was not sorry at all for defending the leader of his club and would do it again no matter what.
The leader, @marmitetabbycat, seems to have excited her club members by telling them how she wanted to quit the club because of a request I had made in the clubs’ DM conversation room, asking for a DM group dedicated to a Paw Circle/Prayer Circle for club members (I can provide screenshots of my DM request and subsequent replies from leadership). Olly, being the most easily excitable took the charge and ran with it.
I publicly resigned from the club not long after this on March 22, posting my resignation on twitter and on my website here. https://twitter.com/MrWuggums/status/1373994466550382593 This brought on another round of flaming and shaming from Olly, @MurphyTCat (their deputy leader at the time, now apparently the new Head Honcho), Marmite (the leader/HH/Head Honcho), and @georgiarealist (Puddin, their secretary). This conversation still exists on twitter for everyone to see.
I have been bullied and harassed ever since. Other accounts have come to me privately and told me about the abuses they have experienced from the club, one incident was in the month of May. I spoke up and defended these accounts from the sniping/attacks of the Edible Cats Club leaders on Twitter, showing the community the tweets posted by these club leaders and their supporters – this was instantly turned around by club members/leaders and I was the one accused of being a bully.
The month of May is when @MurphyTCat decided to join into the harassment full force along with Olly. https://twitter.com/MurphyTCat/status/1401944023795970054 In this tweet, as well as several others Murphy uses harsh language, slandering my character, integrity and the validity of my own experiences – a typical gaslighting technique.
While a club member, I learned that these sorts of things are often planned beforehand privately on the Discord platform and in twitter DM.
After this quieted down a bit, a new player emerged. A new account @purrgalur started talking to me during a large Twitter event I was hosting in June, a birthday party for everyone in the community that month, as I have been doing every month since April, and wanted to debate with me about the public shaming in March. It seems the account was trying to get me to admit that the leader of the club should not be held responsible if the members ran riot after the leader incited them with her words/feelings.
In my opinion, if a club has an enrollment ceremony/initiation in which members take a new name and swear an oath – leadership is responsible for the conduct of both the group and its individual members.
The entire conversation still exists on the purrgalur account, as well as later conversations they have with edible cats club leaders/members, calling me vile names (damp sack of dog vomit, among others) https://twitter.com/purrgalur/status/1429721337686368259 this pal even made a badge for those who had been blocked by me! https://twitter.com/purrgalur/status/1425868677115678720 (if you look at their profile, you can see that out of the 89 tweets they made, the majority were in reference to my account.)
Update, April 2022: The Purrgalur deleted his account after it was discovered he had been convicted for unsavory criminal activities during an attempted sabotage upon my account.
Now the real harassment began – the constant picking, sniping, etc of not just me but other friends I knew resulted in my blocking Olly, Marmite, Murphy, Puddin and another casual player @starbuckssue who likes to throw gasoline on the proverbial fire once it has started. @starbuckssue (Plum), even went so far as to snipe my character upon learning about the death of one of our beloved fur siblings. Even in my time of grief and loss, the club felt it acceptable to speak badly of me.
I blocked these accounts, as Twitter suggests when being harassed – this resulted in said accounts calling MY character into question, having staged conversations on Twitter about what sort of person I must be to block them, what my motives were, my mental state etc.. I posted a public tweet about why these accounts were blocked and pinned it to my profile page.
I host parties on twitter for the “Anipal” community several times a month, as well as having a daily ‘hangout’ friends can come to for snacks and conversation (more on that hangout later). These are now the target of my abusers, as well as events other friends might host that I attend or participate in. One such event was in connection with a very large anipal twitter club on Aug. 21. Right before my event started, Olly decided to post a tweet saying how hateful I am, how he is reporting my “vendetta” against the club to Twitter. Then several club members sat around and proceeded to slander me using this tweet as their springboard. Here is one of the tweets in the thread: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1429396622681726979 (this tweet does still exist on twitter – sloppy job to miss this one, ECC Security team) He made a similar tweet again https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1429389051568742411(that he did manage to delete)
One of their members who is a vicar then went to my pinned tweet and accused me of being nasty, to take it down, etc. This member was present during the initial upset in March – they knew what happened and knew these were all lies, but accused me of being the bully.
