Okay, I realize the irony by posting this months after his apology but I have something to say. Words cannot explain how I feel about Neal Campbell’s late, rushed, and barely emotional apology. I have many reasons for saying those things because it comes a year after he allegedly logged on to Cali’s Twitter account and “impersonated” her, posting the update which caused Leo to ban her from TWiT. This is just like the mystery about “Who Shot J.R.?” on that show Dallas, except we had to wait an entire year and the guy who fessed up; he’s not the one who J.R. would not send to jail. Now since I’m hosted by a hosting company which does not explicitly allow swear words of any kind, I will have to try to let out my anger about this while avoiding anything that might cause my hosting company to kick me out the door. Now without further to do. Here are the words he says in his post and my replies to his words.

“Since we started GeekBrief.TV, I’ve studied media successes to learn techniques for growing an audience and keeping them interested. Publicly writing something controversial is usually a very good thing to do. You don’t loose as many people as seems logical because people want to stick around to see what you’ll do or say next.” -Neal Campbell

Really… controversy… I guess it works for the people who actually know what they are talking about, people who usually have a good theory that will cause controversy because it clashes with the common watered-down stuff that the people have heard. Also people don’t stick around due to the controversy, they stick around because they light what the guy is saying and they want to hear more. I suspect this is the guy who used to watch “Rikki Lake” and “Jerry Springer” because they’re “controversial.”; I suspect he stopped this because he wanted to look more “smart” than he really is.

“When Cali found out what I did, it obviously it made her angry.  To her, politics is private and divisive. She doesn’t enjoy it in the least. I apologized, but also argued my case about the benefits of the controversy. We had recently had dinner with John C. Dvorak and he explained how he has used controversy in his long career as a tech writer to keep people paying attention. I thought Cali bought-in to the idea of creating controversy, but I was wrong.” -Neal Campbell

Well you’ve been married to her for like, I don’t know, 11 YEARS!!! You should know Cali at the time you impersonated her and posted that tweet about global warming. Not only does it show that you do not respect your wife’s wishes, it also shows that you’re 100% intent on controlling her career. Here’s what I think Neal Campbell was thinking in his head.

“Hmmm… If I impersonate Cali Lewis and if I post a controversial tweet then it will make my wife more famous! And it will also make me “Neal Campbell”, recognizable as the husband of a famous celebrity!” -The Thoughts of Neal Campbell

You seriously couldn’t consult Cali before you did this? Maybe she would do it, maybe she would say not; the point is, you impersonated her without consent for personal gain. And when you realized that Leo banned her from TWiT, then you realized you were wrong; because with that, your business opportunities started to go down the drain.

“She was deeply hurt by what I did. She is the kindest person in the world and she didn’t want to embarrass me. She’s lived with letting everyone believe it came from her because of our relationship.”-Neal Campbell

This is what also angers me. You hurt her, you posted that tweet and after all of that, she defended you… Woman should not have to defend Men from their mistakes; if Men never experiences the consequences brought on by their mistakes then they should not deserve to be called Men, just cowards. Worst of all; instead of apologizing for what you have done, you have instead let Cali take the blame. Not once did she feel obligated to say that it was you who did it; she let many business opportunities slip and it’s all because of you.

“The only way I can make it right is to publicly apologize.  A private apology is utterly insufficient because what I did pushed her into a public, political battle she didn’t want to fight. She lost friends and business opportunities because of what I did. I hope this blog post will mend some of those relationships. I also want to apologize to friends of GeekBrief.TV and followers of Cali’s tweets. The controversy experiment just wasn’t worth it, especially without her participation. I’m sorry.” -Neal Campbell

You know what’s even more insufficient, not apologizing at all… and now you apologize for placing her in a battle she didn’t want to fight in the first place. You know what, you’re not sorry; you did this “experiment” without consulting her, you did this because you thought this would help her career, but mainly you did this entirely for yourself. What surprised me is that Leo Laporte posted the first comment, and after reading that comment I found some words of text which really proves that you’re a shallow person. Note the highlighted words around a big red circle.

