Rebecca Producer: I was duped, I was raped

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 6:26am

The latest developments on what I've been calling The Weirdness of Rebecca. Ben Sprecher, one of the two lead producers of the imploded musical, gives an interview to the New York Times, attempting to explain, among other things, why he lied to the reporter.


Rebecca Producer: I was duped Updated On: 10/17/12 at 06:26 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 6:52am

Well that comparison is a bit over dramatic.

How can you feel sorry for someone who apparently didn't even complete a rudimentary background check on his main investor?

There's lack of due diligence and then there's total carelessness.

Sprecher falls into a category that's below those.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 7:58am

At least it wasn't rape-rape.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 8:01am

Were they also rooting through his rutabaga, raiding his arugula, and ripping up his rampion (his champion, his favorite)?

[rhdery]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 8:06am

It seems to me as the facts are coming out he was indeed duped by a very skilled con man. As the Bernie Madoff case made clear even sophisticated, successful people can be taken by a skilled hustler.

I am a firm believer in blaming criminals for being criminals and not their victims for being victimized.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 8:13am

Skilled? Hotton was exposed in five minutes once someone actually bothered to look into his "investors".

And Sprecher may wish to play the victim, but don't forget he was responsible for other people's money as well. He is a professional producer. It's his job to ensure the funds he raises are legitimate.

[wonkit]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 9:52am

Amen to that, tazber.

[little_sally]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 9:56am

This is as illegitimate of a rape as I've ever seen.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 12:25pm

He is starting to write the lyrics for the Wittman/Shaiman song when this becomes the plot of the next season of SMASH:

SPRECHER:
I was duped, I was raped,
I was conned, I was had,
I had thought I did my homework,
But I guess I did it bad.

Well, of course I did a Google search!
Who wouldn't do a Google search?
But I Facebooked and he Linked me
And somehow he still hoodwinked me!

I was hoodwinked, I was duped,
I was raped, and now I'm sad.

Updated On: 10/17/12 at 12:25 PM

[hyperbole_and_a_half]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 1:02pm

Wow. I'm really not fond of calling out inappropriate rape metaphors when carelessly used by insensitive douche bags because language is fluid and we shouldn't allow words to have so much power, etc., but that, Ben Sprecher, is an inappropriate rape metaphor.

Let's work the metaphor backwards, shall we?

Mr. Sprecher says he was "raped" by a con artist who bilked him out of commissions on investments he never delivered, ultimately leading to the loss of a small personal fortune and the collapse of a Broadway musical. A casual Google search reveals that this conman was no stranger to fraud lawsuits well before Rebecca warbled its way over from the Continent, and that Mr. Sprecher should've known better. Instead of coming clean about his world-destroying lack of aptitude, Mr. Sprecher then indulged in lying to the press, hiding the truth from investors and lashing out at email boogeymen before eventually couching himself in a sexual violence metaphor.

That isn't actually rape; the closest analogy that I can think of is a woman who drunkenly thought she let an NBA team into her vagina, was disappointed to find out it was actually just Flava Flav and his entourage, and then squawked to the National Enquirer that she was raped.

I guess what I am saying is that Mr. Sprecher should just shut up and go away? Yes, let's do that.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 1:22pm

The spectacular rape,
With costumes ordered from the East,
Requires rehearsal,
And takes a dozen men at least,
A couple of singers,
And a string quartet,
A major production,
Requires a set

[little_sally]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 2:02pm

I'm with you, hyperbole. I really, really hate when people say they were "raped" when it's not even close, not even a bit (such as this situation).

[PatrickDennis92]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 2:37pm

Well, in the case of a legitimate rape, producer's bodies have, and I'm quoting doctors, have the ability to shut down their productions.

[OKBroadwayFan]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:06pm

More on the story in CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/16/justice/broadway-scam/index.html?hpt=hp_t3&is_LR=1

[binau]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:54pm

The word rape has multiple meanings.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:57pm

Good thing our bodies have a way of preventing pregnancy when these things happen.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:58pm

...except that in today's society, it is most commonly linked with one.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:07pm

I know you prefer "defrauded," but the proper word is "raped."

It's short and businesslike.

[binau]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:38pm

...except that in today's society, it is most commonly linked with one.

Ok, well there are two ways to approach this matter. First, you could decide that he did compare himself to a female being raped (sexually) and get offended. Second, you could decide that he used another meaning of the word which, although might cause you look twice because of the common use of the word, isn't really that offensive. Isn't it just easier to do the latter? I never thought he was literally comparing himself to someone being raped.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:48pm

Men can be raped, too, qolbinau. And he is saying he was violated, in the same way rape victims are. That cavalier use of the word to describe being violated or overpowered or whatever is taking the edge and importance of the word from men and women who have actually been raped.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:52pm

The fact is that words and definitions change over time. Very rarely will people now use it as "an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation"- unless in sexual connotation.

In the way Sprecher uses it comes off melodramatic at best.

[binau]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:53pm

I guess, I see your points. He probably shouldn't have used the word.

[PatrickDennis92]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:58pm

I like it. It's sassy.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/17/12 at 5:27pm

Well, there's the obvious, open schoolboy rape.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 2:47am

Update: Alleged Rebecca con man Mark Hotton arrested without bail as a "considerable threat" to the community
Rebecca producer: I was duped, I was raped