Dear Friends, Supporters, and Fellow Community Members

I’m sharing a bit of an unusual message today as I was pulled into a very unexpected and distressing situation in recent weeks. Unfortunately, it seems that a mix of anonymous rumors, false accusations, and even fabricated audio files were circulated on social media—apparently seeking to damage my personal reputation and create divisions that are not only hurtful to myself but to many of you who have supported us at the Dark Room over the past 10 years, and the wider DMV community.

Sharing freely, it’s been a confusing and unnerving experience that I never would have imagined in my time in the local music scene. Those who know me or are familiar with the Dark Room know I’m not really someone to engage in social media drama, but some of the recent behaviors and accusations that have gone around undermine the trust and safety so many people have worked to build in our community. I realize many may not even be aware of the situation, so in the interest of transparency and care for the community, I would like to officially set the record straight and provide clarity on these events.

First, just to be absolutely clear and right upfront as possible for anyone who might not care to review all of the minutia and documentation:

I have zero involvement with any of the actions that were circulated on social media several weeks ago and I have zero knowledge of any alleged events that were described.

I have never called emergency services or police to report any type of disturbance at any venue , and I have never filed fraudulent reports against anyone of any kind. Additionally, as an immigrant person of color with no history of bigotry toward any community, I can assure that I have no sudden interest in causing harm or hate toward anyone of any background. Having tried to create safe and comfortable spaces for artistic expression and enjoyment, and having met so many like-minded and incredible people, it has been disheartening to hear such hurtful and entirely false claims being spread within in our community—particularly when shared via anonymous accounts or total strangers.

For complete context:

On February 29, I was contacted by a longtime friend and fellow venue owner in the DMV music scene who suddenly expressed hurt and anger about “recordings” they had heard about me from another person in our community. I was confused and asked them to share so that I could hear for myself. Unfortunately, from what I was told, the person who came to them with these recordings was unwilling to provide a copy via email and would only allow them to hear it again in person.

On March 27th, I was contacted by a reporter who notified me they were investigating disturbing recordings that had been shared on social media. Again, while there seems to be no verifiable source for where these audio files actually came from—I was told anonymous individuals had “confirmed” they were recordings of my voice engaging in multiple phone calls to 911, lying to police about alarming scenarios involving other local venues that the anonymous sources say never happened. I was also told that anonymous individuals were also claiming I filed fraudulent ordinance complaints against other venues in February using another person’s name.

I was perplexed. One of these alleged calls would date back to over a year ago, and another five months ago, but none of this had ever been brought to my attention in anyway and nobody had ever come to me or asked. Further, while I learned these alleged recordings had been shared on social media, the accusations themselves were not being made directly or stated publicly—but were only being shared anonymously through the reporter…

I was given no further information about who was making these supposed accusations or any materials they were claiming to reference. Instead, I found myself in a strange and rather impossible position: having to prove the alleged calls and events—which I have no personal knowledge of—never happened…but if they did, that I was in no way involved. I was given 24 hours to respond.

I’ve never heard of anything like this or spoken with a reporter before, but I do hope most people can understand what an extreme and unsettling situation this would be in any context. In this way, anyone could easily spread any kind of bizarre or hurtful rumor they’d like without the slightest basis or concern for the harm it might cause others. And while that appears to be the point in this case, it is with this hope that I’d like to share the findings and extensive steps that have been taken in trying to address this situation in full. As anyone might guess, the community and this experience are very personal to me, and I’ve gone to great lengths to investigate and offer transparency on all that I can. I have made numerous attempts to obtain actual verified copies of the alleged phone calls that were shared on social media through a number of sources—including the Baltimore Police Department, the reporter who “described the anonymous accusations,” and even individuals featured in their story. To this day, nobody has been able or interested in providing a verified source for these recordings.

Seeking help from a lawyer, I was further surprised to learn that despite claiming the “audio files” were legally obtained through the Maryland Public Information Act, the info that is needed to actually obtain them has been redacted in the clips or otherwise withheld from the public.

Since this prevents any way for others to actually verify the recordings, I visited the records office myself and requested any and all records of reports and calls for emergency services related to my name, my business, my phone number, my address, and other information since 2022. Their report showed zero incidents or calls to 911 on the dates alleged—and while “anonymous accusers” may refuse to provide documentation for any claims—I’m happy to just make the email available here:

Baltimore area residents may have heard about the recent arrest at a local high school involving a staff member who was accused of using AI technology to fabricate offensive voice recordings of the principal. With nobody willing or able to provide a verified source of these recordings, I sought the help of digital forensics experts to get their assessment on whether they were AI.

