Can Anyone Explain The Controversy Over Rob Chapman?

hollywoodrox

Parts of this thread read like a Red Top Newspaper 
  

DavusPG

Love him or loathe him, Chappers has obviously done something right given that people are still watching his videos and, as demonstrated on here, still talking about him!

I was never a fan of him or his playing, so chose to watch other gear demos instead. As one of the earlier guitar content creators on YouTube though, we probably have him in part to thank for many of the great ones we have today? 

fosk

I can’t really watch anything with him in, he’s so annoying.  I think putting his surname on the guitar brand owned by him and Lee Anderton is a mistake.

jonnyburgo

I misspelt the name of a weird guitar in gogglywoogly and got a picture of Chapman's Dick. 

LastMantra

That's what they all say.

skullfunkerry

Offset said:

I think some of the guitars look really nice too, especially the Tele-shaped jobbies.  But that video is excruciating, self-indulgent twaddle and the new marketing goon looked embarrassed to be there.

I didn't think it was that bad, it made me chuckle in places.

Offset

skullfunkerry said:

Offset said:

I think some of the guitars look really nice too, especially the Tele-shaped jobbies.  But that video is excruciating, self-indulgent twaddle and the new marketing goon looked embarrassed to be there.

I didn't think it was that bad, it made me chuckle in places.

I chuckled too, but for all the wrong reasons!

Philly_Q

Offset said:

skullfunkerry said:

Offset said:

I think some of the guitars look really nice too, especially the Tele-shaped jobbies.  But that video is excruciating, self-indulgent twaddle and the new marketing goon looked embarrassed to be there.

I didn't think it was that bad, it made me chuckle in places.

I chuckled too, but for all the wrong reasons!

It's extremely cringey but the Lee Anderton "bloopers" at the end did make me laugh.

BillDL

NelsonP said:

Summary here...

https://adamharkus.com/rob-chapman-exposed/

Dear God, where does it stop.  Somebody trying to do a précis of the allegations and invites comments with "what do you think?" questions.  Among the subscriber comments somebody muses over whether moving to Malta was for shady financial and tax reasons and someone else chimes in (maybe the "article" author) with "hmmm, I wondered that myself".  For God's sake, does nobody Google or look up Wikipedia before publicly musing about potentially libellous inferences?  His wife is Maltese !!

digitalscream

BillDL said:

NelsonP said:

Summary here...

https://adamharkus.com/rob-chapman-exposed/

Dear God, where does it stop.  Somebody trying to do a précis of the allegations and invites comments with "what do you think?" questions.  Among the subscriber comments somebody muses over whether moving to Malta was for shady financial and tax reasons and someone else chimes in (maybe the "article" author) with "hmmm, I wondered that myself".  For God's sake, does nobody Google or look up Wikipedia before publicly musing about potentially libellous inferences?  His wife is Maltese !!

Yeah, but...at the time, the news was all about beating up rich people for using (legal) tax avoidance schemes, so he presumably thought he'd get a bit of that in there too.

Gassage

It's no use cutting if you're knife isn't sharp.

Boromedic

He doesn't appear to have lost many subscribers at all, and his video views have been at a similar level. So it may appear he's gone but he's still doing okay it seems, I've not done a deep dive into the stats however. The reply video he did was really misjudged though.

I'd love to know what really happened (the real story not the internet fantasy) with the British standard series which was a massive mistake. He seems happy enough though and he's been through a lot lately with his family. I wish him nothing but the best really. 

Bidley

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

skullfunkerry said:

Offset said:

I think some of the guitars look really nice too, especially the Tele-shaped jobbies.  But that video is excruciating, self-indulgent twaddle and the new marketing goon looked embarrassed to be there.

I didn't think it was that bad, it made me chuckle in places.

I chuckled too, but for all the wrong reasons!

It's extremely cringey but the Lee Anderton "bloopers" at the end did make me laugh.

I'm pretty sure that video was entirely humorous and meant to be cheesy and cringy...

m_c

His video views did take a hit.

I've never really liked his style of music or playing, but his educational videos were always good. He has the ability to explain what appear to be pretty complex topics, in a simple to understand way.
I also liked his videos with Lee, as they were just two mates passionate about guitars.

However the whole reply video was very misjudged, and I don't doubt he's probably upset a few people getting where he has with his videos, bands, and guitars.

NelsonP

jonnyburgo said:

I misspelt the name of a weird guitar in gogglywoogly and got a picture of Chapman's Dick. 

You are Neil Parish and I claim my £5

Strangefan

digitalscream said:

Strangefan said:

Roland said:

Bigsby said:

If only this forum had a search function....

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/50034/using-google-to-search-thefretboard

That should have read if only the forum had a search function which actually worked. 

It actually does

Dayum, I'm def glad to be proved wrong on this!

thumpingrug

So here we are again, a bunch of guitar nuts, having a go at someone who has made a bit of a life for themselves doing the thing we enjoy.  Why?   Just leave the bloke alone.  

Blaendulais

thumpingrug said:

So here we are again, a bunch of guitar nuts, having a go at someone who has made a bit of a life for themselves doing the thing we enjoy.  Why?   Just leave the bloke alone.  

Because Chapman broke rule 1 of the forum.....bigtime

johnhe

I think that the way Rob dealt with the issue (the young guy targeting him in “expose” videos) should be put into book form and published as a great example of how not to respond to criticism in public.

before I watched Rob’s response videos, I was pretty neutral. I didn’t like his playing much (although he’s technically impressive) and I found his persona quite off-putting. But I found him fairly amusing all the same and watched a fair number of his Andertons videos. Since I watched his response videos online, I think I can honestly say that I have not watched one single Rob Chapman video since. The whole thing was just so dreadfully Ill-conceived and unpleasant. Simple silence would have been so much more effective. 

That’s all only my opinion of course. If someone was targeting me online, I’d probably be equally incapable of restraining myself from responding. But Robs example demonstrates in excruciating detail why that is such a bad idea.

fastonebaz

jonnyburgo said:

I heard that when he reaches the vinegar stroke he shouts "GRRRRRREATINGS" and does a salute. Whether it's true or not I don't know.

I lolled so hard I dropped my butter knife and almost knocked over my salami pack.