Talk:Firing of Yousef
Contents
Source of rumor
Yousef's own myspace page says he is no longer part of lg15 series. Lonelygirl15.com shows that many fans are extremely angry.
Note from Yousef
Brucker, I'm MySpace friends with him, his note says:
Wednesday, November 08, 2006 not on lonelygirl15 any more So yeah, today was an extremely shitty day for me. Basically to sum it up, because I dont want to get into the specific's I was told that I will not really be part of the LG thing anymore. That sucks. So I will be looking for another job in the resturant business. Thats what I was told, to start looking for another job today. It sucks to think that now I'm not a good enough actor to be on a show I was cast for, but hey, it is what it is. So I want to say to all of my new friends that it was a pleasure being able to talk with as many of you as I could. I will truly cherrish that in my heart. The breif time that I had was wonderful. I will still aspire to be a successful actor, looks like I've just hit a speed bump. Take care everyone, and good luck Jess, you were the best and I cant thank you enough for being in my corner. I cant thank you enough for the wonderful expeirence it was to work with you. Knock'em dead
I can add a screen capture tonight. I'm a little conflicted. It appears to be true, I'm annoyed if it's happening, but i've worked hard on this 'pedia and don't want to see it go to crap. At the same time, I think it should represent the whole truth, including any firing.--JayHenry 10:46, 9 November 2006 (PST)
"Fired", killed off, or what?
I would like to note that the text above does not outright say that Yousef was "fired". It may be that Danielbeast is going to be killed off in an upcoming episode, resulting in him no longer being needed for the series. This seems to me to be more reasonable than just dropping him. Furthermore, if he goes out with dignity, I think many of the fans will be able to forgive the creators. One last note: if the creators were suffering from Anti-Arab Discrimination, don't you think they wouldn't have hired him in the first place? It's not like they suddenly realized months into the project that a guy named Yousef Abu-Taleb was an Arab, right? --Brucker 11:00, 9 November 2006 (PST)
- Good points, Brucker. The sentence that sticks out for me is "It sucks to think that now I'm not a good enough actor to be on a show I was cast for" because I don't think he'd say that if his character was being killed off as part of the plot, you know? The Anti-Arab discrimination stuff seems way too speculative for the LGPedia. I don't know, I think I'm done editing at the LGPedia until I find out what really happened.--JayHenry 11:19, 9 November 2006 (PST)
Allen Smithee
Below is an account of what happened in the Allen Smithee affair.
According to Wikipedia:
"Alan Smithee, Allen Smithee, Alan Smythee, and Adam Smithee are pseudonyms used between 1968 and 1999 by Hollywood film directors who wanted to be dissociated from a film for which they no longer wanted credit. It was used when the director could prove to the satisfaction of a panel of members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers that the film had been wrestled from his or her creative control. The director is also required to keep the reason for the disavowal a secret. The pseudonym cannot be used to hide a director's failures."
Following a post on the MySpace of Yousef Abu-Taleb stating that he was being removed from the Lonelygirl15 project someone re-directed LG links for Youself to Allen Smithee. When asked why, the following response was obtained:
Due to reasons that are best not discussed, the Actor that plays the role of Daniel, along with the United Arab Emirates Actor’s Guild, feel that his name should be removed from this project and have opted for this proxy instead. UAE Actor's Guild. --213.42.2.21 00:05, 9 November 2006 (PST)
IP Address 213.42.2.21 tracks back to:
netname: EMIRNET-EMIRNET descr: Emirates Internet descr: Public Internet Service descr: Emirates Telecommunications Corporation descr: P.O. Box 1150, Dubai, UAE
Later in the morning, other users of LGpedia changed it back to its original format and re-directed comments on the Allen Smithee affair to this page.