We reached out to Mr. Siwei Lyu, Innovation Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Buffalo and a leading authority in deepfake technology. While we have not yet been able to connect with his office, I was able to make use of the University’s “DeepFake-o-Meter” which features multiple AI-detection programs to assess the likelihood of an audio file as being a deepfake. Sure enough, three of these models determine the audio recordings in question are 100% AI deepfakes, with another giving them a 92% likelihood, and another 73%.

Again, while the sources for the audio files seem to have been purposefully withheld, they can easily be downloaded from Instagram and the University’s platform is completely free and open to the public. I would highly encourage anyone that may be interested to test the audios out themselves:

https://zinc.cse.buffalo.edu/ubmdfl/deep-o-meter/landing_page

Even more, I was able to connect with the National Center for Audio & Video Forensics and spoke with its Founder, Mr. David Notowitz—an award-winning producer and nationally recognized video and audio forensic evidence expert who is frequently called to provide expert testimony in criminal cases across the country. After going over the situation and audio files in question, he offered an eye-opening assessment:

With no way to locate any of the supposed documentation or materials referenced in the phantom accusations, I also tried to contact Resident Advisor directly, given they had been in communication with the anonymous individuals and decided to write about their claims.

In their article, Resident Advisor claimed they had “verified documents” related to the calls, but when asked by a representative, they were unwilling or unable to provide any of those documents themselves. Likewise, they were unwilling or unable to provide any information about the letter that had been sent to city officials, the 311 complaints, or the email from a sock-puppet account all cited in their article—nor could they clarify who had actually made the actual accusations.

Resident Advisor described the accusations as having emerged from a group of anonymous people who had a feeling that I must have committed these actions but couldn’t prove it. They were also apparently aware that the IG post was going to come out before it was published.

Again, with these supposed incidents dating back to over a year now, nobody had ever come to me about any of them personally—instead, anonymous individuals chose to have Resident Advisor “report on” their accusations about me that they themselves weren’t comfortable making.

In the last discussion with an RA editor, my representative was told that they don’t even have access to the materials cited in the story anymore as the reporter is no longer with the outlet. So, in the end, I was accused by a leading industry publication of committing hateful and illegal actions against others in my community—with nobody, not even the publication, willing to verify the existence of any evidence or materials cited in their article—and with no recourse to address the matter.

Finally, as I take this situation and the impacts that it has had on people I care for seriously, I have contacted the local authorities to file an official report and request that they formally pursue this as a criminal matter. As one of the individuals reportedly “sent a letter to city officials” in February to alert them that I have been engaging in these dangerous activities and misusing emergency services to call in false reports, I could not think of another way to help make it easier for them to get in touch with me.

While I will continue to seek a complete and total resolution of this recent situation, rest assured that the Dark Room is still proudly serving the local community and artists in the fullest capacity as it always has. The past few weeks have certainly been as confusing as they have been disappointing, but the DMV dance community is unstoppable, and I am truly thankful for all of the trust and encouragement that we’ve been given by many.

Also, to our artists, agents, and community members who have patiently stood by in a challenging moment while we’ve worked to get to the bottom of this—your support has given us strength and means the absolute world to all of us here at Dark Room.

UPDATE: October 2024

Dear Friends & Community,

We would like to express our greatest thanks and appreciation to all those who have reached out about this situation and to every guest who has dropped by to partake and enjoy this year’s summer line-up. Your continued support has meant a lot to all of us here at Dark Room!

While we’re glad to be in full swing here, I did want to share an update on this. As you might imagine, this was one of the single most surreal and disturbing events that I’ve ever encountered in my life—and we’ve spent the past couple of months continuing to seek answers and some kind of resolution for everyone that was affected. The quest is still ongoing, but out of the interests of the community, we wanted to relay the latest.

Unfortunately, there has been little update from the Baltimore Police Department, which we assume is just a reality of prioritization, staffing, resources, etc. — even still, I’ve continued to request their help and look forward to any developments in this case.

Needless to say, I also haven’t heard from them or anyone else about the several criminal acts I was publicly “identified” as committing by “ten people who spoke with Resident Advisor but wish to remain anonymous” …even with one of the individuals supposedly sending notice to the mayor and/or other “city officials…” 🙄 🙄 🙄

However, I did learn the state of Maryland specifically passed an “Anti-Swatting Act” last year due to the rise of these types of calls across the state, so I’d love to know which “city officials” I could follow-up with about this. Of course, like the anonymous individual(s) who fabricated the phone calls and events in Resident Advisor’s “news story”—the officials, the letter, the city ordinance complaints, the sock-puppet emails, or even the most basic information related to ANY. SINGLE. ITEM. that was mentioned have all been kept purposely vague or entirely withheld.

