Pop Culture Fri Jan 17 2014

Chicago Says Hell No to Revenge Porn Kingpin Hunter Moore

By Fruzsina Eordogh

Hunter Moore, the most well-known face of revenge porn and consequently the "most hated man on the Internet," just had his DJ gig at Lincoln Hall canceled after public outcry on Twitter and Facebook.

"In spite of an outside promoter's announcement, we never booked or confirmed a lineup for the Feb 15 event. Hunter Moore will not be appearing at Lincoln Hall," wrote the venue in a statement on their Facebook page. Party planners Porn and Chicken had originally booked Moore. Lincoln Hall was unreachable for official comment on Friday.

Moore became famous for his now-defunct website IsAnyoneUp.com back in 2009. IsAnyoneUp.com was not just any porn website; its content was primarily user-generated pictures submitted by scorned exes and hackers and the community on the site was encouraged by Moore himself to publicly shame and bully the person whose nudes were on display without consent.

Besides hosting these nude photos, the name, social media profiles and any relevant information like address, phone number and workplace of the person were posted for the sole purpose of the community harassing said person, including calling up that person's boss. Hence, the term "revenge porn" and why Moore proudly calls himself a "professional life-ruiner" for thousands of women. Moore shut down the site in 2012 pending an FBI investigation and was banned from Facebook, but he remains on Twitter sharing pictures of his sexual escapades, selling merchandise, promoting his DJ gigs and encouraging his 500,000+ followers to bully his critics.

Which brings us to about 24 hours ago, when the feminist, party and music scenes got wind of Moore DJing at the Porn & Chicken "Born to Bang" event at Lincoln Hall on February 15 and began tweeting their anger and disappointment, as well as plans to boycott, at both the venue hall and Porn and Chicken. Outrage over his booking even reached as far as Texas and the Middle East.

"I've seen many shows at LH and am attending tonight, but if Hunter Moore remains on this bill, it might be the last time," tweeted Kat O'Rly, the host of WLUW's Monday night radio show Destination Unknown, one of more than a dozen vocal critics of the booking. (O'Rly has since locked her Twitter account, fearing retaliation from Moore and fans.)

Nicolette Meyer, a senior dog trainer at AnimalSense Canine Behavior and attendee of more than 10 shows at Lincoln Hall, also took to Lincoln Hall's Facebook page and Twitter to protest.

In a series of private messages about her tweets and Facebook posts, Meyer explained the booking angered and saddened her because "Any place that ignores the outcry of their patrons and allows someone who literally benefits both financially and socially from the abuse (mental and emotional) of women to [perform] in their venue is not a place that I would feel comfortable frequenting or supporting any longer."

Indianapolis resident but frequenter of Lincoln Hall shows Leah B., who goes by @CircleCityStyle on Twitter, was a bit of ringleader, trying unsuccessfully to make the hashtag #nomoorelincolnhall trend.

In a series of private messages, Leah said the whole thing is just beneath Chicago and Lincoln Hall in particular and called Moore a "symbol of bullying and rape culture." She gets the debauchery image Porn & Chicken is going for, but "there's a line, they crossed it, and they attacked people who called them out on it."

Moore wrote a vulgar tweet to Leah, but deleted it.

The biggest problem DJ the Tornado, who by day is a prevention educator at a local rape crisis center, had with the Moore booking is what he calls Moore's perpetuation of rape culture, where revenge porn is akin to an act of sexual violence.

"When Porn & Chicken booked Hunter Moore to appear at their party, they were contributing to the normalizing of men's violence," he said in an email, explaining the booking was "[condoning] the violence Moore has committed towards numerous women, and the violence that Moore unabashedly celebrates."

Lincoln Hall's announcement Moore would not perform at the venue was met with mostly cheers for doing the right thing.

"It makes me very happy that Lincoln Hall chose to show respect for their patrons (women and men alike) over buying into some fucked up dog and pony show for the sake of press and notoriety," Meyer said.