Comedian *does not* sing a ranchy, lewd song in front of a class of children...

[draco664]

...and goes to prison for 60 days.

Evan Emory went to a school and sang some songs for a class of children, filming it for a youtube post.

He then went back after the kids had left school one night, and filmed himself singing a different, *adult* song.

He then spliced the two together, making a comedy clip where he sings an adult song to children.

And get charged with manufacturing child pornography.

He was threatened with 20 years prison and lifetime on the sex-offenders register. So he cops a plea deal sending him to prison for two months, community service and so forth, and can't come within 500 yards of someone under 17.

Parents of the students from Beechnau Elementary featured in the short segment attended the sentencing hearing and applauded the decision. “It was lewd, it was disgusting, it was perverted,” parent Stephan Hellman told WWMT. “You are no longer a child, you are an adult. You should have known better.” Fellow parent Charles Willick said, “An innocence was taken, something we as parents try very hard to keep, something we hold sacred and dear was taken from the kids.”

I'm not sure I can follow the logic here. I really can't.

[lordlundar]

It's funny. There's a massive outcry about media tainting the children because "they can't separate fiction from reality", and yet the only real case I've seen lately of that incapability is this article and it's the not children having that issue.

[Ginger Tea]

He sang a safe song with adult supervision then later used existing footage to make children out to be an audience to an adult song and they thought it was real?

Next people will be complaining about property damage in blockbuster movies when its just greenscreen and CGI.

All he did was use stock footage (which he owned the rights to)
Rights ownership aside, anyone could do the same and intersplice scenes from Kindergarden Cop, it's just the same, their reactions were not due to some song about fucking a gazelle or whathave you, hell if this is the case then surely the nostalgia critic should watch out for similar cases as he uses Kindergarden Cop frequently.

look kid's here is a photo of your moms vagina
Cut to clip of child crying

Did NC show said child a photo of a vagina? no.
Did the singer sing about lewed subjects infront of children? no.

[BlaqueKatt]

An innocence was taken, something we as parents try very hard to keep, something we hold sacred and dear was taken from the kids

um how exactly?

did one of the kid's see the video on youtube? If so the parents weren't trying hard enough, by supervising the kids on the internet.

[HotelKatz]

I'm kinda glad I'm not a robot. Because hearing this would make Robot-me go "ERROR ERROR DOES NOT COMPUTE!" and explodes.


What next? People get arrested for public indecency because they are naked beneath their clothes?

[Dreamstalker]

How exactly is it child pornography? And how did the parents find the clip?

I was trying to explain this to my mom...so much for my drilling into her head not to believe everything you see on youtube.

[Rageaholic]

I don't know how to feel about this. I mean the punishment is definately over the top, especially since they were considering putting him in jail FOR TWENTY YEARS over this. And even then 2 months is still pretty harsh, or any punishment for that matter. Especially since he DIDN'T sing the dirty song in front of the children.

On the other hand, I can see where people would be disturbed if they saw the video. It sounds like he did make references to wanting to do dirty things to children. And that's just nasty. I'm not one to get up in arms if some comedian makes a tasteless joke, but there are lines you just don't cross. Jail is definately too harsh of a punishment as I don't think the law should get involved with this, but I can definately understand if parents wouldn't want this guy performing at their kids school after this.

[Andara Bledin]

It's shit like this that makes the "sex" offenders registry next to useless. >_<

^-.-^

[DrFaroohk]

Considering he supposedly had disclaimers saying the video wasn't real, I don't see what anyone's problem is.

I'm reminded of clerks and that guy reading the dirty movie list. same idea. I cannot believe shit like this happens to people. That guy needs to do some serious ape-shit type vengeance to those parents. They deserve it.

[Rapscallion]

I'm pretty sure that UK law has a provision in it for those who photoshop a child's head onto the body of a legal-aged, yet young, porn model. Might be working along similar lines?

The example I cite is one where I'd reckon action is merited. This one? Dubious.

Rapscallion

[Eisa]

Dumb of him? Yeah, probably. Tasteless? I haven't seen it, but again, yeah probably.

Meriting THAT reaction? Not in the slightest. What innocence was taken? Oh, you mean the kids on youtube that mommy and daddy are supposed to be monitoring their internet usage?

Yeah, that innocence is probably long-gone with ubiquitous porn pop-ups.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Those kids, who probably never even saw the video with the bawdy substituted lyrics, can see and hear worse by turning on the radio or watching Empty V. And that content is far more accessible.

So why aren't we throwing those artists in jail too? If we're going to be mind-numbingly stupid, let's at least be consistent about it!

[FArchivist]

What we have here is a pretty simple case. It's not mentioned that the prosecutor had a kid in that class. Prosecutor gets pissed off, looks for a law to hang him on, and finds it. Since it is manufactured material (and Raps is right, under the law in that state doing this is the equivalent to pasting a kid's head on a porn body), Emory gets fucked. And his lawyer probably told him so, which is why he copped a plea.

My take on it? While stupid, don't do shit like this. Sometimes, like here, you'll get more than what you bargained for.

[insertNameHere]

I think it is bullshit he became a convicted felon over this. There are people who easily get away with raping children, he made a joke video and his life is fucked.

By the way, Daniel tosh should also be in facing jail time for this segment called "child pornography" where he makes fun of raunchy videos using kids to act parts out.

Watching the interview with Evan in the link, he took the plea because he was scared he would lose as he never thought the system would have let it get to being tried in the first place.

edit: further reading the comments someone said this guy needs to get arrested too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuVsLR_2GX0

[Greenday]

Seeing as what he did was technically a crime, going for the plea deal was the smart thing to do.

Is it stupid that he even got in any trouble for it? Yes, in my opinion it is. But ignorance of the law doesn't excuse you from following it.