Murphy of course had to chime into this conversation, piling on with Olly and the Vicar, once more accusing my family of having mental issues. This seems to be his main “go to” insult. Mirroring, perhaps? I will not say.
What I will say, however, is that in typical gaslighting fashion, Murphy will also condemn that sort of behavior if it suits his needs at the time:
If you recall, “dad” was more than happy to talk about my ‘weird parents’ and has no problems hiding behind his cat to continue to do so.
The three of them made a merry group of bullies, and it gave Olly another springboard to complain about me once again to anyone who would listen: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1434971920685019146?s=20 (this tweet has been deleted, how about that?) …But this one has not: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1435002263735517185?s=20
On August 25, Olly decided he would tell someone what I had done to the club that was so terrible it would warrant Olly demanding my removal in a hate tweet in March: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1430572315209781251 (another deleted tweet, but here it is)
Until then, no one had ever spoken to me about what I had done to the club and its leaders to deserve this treatment. They made allegations while I was blocked I could not read, they had discussions on a platform (Discord) I was not a part of, and would never speak in public about it although I had requested several times for a public dialogue about this issue.
If you read the thread, you will see that Olly was incorrect. He and his club leaders have been lying and harassing me since March based on something I never did. The thread is hard to follow now, but you can see the conversation here:
They gaslight and bully and try to convince anyone who will listen that I am a horrible cat who manipulates, lies and bullies. That my family is mentally unstable. If they can think about something bad to say about me, they will, and I do not understand why.
Although Olly was caught in his lie, the club never backed down on its position that I was the one in the wrong, that I was bullying certain club members by blocking them. In reality, one of these blocked members went so far as to contact my family on another social media outlet to discuss everything although I had never spoken with them like that before on this other platform.
In September when I hosted my community birthday party, Olly protested on Twitter because I had chosen 9/11 as the party date. He called me disrespectful for holding a celebration on 9/11 that conflicted with his club’s vigil, almost implying it was a deliberate move on my part to attack the club by doing this.: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1434946605191401472?s=20 (again, another deleted tweet, but here is his spin on my terrible behavior for hosting a community birthday party)
I organized and hosted my own 9/11 memorial service before the birthday party started. It was well received by the community and kept the attacking tweets from complete strangers to a minimum.
During the past six months or so, other prominent, well respected members of the community have quit the Edible Cats Club due to how they were treated by both leadership and other club members…there are other members who would like to quit but are afraid of the backlash they would receive from the club. All of them have seen how I have been bullied and slandered since March and are terrified the same thing will happen to them.
I sometimes think about leaving Twitter entirely because of these torments, but my friends are there – we are a close group and I would feel like I was throwing them and the entire Anipal community to the wolves if I were to leave, so to speak.
It is important that I stay, continuing to speak my truth and lend my voice to those who are unable to speak up for themselves for whatever reason.
Some of my close friends are still members of this club for their own personal reasons. I do not judge them for that or tell them what to do. Eventually, however, seeing the club’s hashtag #ECC on their handle/bio whenever we interacted was very painful to me. Just thinking about dealing with these individuals I have named (along with a few other smaller participants) makes me feel ill in so many ways, on so many levels.
So, I contacted my friends recently via DM. I explained what I was going through and asked them to please remove the hashtag so I’d not have to see it. I never asked them to leave the club.
It would seem that some of these accounts were not my friends in the first place, and immediately reported the matter to the leadership of the Edible Cats Club.
This set loose another flood of accusations against me from the group. Now they are claiming that I am DMing members and threatening them, saying I will block them if they do not leave the club.
I am trying my best to remain silent through these accusations right now, but it is very hurtful to see them continue even when I am quiet.
Things have now come full circle.
In March, the leader of the club, Marmite, wanted to quit and used myself and another pal as the excuse. On Dec 8, she posted a resignation letter on Twitter, saying she would leave as head of the club and also leave Twitter entirely, remaining only on the club’s Discord platform. She then went on to say how it was entirely my fault.
Around the same time this tweet was posted by Marmite, I actually received a hateful email on my website, asking me why I am such a piece of sh*t. I can provide a copy of this if anyone wants to see a little tuxedo cat get flamed.
