Pittsburgh area Cartoonist and YouTuber Ed Piskor took his own life on April 1, 2024. He was 41 years old.
Ed Piskor was accused of sexual misconduct by 21-year-old comic artist Molly Dwyer. She claimed Piskor contacted her on Instagram four years ago when she was “17 going on 18.” She posted fragments of screenshots that supposedly show Piskor was trying to groom her.
Some people claimed Piskor calling Dwyer a “naughty girl” and a “good girl” was sexual. Some also claimed Piskor told Dwyer she could crash in an extra bedroom for a few days was an invitation for sex.
The more dishonest of his detractors explained Piskor’s interaction with Dwyer as inviting an underage minor to come stay with him.
Personally, I didn’t see anything lude, perverted, or sexual in Piskor’s communication with Dwyer.
The whisper network wasted no time
The so-called comics whisper network reacted swiftly to Dwyer’s accusations against Piskor. Instead of attempting to verify the things she said about Piskor, they automatically treated everything Dwyer said was genuine. Verification was unnecessary
When Piskor failed to address Dwyer’s unsubstantiated allegations, Heidi MacDonald of The Beat claimed Piskor was using a sock puppet account on X to defend himself.
From The Beat:
That doesn’t mean Piskor has necessarily been silent, though. On X, a user calling themselves “Terketa” has been accused of being a burner account for Piskor due to its vigorous defense of the cartoonist’s behavior. The account was created in 2019, and had only 34 posts before this past weekend; it now has over 200.
MacDonald later retracted the baseless, garbage claim. Unless she had proof Piskor was behind the “Terketa” account, MacDonald never should have published the claim to begin with.
Ed Piskor’s cancelation was swift and absolute
Piskor was quickly canceled. Everything important to him was taken from him. Jim Rugg, his co-host on the popular Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel denounced Piskor on Instagram. He then removed their channel from YouTube.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust “indefinitely postponed” a scheduled art show featuring Piskor’s work. A $75,000 deal with Abrams Books to publish his web cartoon series Switchblade Shorties was rescinded. Pittsburgh TV station WTAE sent a reporter to Ed Piskor’s parent’s house and questioned his elderly father about the allegations.
It was clear to Ed Piskor that his life as he knew it was finished. He immediately became a pariah in the comics industry. His entire life revolved around comics. Drawing and writing comics was the only way he knew to make a living. His friends turned their backs on him. He took his own life on 1 April 2024. He left a five-page suicide note explaining his side of things.
The Beat published an obituary for Ed Piskor. Considering the website’s active role in his cancelation, you’d think they would find a shred of decency and not publish anything further about him. I guess not.
They closed their obituary with this:
If you are struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also chat with someone online through their website, 988lifeline.org.
They’re suggesting Piskor took his own life because he was suffering from clinical depression or mental illness. There’s no evidence of that.
I wish Ed Piskor responded differently to the allegations. If he was my friend, I would have urged him to immediately hire a crisis management consultant. He needed someone to fight for him. A crisis management consultant or a crisis management firm would have done that. It’s what they do. Because his friends were from the comic creating community, they were more concerned about themselves then they were about Piskor. They most likely didn’t want to get cancelled too.