- I can find no evidence outside of mentions on our site that the UAEAG exists. The UAE is a small country, and is not known for its film industry.--Brucker 13:55, 9 November 2006 (PST)
The IP address did track to the UAE. I think that the best evidence we have that it was some official representative. However, like you I was not able to find a web site for the Guild.- modelmotion
After the Creators indicated that they were running out of cash a paypal links was placed on the comments page of Lonelygirl15.com. This has led many to conclude that the conflict with Yousef involved money, but it is possible that money only contributed indirectly to the tensions that precipitated the incident.
Statement from the Creators
In a statement from the Creators (comment 624 on the On The Run video}:
"The Creators Says: November 9th, 2006 at 2:09 pm Dear Fans,
Tensions have been high in the Lonelygirl15 world. We would like to clarify a few things that have recently come up. First off, Yousef Abu-Taleb is NOT being fired from the show. The character of Daniel is still very much a part of Lonelygirl15. Secondly, we have NOT “gone corporate.” To the contrary, we are almost completely out of money. We are still financing Lonelygirl15 out of personal savings and maxed out credit cards. The little money that we do have goes to pay for the actors and the few items needed to film the videos (P. Monkey eats a lot of bananas). Why are we still doing this? For you. We care as much about this show and this new medium as you do, and we are doing our best to keep it going. You might see some banner ads and Google AdSense popping up. We’re gonna make some T-Shirts. We’ll also be producing some DVD’s. All we want to do is create a FANTASTIC show to entertain you.
Thank you for watching!
Miles, Mesh, Greg, Amanda, Vanessa, Jessica, Yousef, Jackie, Kevin"
- There is no confirmation that this post is in any way connected with the actual authors of LG15. "The Creators" notably lack admin status on the forum.--Treefunk 4:42, 9 November 2006 (CST)
- No, it's them. I will change their rank to denote admin status. -- Twjaniak 14:44, 9 November 2006 (PST)
- I just received an email from Miles Beckett:
"Thanks for asking for clarification on this issue. I really appreciate all your hard work on the LGPedia, it means a lot to us. Obviously, we love lonelygirl15 and want the show to continue and the audience to grow. Yousef is very much a part of lonelygirl15. Here is what we posted in the forums:
Tensions have been high in the Lonelygirl15 world. We would like to clarify a few things that have recently come up. First off, Yousef Abu-Taleb is NOT being fired from the show. The character of Daniel is still very much a part of Lonelygirl15. Secondly, we have NOT "gone corporate." To the contrary, we are almost completely out of money. We are still financing Lonelygirl15 out of personal savings and maxed out credit cards. The little money that we do have goes to pay for the actors and the few items needed to film the videos (P. Monkey eats a lot of bananas). Why are we still doing this? For you. We care as much about this show and this new medium as you do, and we are doing our best to keep it going. You might see some banner ads and Google AdSense popping up. We're gonna make some T-Shirts. We'll also be producing some DVD's. All we want to do is create a FANTASTIC show to entertain you.
Thank you for watching!
Miles, Mesh, Greg, Amanda, Vanessa, Jessica, Yousef, Jackie, Kevin"
MySpace Bulletins From Yousef on 11/10/06
According to Bulletins posted on Myspace, Yousef clears everything up and tells everyone that he is NOT being taken off the show.
I also want to say that I feel that you the fans of lonelygirl15 deserve to see a conclusion to our story that we have worked so hard to produce. Daniel will not be leaving, and I would never quit doing this show that I have come to truly love being a part of. I am very passionate and devoted to this project and the character that I have worked to produce. I truly have felt blessed to have had a chance to work on the show.
There is more but that is the part about Daniel being taken off.
Hey guys, sorry that post was a little confusing. I am not a "PR" person. I just kind of speak from the heart. Anyway, it's pretty simple what happened. There has been a lot of tension on the set for a whole lot of reasons and we got into a fight about some stuff. Overall it was a really horrible day and I felt like crap. I am not leaving the show and I am not being fired, Daniel will continue on. Also, the show is DEFINITELY not ending, we really want to do this thing "forever." Yeah, money is tight, but I'm sure we will figure it out, we always have through this entire thing. I love all you guys, the fans are what make it worthwhile for me! Thanks, talk to you all later.