Total madness, surreal but true.
Although every account Marmite’s story is a twisted version of what actually happened, much of it outright lies, pals believe it and I am being attacked and sniped again. This group is very good at gaslighting the public. I have not responded to the accusations.
Olly is good at throwing gas on the flames though by making sure all of Twitter knows of Marmite’s accusations about me by retweeting her letter and including hashtags of every anipal twitter group possible: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1468863966608826372?s=20 https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1468866032152551424?s=20 (again, more deleted tweets)
My monthly community birthday party was on Dec. 11th. Olly posted a tweet with Marmite’s resignation letter on my birthday party hashtag for all to see.
The tweet has since been deleted – but these have not. These are tweets in which Olly butts into my guests’ conversations to force his propaganda on them, leaving them feeling harassed and oppressed themselves: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1469755401876951050?s=20 https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1469763666153246730?s=20 (now these tweets have been deleted as well, but I am sure with a bit of a search, you can see the reactions of those offended by Olly’s intrusion)
On Dec. 12, Olly made this tweet on the hashtag I use for the ChillTent where we gather in community and fellowship. The ChillTent is hosted by myself and other pals who are part of a PawCircle/prayer group which I organized after ECC leaders denied my request for them to organize one themselves for club members who are not on the Discord platform.: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1469957035106213888?s=20 (another deleted tweet, but it was simply Marmite’s resignation letter with the ChillTent hashtag added to it)
Again, I have said nothing. It’s the holiday season and I am trying as hard as I can to rise above it. On Dec. 13th, I was made aware of the following tweets by Olly: https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1470467149613387780?s=20 https://twitter.com/AlanSla90124663/status/1470469871796461569 (more deleted tweets – these were from Olly asking me to stop my ‘attacks’ – another gaslighting technique, as I’d not spoken about my bullying experience during this time. It leads readers to believe I’ve been doing something secretly, behind the scenes).
MurphyTCat had to add his opinion as well. It is emotionally abusive to keep saying my parents have mental issues simply because it suits this individuals’ methods of bullying and gaslighting.: https://twitter.com/MurphyTCat/status/1470479763403939849 ….here’s a screenshot before he deletes the tweet:
Club members who I have blocked once again started talking about how awful I am…accounts that don’t know what is going on then quickly side with these injured ‘victims’ in the ECC.
It’s amazing the number of screenshots I have had to keep of DMs and tweets just to prove to myself and others who challenge me that these things are really happening, that humans on twitter who hide behind their pet accounts can really be so calculating and abusive.
They seem to have serious issues within both themselves and the club.
In Marmite’s resignation letter she posted on Twitter, she does state that in March there was a harmful tweet posted by a member about myself….but that it was “only there for two hours” (during prime time for our little community) before it was taken down.
The leader of the club normalized the abuse and hazing. No length of time is an acceptable one for emotional abuse, or abuse of any form for that matter.
Marmite also writes that she was well aware of a predatory scammer who has been stalking twitter anipals long before I ever knew of their existence. She says she never had contact with this individual.
I was shocked to read these words: not only did the leader of the Edible Cats Club NOT take the time to warn me about this predator while she and her pals courted me for membership in their club, once I was a member of the club, Marmite asked me to bring this scammer to an ECC event and serve them ice creams!
This club denies equal rights to its own members, as well as viewing some club members and non-member accounts in our own community as insignificant and worthy of patronizing/talking down to/ostracizing.
And when Marmite stepped down, who became the new leader? Murphy, the one with the most slanderous comments, the cat who feels it is appropriate to belittle ones family when he is in a mood to do so.
The new deputy “head honcho”? The head of the club’s security team who serve as bodyguards for leadership.
Puddin’, the club secretary who told me the Edible Cats Club would never have a pawcircle DM group on Twitter has kept a low profile other than the occasional snipe. She continues on in her role of keeping the timetables flowing and all members accounted for while also searching for new “prospects” (her term, implying ownership, not equality) to lure into the club under false pretenses of no rules, just food and fun. Well, as long as mew are not an Angel or a stuffed animal, that is….that’s a different story.
