talkmagic.co.uk

I take it he won't be returning to Vegas again then....

I don't quite understand how this will hurt his career?

Ok, he's been put on the sex offenders register, he may or may not get a custodial sentence.

All he has to do is travel to a new area, do a few bridal shows and off you go. Do you really think that the general public have any idea of what has happened. His experience as a professional magician will impress those he performs for at bridal fairs and they will book him. How many will either recognise him from an old, low profile newspaper story or will do a background check with the police?
There is a chance they might do an internet search but if you google his name even now the last result one page 1 mentions the story in question. Who goes passed page 1 of a google search?

Sometimes I think magicians seem to think the public care about the big news in the magic world. I can assure you they don't.

Obviously don't take this post as any kind of defense of what he has done. It certainly isn't. It will only stall his career briefly, in regards to the public, I would think.

Well it will affect his career because it means the difference between performing at celebrity parties/TV shows/big time magic conventions and Mrs Smith's daughters wedding at the local church. That’s the difference. He will also be looking over his shoulder all the time for that one person who remembers what happened and spills the beans. (Another Magician who feels that Bellars is stealing his work - maybe?) Do they want to run the risk of him talking to the bridesmaids? If he is put on a Sex offenders treatment programme, one of the conditions will be not to contact or approach girls under the age of 16. Makes working in public difficult. The passage of time will make this less likely but the next few years will be difficult. Because of his exposure (pardon the pun) on Penn & Teller he was about to become a name, at least in the Magic world; not any more. If he gets any kind of future Press interest, any journalist worth their salt, will do a few checks. So much easier now with the Internet. That would make a nice headline in a local rag.
He is the author of his own misfortune.

corindaman wrote: He will also be looking over his shoulder all the time for that one person who remembers what happened and spills the beans.

Now there's an interesting point. Will he have fear? Will he put himself out there (excuse the pun) working in public again with a fear somebody will recognise him and say "Hey, aren't you that bloke who sent pervy pictures to a young girl?!"

After telling us on his You Tube video that sending a text to a 15 year old girl saying he was going to hold her down and rape her is a "joke" then maybe a career as a Frankie Boyle style "edgy" comedian awaits?

greedoniz wrote:I don't quite understand how this will hurt his career?

Ok, he's been put on the sex offenders register, he may or may not get a custodial sentence.

Depends on the entry on the sex offenders register, CRB checks will be affected and so he's not going to get booked anywhere that requires one. Weddings are pretty much screwed as he is likely not be able to work in areas where he is likely to have contact with children. There may be other restrictions too.
It's potentially pretty far reaching.

These days clients quite often Google people and although the links to the news story don't come up on the first page, there could potentially be a lot more about it after he has been sentenced. I think his career is pretty much finished as if he did get work at weddings etc, surely he would always be worried that someone may have Googled him and know about his past "activities".

He could always change his name or have a sex change and re-launch himself that way.

He would certainly have to change his name at the very least. And change his appearance by growing a beard or something. And of course accept the fact that celebrity stardom which many hope for in showbusiness is now out of the question.

Or of course go into another line of work entirely.

mark lewis wrote:Or of course go into another line of work entirely.

For once, this where we amateurs have the advantage! If magic has been your main talent and sole way of earning a living, it'll be difficult to find and settle down to an 'ordinary' job. Amateurs probably have such a job already, or at least have the skills to hold one down.

Though anything like this would jeopardise your day job too.

As I've said previously, one of the most surprising things about this was the amount of magicians (not on here) trivialising or dismissing what he'd done and were praising him for being brave for producing that video! Whatever happens, even if he finds another job, this whole thing will be a real comedown. From being a minor celebrity receiving lots of attention to a shamed sex offender almost overnight is a bit of a come down.

This could be viewed as a cautionary tale, but anyone with a modicum of decency would have nipped this kind of thing in the bud as soon as it moved from flirtatiousness to sexual pictures. But then anyone with any decency wouldn't have put themselves into this situation in the first place.

For me, this is the crux of it all. No matter how much the other party may have encouraged, he's the adult and should have had the sense to put a stop to it all once it moved past friendly banter. At worst he would have just upset one or two young teenagers.

I'd hope that we'd all know better but I can't help but think there are others out there who, under the same circumstances, may have succumbed in the same way. All this may serve some purpose if it now makes people think twice before giving in to such temptations.

Sadly, from seeing responses elsewhere, there are those that don't see what he did as being wrong so those that would be the ones that should learn from this quite clearly won't. Everyone else realises there's something wrong with sending dirty pictures to an underage child.

It is the rape line that still disturbs me.

Me too. It just sounds inappropriate and predatory. If it was sent to a grown woman it would be bad enough, but a fifteen year old child....

And who said romance and chivalry were dead?

Lord Freddie wrote: And who said romance and chivalry were dead?

Dunno but respect and self control seem to be on the way out as well.