According to the highlighted text, he apologized way back then. Which means that Leo had at least enough emotion to contact Cali and apologize to her. You, you waited a year after the incident you caused and then you posted your “public apology”. While some people may hate Leo for his views on Global Warming and his views on the then 2008 presidential campaign. He is at least more human and less shallow then you will ever be in your lifetime. The conclusion, well it’s obvious. Cali divorces you; seriously. In my personal opinion, she does not deserve scum like you. While you guys used to love each other back then, I think it’s different now. When Cali became a micro-celebrity, it made you think “I’m going to make her into a celebrity, and then I shall bask in the fame and move to Hollywood as the husband of a celebrity.” If you were truly in love with her then you should not let the ideas of fame and success affect your head. Continuing on, it’s a “well known fact” that he produces the show… I’m wondering, isn’t this the reason why the show looks unprofessional.

I remember a time when I found a music video for Geoff Smith’s “Hello, Hello” and it was just, horrible. During the duration of the song, he focused on Cali buying the iPhone. While I do admit that the song was good, he could of done a few things; adjust the contrast of the video, shot it at a slower framerate and at least took the effort to make it a proper music video. This is the same for the video podcast itself; I read around the web that “GeekBrief.TV” has a certain “professional” element to it, I found myself to be more wrong. No offense to Cali Lewis on the more recent episodes but the ones she did with her husband in 2009 are in my opinion campy, unprofessional, cheap-looking and horrible. Not once did the guys even consider getting the lighting right, the obvious production errors fixed up or even the presentation right. Now while I’m mainly interested in the news when I’m looking at a podcast, I consider the presentation to be the most important thing I look for. Whether the host is likable, relatable or knowledgeable, and whether it will make me want to come back for more. I should not have to be focusing on obvious errors such as the ones found in your special you produced on “Leo Laporte”.

I just loved how you overlayed a title over another title, and I absolutely loved how you did not take more then 1 camera into the cottage. I swear that as I watched the videos you produced, I saw Leo suddenly get less clear and muddy throughout the video. I don’t know, you did not have the skill to have a camera directly facing Leo? Superproducer my bottom, you are the tech version of Solar, a guy who claims to care about her only to use and abuse Guru for his own personal gain; and Guru was lead to believe that there was nothing he could do to stop him, he was even forced to perform on stage despite Guru’s health, all for his own benefit. And the quality of the product, there was no effort put into the product; it was all rushed just to cash in. Sure the music’s good but the product feels like there hasn’t been any care put into it.

Also, his political views aren’t really the ones anybody political would recommend. Sure he’s against Obama but for one reason, what he’s going to do to his wallet. Not universal healthcare, not the fact that he isn’t really all that different from George W. Bush, but money. In this world, the rich control everything while the poor have to survive off of scraps. The world loves people who can make money in an economy like this and continue to make money, they are the ones who will survive into the future because they can afford all of the life extension technology. If his political views consist of only what he’s trying to do to his wallet then that’s pretty shallow in my book. I mean just because banks aren’t accepting mortgage offers like they used to after George W. Bush ruined the economy, that is no reason why you should start going all political. I mean just because they denied you for the mortgage (which could be for many reasons; bad credit score, history of underpayments, the fact that they think you will not pay it back in full) does not mean that the world is going to end, in fact it should of made you do things like get more sponsors for your tour or at least rent the damn bus; not go all political just because someone denied your mortgage application.

And closing out my argument is how he tried to save his marriage. Apparently he has gone to 2 support groups because Christians don’t believe in psychology. My advice; they should of just saw a psychologist to at least try to resolve their issues instead of a support group. Which leads me to my next issue; he should of just admitted her love for her instead of trying to find out what’s wrong and fixing it. You couldn’t of just walked up to Cali Lewis and say “I love you with all my heart, I know that I shouldn’t of placed you into a battle based on a hunch, but everybody learns from mistakes and we, we could overcome any mistakes if we stick together.” He couldn’t even do that? I thought you were a Christian… Which Christian represses their feelings of love for trying to find out what’s wrong with the marriage. Additionally, he even claims that he realizes that he has been reborn and now realizes that the marriage he had was magical… During the 11 years he was married to her, did you ever think that you think the marriage was magical? I guess he doesn’t know what he got until it got up and walked away from her, now he’s talking about how he’s reborn, how he wants his wife back and spiritual BS which I just plain don’t believe in (sorry believers of religion.). Neal, the day you started becoming a bad husband was when in my opinion, you started to use her for your own personal gain and when you started to subconsciously think you were bigger than god. Neal Campbell you are a shallow, ignorant, pathetic piece of human flesh and you should of never gone onto her Twitter in the first place and posted that message in the first place, and that is why you fail.

