November 14th, 2007 Blog by Mark Schwahn
Hi everyone,
It’s Wednesday. Since yesterday’s blog entry, I’ve been humbled by the outpouring of support from the best fans in the world. I appreciate it very much. To those of you who sent e-mails, letters or made phone calls on behalf of the show - THANK YOU. The parties responsible have heard you. LOUD and CLEAR. Mission accomplished. Now having said that… It’s OK to STOP. It’s time to STOP.
Sometimes reasonable people jump to irrational conclusions. Sometimes a person’s heart is in the right place, but their means are misguided. As far as I can tell, your letters in support of the show - especially the fair-minded and even tempered ones - proved very important to the powers that be. To the fans that wrote more aggressive e-mails or made personal attacks, that was a mistake. I appreciate your passion, but that’s how this whole thing started, right? With personal attacks and false innuendo. Please remember: Hate is never OK. Malice is never OK. But I think most of you know that. And it makes me very proud to know that YOU also know that this show has always valued the rights and welfare of human beings - especially those of women - and has taken great pains to be an honorable endeavor. As I said before, when the parties involved see the first episode, and I hope they will, they might understand why their accusations and hasty conclusions were so hurtful to me personally and to you and to the show we all love.
For now, let’s all STOP. The network has had discussions with the parties involved and I’m now told that the Sun Times article will not be published. As I mentioned above, I never intended for Ms. Cepeda to be disparaged personally. It’s not what we’re about. She was a reporter following a lead. I suppose if there’s a silver lining to all of this, it’s that the horror of rape and sexual assault has been discussed on message boards, and maybe beyond them. As the YWCA knows, it’s a very worthy topic (which is why we did an anti-date rape episode in season one), and if someone found a voice or the help they needed in relation to this arena, then this incident was worth it. Well worth it. At the end of the day, I’m proud of the shows we’ve aired, and the shows that are yet to air. Ultimately, those shows are the only voice we need. And that’s enough. That’s more than enough.
So again, thank you ALL for having my back and One Tree Hill’s back. I appreciate you, and your voice has once again been heard. Let’s stop now. And let’s use our passion and strength toward making the world a more positive and safer place. Because our power is vast, and we must use it for good, not ill. All good things…
Mark
It’s Wednesday. Since yesterday’s blog entry, I’ve been humbled by the outpouring of support from the best fans in the world. I appreciate it very much. To those of you who sent e-mails, letters or made phone calls on behalf of the show - THANK YOU. The parties responsible have heard you. LOUD and CLEAR. Mission accomplished. Now having said that… It’s OK to STOP. It’s time to STOP.
Sometimes reasonable people jump to irrational conclusions. Sometimes a person’s heart is in the right place, but their means are misguided. As far as I can tell, your letters in support of the show - especially the fair-minded and even tempered ones - proved very important to the powers that be. To the fans that wrote more aggressive e-mails or made personal attacks, that was a mistake. I appreciate your passion, but that’s how this whole thing started, right? With personal attacks and false innuendo. Please remember: Hate is never OK. Malice is never OK. But I think most of you know that. And it makes me very proud to know that YOU also know that this show has always valued the rights and welfare of human beings - especially those of women - and has taken great pains to be an honorable endeavor. As I said before, when the parties involved see the first episode, and I hope they will, they might understand why their accusations and hasty conclusions were so hurtful to me personally and to you and to the show we all love.
For now, let’s all STOP. The network has had discussions with the parties involved and I’m now told that the Sun Times article will not be published. As I mentioned above, I never intended for Ms. Cepeda to be disparaged personally. It’s not what we’re about. She was a reporter following a lead. I suppose if there’s a silver lining to all of this, it’s that the horror of rape and sexual assault has been discussed on message boards, and maybe beyond them. As the YWCA knows, it’s a very worthy topic (which is why we did an anti-date rape episode in season one), and if someone found a voice or the help they needed in relation to this arena, then this incident was worth it. Well worth it. At the end of the day, I’m proud of the shows we’ve aired, and the shows that are yet to air. Ultimately, those shows are the only voice we need. And that’s enough. That’s more than enough.
So again, thank you ALL for having my back and One Tree Hill’s back. I appreciate you, and your voice has once again been heard. Let’s stop now. And let’s use our passion and strength toward making the world a more positive and safer place. Because our power is vast, and we must use it for good, not ill. All good things…
Mark