I even continued trying to speak with Resident Advisor, thinking they would clearly see how bizarre the situation is and would be willing to help if they understood all that was learned after the fact—or, at the very least, provide some kind of information about the materials cited in their story. After all, these are “official documents” they cited in a story highlighting serious (criminal) accusations against me.

Wow, was I wrong…

In fact, as disappointing as it was to see folks in our local House & Techno scene participate in a voice-cloning whisper campaign (although really spearheaded by one individual)—the response from Resident Advisor was even more of a letdown. Many of us in the scene have been familiar with Resident Advisor for years, but their handling of this whole affair was SHOCKINGLY poor, and to be honest, pretty concerning for other venues, artists, and community members.

As mentioned previously, we first tried to speak with the reporter and her editor, but we were told the reporter had departed from RA shortly after the story had been written—while the News Editor promised he would be in touch and then just ghosted us...

After weeks went by, I thought I’d try texting a very nice marketing associate I’ve spoken with over the years, but they directed me to the same News Editor. In following-up to get SOME kind of information for how I could actually speak to someone, I was told to only send emails—with our emails already going ignored for weeks. Eventually my lawyer reached out to try and get a response, and sure enough, we suddenly received a message from RA executives about eight hours later…with them proposing a dialogue by falsely (or perhaps mistakenly) suggesting someone at Dark Room had been calling the marketing person incessantly!

Then we were graced with a letter from RA’s legal team, offering a generic corporate message about Resident Advisor’s “commitment to journalistic integrity” and transparency. We decided to take them at their word, beginning a series of back-and-forth’s where my lawyer gave them a complete detailed breakdown of the situation and the obvious issues / unexplained aspects of RA’s story—and asking if they could retract it or provide any information that could help explain anything. Unfortunately, RA declined.

They did agree to retract the false accusations related to the city ordinance complaints I had supposedly filed against “anonymous venues,” and the sock-puppet emails I had supposedly sent to “anonymous individuals”—for those of you curious about the equally vague editor’s note that was added to the bottom of the page…

RA said the reporter who wrote the story had “assured” them they were given these materials by “anonymous sources”—but RA did not currently have access to the reporter’s emails, so they couldn’t verify them….

They didn’t answer the obvious questions as to why RA wouldn’t have access to their own company email, or when they expected to get that access back. But even more dubious, the reporter had also “assured” us that she had forwarded / cc’d all of her emails to the News Editor (the same guy who ghosted us)—so he should have had them in his inbox as well.

Resident Advisor’s legal team did not respond to our questions as to whether the Resident Advisor News Editor had ALSO lost access to his own email account or if their reporter had lied.

Resident Advisor did not respond to our requests for copies of the phone recordings they also claimed to “verify,” or any information we could use to obtain them ourselves through Baltimore Police Department. (This is especially frustrating, given how easy and straight-forward it would be…and since they didn’t remove these equally false accusations, we can only guess they have them in an email they just so happen to have access to.)

In response to all the evidence showing the calls were manufactured by AI and the steps that were deliberately taken to prevent anyone from actually reviewing them—as well as the complete lack of transparency and basic details about the claims in their story—Resident Advisor’s legal team said that it was “beyond the remit” of Resident Advisor to definitively determine their authenticity. They also said, “Resident Advisor’s role is to report on events and allegations, not to act as the arbiter of whether specific incidents, such as potential deepfakes, have occurred.”

So, just to get it straight:

Resident Advisor will apparently just publicize baseless accusations against someone on behalf of anonymous individuals who won’t actually do so themselves (because they’re provably false and illegal)—not only concealing their identities and the specifics of their accusations, but even citing claims and documents they later can’t confirm ever existed—and when asked about it, they’ll try to ghost you and tell you they can’t access their emails, while deploying their legal team to say it’s **technically** not their responsibility whether any of it was true or not. And then they’ll literally tout their commitment to the highest standards of journalistic ethics, fairness and transparency…

When you put it all together, not only is Resident Advisor NOT providing truthful and insightful information to the House & Techno community, but they’re serving as a potential danger to any given venue, artist, or person in the space. After all, RA will just say they’re not PARTICIPATING in the completely false accusations…they’re just WRITING ABOUT them.

It's difficult to describe just how backwards and disappointing this whole experience was in dealing with Resident Advisor’s editorial / news side—not just the phony story, but the actions of individual staff members at every juncture.

Nevertheless, we go on and will share further developments as we have them. In the meantime, again, we thank you all so very much for the ongoing support and love you have shown to Dark Room these past few months (and throughout the past 10 years). I cannot tell you how much it has meant to all of us, and we’re absolutely thrilled to keep the parties going as we head into the fall. We’ll see you on the floor!

Sincerely,

Dark Room