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  • Utool

    You're a tool

  • Taylor Karras

    Hi, thank you for pointing out minor spelling errors; I’m sure your lack of capitalization and commas make you 10x better then me.

  • JM

    “you couldn't OF just” ???
    “bigger THEN god”?
    “smart THEN he really is”???

    omg you don't even know how to write, kid!

  • Tyler Fraser

    I blame John C. Dvorak. He’s the chowderhead who put this dumbass”controversy” idea in Campbell’s empty vessel of a head.

  • Joshpodcast

    Why are you writing about someone else’s personal stuff? Do you have to stoop that low? Neal and Luria are good people. Sometimes things get out of hand. Life happens. Go back in your hole where you belong. You are pathetic. This is almost as bad as TMZ talking about other people lives.

  • Tyler Fraser

    @joshpodcast Have you read their Twitter feeds lately? Luria has taken the high road, made (one) statement and then closed the book to the public. Neal on the other hand can’t seem to go a day without some unhinged diatribe. Did you see the last YouTube video he posted? “Look at how she looks at me at 4:54 a year ago. Now she hates me.” Looks like he has an extra helping of crazy for breakfast each morning!

  • Taylor Karras

    lol, I didn’t even mention Luria in a negative light. This blog post is all about Neal and the way he apoligzed, the lateness of the apoligy and how I think he let the fame get to his head and affect his mindset and how I think he used Cali (aka Luria) for his own personal gain. I wrote this because I had an opinion, I felt pissed off by the way he was acting and I felt like I had to get my own opinions and my own stress out on a blog that barely anybody reads.

    It’d be personal if it was private Mr. White but he placed it out for the entire world to see, therefore anybody has the right to comment on it or even express their opinions of it as per the 1st Ammendment. Aditionally this was made 3 months ago, so I don’t see why you’re making a big deal about “writing about someone elses personal stuff” and telling me that “life happens” when everybody (including me) has moved on.

    This is a blog, this is where I write posts about how I feel about stuff I see and stuff I read on the news, If you don’t like it due to the fact that I’m “stooping this low” (something involving ducking 3 equal signs, an 8 and a D for those of you clever enough) or the fact that you don’t agree with my opinions of Neal Campbell then you don’t have to read or post comments about it. According to you, people shouldn’t blog about what’s posted on the internet pubically because they’ll be stooping to a level soo low they’ll be called Pathetic.

    Also TMZ is much worse then me, they call every celebrity stupid and mock them. If you ever see me posting videos and pictures of celebrities from behind a dumpster while calling them dumb, then call me Mr. Pitiful.

  • Buzzcutmale

    Wow… I liked some of your points… but because you went on about Neal’s intentions without indicating how you know for sure his intentions of fame for himself, I have to wonder if you are actually projecting some of your own life history onto the matter. It is obvious to me you wrote this in one fell swoop of emotion and posted it, hence the major grammatical mistakes of she for he and several misspellings. Not saying those are bad, but it shows you didn’t take time to cool down and reflect upon what you wrote. If you had kept it to the facts that are known and stated what you think should have been done by Neal, that would have made a very good article. Your political views shoe-horned in would have worked managed to work. Ah well, hopefully you got it out of your system and you can move on.

  • Buzzcutmale

    Look back at your article… you didn’t write it as if you were implying Neal’s intentions. You wrote it in a factual way. There is a difference. As to if you can see it and not be defensive… well that remains to be seen.

  • Buzzcutmale

    Um… so your saying Neal has no control over a comment that is made by John C Divorak and the ability to reason and think for himself? Hilarious.

  • Buzzcutmale

    As I stated above… ‘If you can manage to not be defensive’… I guess seeing your comments towards you proves you are unable to see it for what it is. Which is fine, I deal with crazy people all the time. Comment if you wish and it makes you feel better. Chances are high I will never see your comments. Even if I did, I wouldn’t bother to use any more of my time on your responses.