Many in the community are fed up with these individuals who keep trying to create drama and will not simply admit their mistakes, lies and manipulations and apologize. Their refusal to accept responsibility for their actions is not only hurting me, but the Anipals community as a whole. Lots of accounts are now leaving twitter because they cannot handle seeing the Edible Cats Club spewing hate and vitriol with such regularity. The community is too polite to stand up to them and tell them to stop, and would rather leave themselves than cause more upset than there already is. Some have compared it to a war zone at this point.
Even as I sit here and write this, Olly has been tweeting to pals I might know, asking them to tell me to ‘stop my lies and attacks’ although I’ve not brought up the subject to anyone in days and only speak the truth about my experience with him and the Edible Cats Club.
There are many more layers to this onion but I will end my account here.
This is my story, this is my truth. This is what happened to me and I will not change my reality to suit a group of emotionally abusive individuals who refuse to accept responsibility for their actions and/or try to make atonements for such.
Bullying is real, alive and well on social media. If mew are being victimized, speak your truth – speak up, speak out and don’t stop. If mew see someone being victimized, stand up for them! (FYI, be sure mew know both sides of the story first, as gaslighters will always declare themselves the victim, and loudly).
Be good to your friends, look out for each other, and know that I love mew.
In love and furriendship,
Mr. Wuggums
Update 2/11/22: Again, my brofur Heri’s trying to warn pals that we consider to be our furriends by talking about my experiences with abuse and harassment by club leadership and certain members has set loose a new torrent of gaslighting from an Edible Cats Club member: the sisfur of the new Head Honcho, MurphyTCat – seems he’s in trouble with Twitter because of hatespeak and had to get his sis to gaslight for him with her new account. She’s now tweeting one paragraph from my lengthy private DM exchange with Murphy (in 2021) out of context. Typical spin.
I also was shown this lovely exchange between the cat that started all this drama and the Edible Cats Club head of security:
The comments from this group of pals that profess to stand for kindness and anti-bullying are getting old.
Yes, I know it has been a while…my studies in string theory tend to make me lose track of time!
Right now, Xanawu is working with around 16 #CatsOfTwitter and #Anipals groups to produce #CatCarnivale, a 12 day TwitterCentric festival celebrating anipals, furriendships and all things feline in February.
It has been a wonderful journey just getting to this point, as we began our planning stages last October.
We have made some deep connections, met some true kind souls out there that help give us hope for the future, and keep us focused on our heart centered goals here at Xanawu.
I have also encountered other individuals who are not so kind. It moved me so strongly to view what is happening to the residents of Xanawu and other kind souls around us that I felt the need to speak out.
Maybe you are seeing what is happening out there, too – maybe you are not. That is not the point.
The point is that bullying should no longer be tolerated. We here are good souls with kind hearts and big dreams for a better world. I am sure the residents of Xanawu are not the only kind souls dealing with narrowminded individuals, paranoid egos and hypocrisy.
[just a reminder here – hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles.].
We deserve better and we do not have to endure this any more – together we are stronger.
There are ways to handle bullying, furriends need to band together to have the best time possible in order to drown out the voice of one hater.
This is how you take power away from them, and empower yourself for a change, rather than being polite, then running to a quiet place and having a good cry.
This is no longer acceptable, we are stronger together.
We need to look out for one another – when we see someone in trouble, go to their aid and take them with you. This is not about aggression or violence – just turn the other cheek, okay?
Do not apologize to the haters, do not fear them, smile to yourself, for their hatred toward you means you are only doing your job of goodwill quite well.
Let it inspire you, empower you and fuel you to soar even higher, reach even farther, and keep your loved ones even closer than before.
I am sorry, perhaps I am mad, off base, cracked in some way, but it is how I feel……..together we can stand up, ignore horrible people and embrace each other even harder in front of everyone else.
So please, for everyone, let me say I am sorry anyone at any time has ever made you feel bad for being who you are, being loving or authentic.
Do not be afraid anymore.
Think on what I have said, and in the meantime, let me offer tea and comfort to those who still do not feel strong enough to take that first step – we still love you.
Xanawu exists happily under one philosophy – #KindnessMatters.
The incidents I have seen and experienced with the ECC over the past week truly saddened and disappointed me.
