Recently, we reported on professional pick-up artist/dating coach Julien Blanc, who has begun to attract the public’s attention worldwide after a video was uploaded showing him seemingly choking, grabbing and harassing women in Japan, and conducting seminars teaching others his methods. A campaign to block Blanc’s actions was swiftly set up by twitter user @JennLi123 with the creation of the hashtag #TakeDownJulienBlanc and a petition on Change.org helping to raise awareness.
As of this writing, the original petition has 45,829 signatures, and backlash has forced Blanc to cut short his Australian tour after multiple venues cancelled his events. Now, concerned residents of other countries on Blanc’s tour itinerary (including Japan) have begun to take action, as well.
The campaign against Julien Blanc and his company RSD (Real Social Dynamics) has so far been successful in convincing venues in several countries to cancel his events:
Following the cancellation of several venues in Australia, RSD attempted to hold a seminar on a boat in Victoria, with an assistant taking over as speaker in place of Blanc who was absent without explanation. The event was shut down by police after the presence of protesters sparked safety fears.
Blanc subsequently left Australia.
In response to the backlash, Blanc has reportedly “gone underground,” deleting his Facebook and Twitter accounts. A parody account has been set up, satirizing the pick-up artist’s attitudes towards women with a series of tweets.
A tweet from Blanc’s real twitter account (before the account itself was deleted) spoke of his intentions to come to Japan soon. The tweet was saved by concerned netizens in the form of this screenshot:
The aforementioned video showing Blanc manhandling a convenience store clerk has since begun to circulate online in Japan, and a new petition has been set up with the aim of convincing Japan’s Department of Immigration to deny Blanc entry to the country. The group’s secondary aim, should Blanc be allowed into the country, is to directly petition the venues hosting his events, and push for them to be cancelled. The bilingual petition currently has over 43,800 signatures, and since there is video evidence of Blanc previously committing acts of harassment in Japan, there is a good chance he may be denied entry.
A third petition, set up by Caroline Charles, aims to convince the UK Home Office to deny Blanc access to the United Kingdom when he attempts to enter for his proposed UK tour dates in February next year. As of this writing, that petition has 38,993 signatures.
The original video is now at 1,719,116 views on YouTube:
RocketNews24 will continue to bring you further news on this story as it develops.
Source: Hamusoku, Yahoo! JP
Featured image: YouTube (msdoom99)