  • Taylor Karras

    I know because of the lateness of the apology, the fact that she’s getting a divorce, the fact that the only reason Neal Campbell is known is because he helped co-produce GeekBrief.TV (which became well-known and if the show becomes well known, so does your name) and the fact that he’s using her to push his own political views (hence my political-views being shoehorned in). There is another kind of view but you’ll have to look deeply to find it.

    Also I included none of my life history onto the matter, like why would I subconsciously include some pieces of history just to make people feel bad for me. I’m focusing mainly on Neal taking so long to apologize about the subject (especially when Cali apologized much quicker) for reasons unknown. I mean it’s obvious that he could of apologized earlier, but did he… No… He didn’t, even though he realized how much that post hurt her, even though he realized that it divided fans, even though he realized that people don’t want to see Cali Lewis be political. He realized all those things and yet it took him so long to apologize… Why didn’t he apologize earlier, the world may never know.

  • Tyler Fraser

    Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly what I’m saying!!!

  • Joe

    “Hmmm… If I impersonate Cali Lewis and if I post a controversial tweet then it will make my wife more famous! And it will also make me “Neal Campbell”, recognizable as the husband of a famous celebrity!” -The Thoughts of Neal Campbell

    Hay Taylor, sounds to me you are also impersonating Neal………dude quit being so cruel let it go! Everyone lost in this case. So sad…

  • Taylor Karras

    Joe, it’s been 6 months since I posted this. You think after 6 months I would of moved on to other subjects?

    Also very few people lost in this case. Cali and Leo made up, John C. Devorak is still successful and Cali is doing well on Revision3. The only losers here is Neil Campbell and possibly Mevio, who used to host Cali’s show. Don’t assume everybody lost if they’re doing well.

  • Sincerely

    As a friend of both Cali and Neal, and a follower of their work, they would be be disgraced at what you have posted about their daily lives.
    By the way, the screenshot used in your post of the TWiT Cottage, is actually a relay of the live TWiT feed, (apart from the GeekBrief.TV titles.) I am a Christian and was completly offended. And in the words of yourself. Taylor Karras ‘you are a shallow, ignorant, pathetic piece of human flesh and you should of never gone onto’ the internet “in the first place, and that is why you fail.”

    Sincerely
    A dear friend of the two.

  • Taylor Karras

    Excuse me? I blast NEIL on this blog post, NOT CALI, most of the words in this article go to NEIL. NOT CALI. In fact, most of my post paints Cali as a victim, since a tweet of hers was done by the decision of Neil, not Cali. I have the right to write a blog post about certain newsworthy incidents such as this, but I have no intentions (nor did I ever have) to make blog posts writing about their daily lives…

    Also I know that the screenshot in my post is a relay of the live TWiT feed, anybody (who has watched the TWiT Live feed.) can tell due to the TWiT Logo on the top right and the partially obstructed text, my main disagreement is that he used the TWiT Live feed instead of using his own (or even TWiT’s own) cameras, that’s the point I was trying to get across.

    That is all.

  • Fjord Prefect

    For the record, many Christians do believe in psychology. My wife got her Masters degree in clinical psych from a Christian university, and a very fundamentalist one at that.

  • http://twitter.com/nealcampbell Neal Campbell

    Know what? The world can know right now! The truth is that I wrote most of the Cali tweets. The thing that made this one unique is that it was meant to be controversial. Up until January 2010, 99% of everything tweeted or said by the Cali Lewis character was written by me. Cali Lewis is a fictional character played by Luria Petrucci. It was my pen name. It’s a unique situation. I created something new. I apologized because she went crazy and went to live with a polygamist and I was trying to fix my broken marriage. I’ve deleted that apology. My desperate attempt to fix my marriage based on her crazy didn’t work.

    I will eventually release all our written communication. Luria was hungry for fame and she didn’t think fame was possible if the Cali character was controversial. She left and made the character devoid of soul.

    Dude, you don’t get it. Guys in marriage apologize to fix stuff, but this wasn’t something that spiritually required an apology. She is the person who did wrong. She cheated on me. My only wrong was being upset about it.

  • http://twitter.com/nealcampbell Neal Campbell

    And Tyler … as you contemplate my empty vessel of a head … what exactly did you create for geek culture that became a question/answer on Jeopardy?