I no longer wish to be a part of, nor can I endorse the @EdibleCatsClub.
I can forgive the members of the group for their words/actions – many were my furriends before I was a part of the ECC, and many are certain to remain my furriends once I am gone.
What I find inexcusable, is the spreading of false information during an emotional outburst by leadership resulting in a mob mentality attack and defamation of character of not only myself but other members of their own “Club”.
Bullying by leadership as a means of problem solving rather than rational, healthy dialogue is unacceptable. It results in widespread, sometimes long term, psychological and emotional damage of REAL PEOPLE. It creates paranoia and divisiveness in our own beautiful community of #Anipals that we have worked so hard to build.
BeMoreKind.
I hereby resign from the @EdibleCatsClub #ECC as a member. My security agency, The Pinkerton Cats have hereby terminated their contract with said club as well.
I feel a healthy reevaluation of leadership skills and conflict resolution technique is sorely needed within this group, and I do wish them well in their restructuring from the ground up.
Xanawu is a land of peace and inclusiveness – the kettle is always on and there’s a hug in every cuppa….we will always love our furriends – all #CatsOfTwitter #Anipals and Kind Souls are welcome at each and every one of our events.
Together, in love, we are greater than the sum of our parts – together, in love, we are stronger.
In love and furriendship, Mr. Wuggums
P.S. I’m keeping the fez – my dear furriend Ophur made this and I would never get rid of it for anything.
My name is Mr. Wuggums, some call me Mr. Wu but my friends call me Wuggie and you can too if you we are friends.
In my past life I was an entertainer, singing classic rock hits in my unique style, more on that later. But now I’m living at a beautiful place I like to call Xanawu where I make movies with my housemates and bestest furriends. As an acting troupe we are enjoying learning together as we move forward on our various film projects, all of which will be available at our new website, mrwuggumsparty.com!
So much fuss is very exciting for us kitties, though we have plenty of experience acting cute and aren’t at all worried about this going to our heads. I am looking forward to a pawsome autumn and cozy-cat winter of film production, which en-tails lots of brushing and grooming as well as a busy regimen of naps to keep in tip-top condition. It can be hectic but we try to handle it like professionals – by taking a break and checking out the snack bowl.
Our production crew (Mommy and Daddy) handle the lesser details, things like set design, cardboard carpentry, cat-friendly lighting as well as the actual filming, editing and other pesky tasks that take a lot of time, require fingers and have little to do with the art of cat-acting. Mommy and Daddy also hand out belly rubs and fill the snack bowl, so we are keeping them around. Besides, I have to admit I really like them!
Film Fest
A couple big items are coming up, the premier of our newest film production “Mr. Wuggums Wuau” will be a part of the first annual Mr. Wuggums Players Film Festival on September 7th! With this production we surpass a full hour of cat comedy and drama, so hosting a watch party on social media should be the purrfect way to get to know all my newest furriends!
Gray Cat Day
Also, I am honored to be a part of the sweeping internet movement #GrayCatDay/#GreyCatDay, dedicated to the oft-overlooked but oh-so-sweet felines who wear one or more shades of gray. Though not a gray cat myself, some of my closest and dearest furriends are tabbied in silver or coated in not-quite-white, so it moves me to help raise awareness of the value of the Gray Cat. Blue cats, gray tuxedos, bi-color or shades of blue or gray, even a hint of silver showing deserves a spot in #GrayCatDay/#GreyCatDay.
**Update**
Turns out there was some confusion over the date for #GrayCatDay/#GreyCatDay, which has been celebrated on Sept23rd for several years! You can be sure that we are happy to join in the festivities as hosted by Macy @kissmypaw (and family) and appreciate their putting together the annual #GreyCatDay/#GreyCatDay pawty! See mew there!
PawedCast
Working into making this blog a live video PawedCast to share all the best gossip from Xanawu – like how Manny ate a nasty bug and then didn’t feel well and kept throwing up on the rug while Mommy and Daddy wondered if he should go to the vet. Mommy asked the #CatsOfTwitter for a #pawcircle and he felt better right away. Now none of us are allowed to eat any bugs at all, which is fine with me since I prefer kibble.
Well, I am off to play with some string – I LOVE STRING!
