#keller performance | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bitchinbarzal · 3 months ago

Text

Left in the cold | C Keller

summary: after a fight about clayton’s intentions with a woman at and event his anger has him making the worst decisions.

Clayton’s jaw was tight as he stood in the middle of the team charity event, his grip on his drink firm. You had been arguing for most of the night, hushed, forced smiles in front of donors and cameras, but the moment the last handshake was over, things started boiling over.

“You could’ve at least pretended to be in a good mood” you snapped under your breath as the two of you made your way toward the exit.

Clayton scoffed “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I needed to put on a performance while my girlfriend is acting like I’m the worst person in the world”

“Maybe if you actually listened to me instead of getting defensive, I wouldn’t have to!” you shot back, slipping into the passenger seat of his car with an angry huff.

The drive home was tense, Clayton’s hands tight on the wheel as you sat rigid in your seat. The event had been important; funds raised, PR boosted but none of that mattered when you were fighting like this.

“You were flirting with her, Clayton” you finally said, voice quieter but cutting.

His knuckles went white on the steering wheel “Are you kidding me? She’s a team sponsor, Y/N. I was being polite”

“Polite is one thing. Laughing at every word she says, letting her touch your arm, leaning in like she’s the only person in the room? That’s something else”

Clayton exhaled sharply through his nose, jaw locked “You’re being ridiculous”

That was it. That was the last straw.

You unbuckled your seatbelt and snapped “Pull over”

He shook his head, still staring straight ahead “No”

“Clayton, pull the damn car over!”

With a sharp jerk of the wheel, he swerved to the side of the empty road, tires crunching against gravel. The moment the car was in park, you threw the door open, stepping out into the cold night air.

“Are you serious right now?” he called after you, following as you stormed a few steps away.

“Yes, I am serious!” you yelled, finally turning to face him “I am so tired of feeling like I have to fight for your attention!”

Clayton groaned, raking a hand through his hair “Y/N, you are the only person I care about, and you know that”

“Do I?” Your voice cracked “Because I don’t feel like I do!”

His breath hitched, and for the first time that night, something softened in his face. But then, just as quickly, the anger came back, washing away whatever moment of understanding had flickered between you.

“You know what?” he muttered, turning on his heel “I’ve had enough of this”

You watched in disbelief as he got back into the car, slamming the door shut. Your heart pounded in your chest as he started the engine, expecting him to sit there, cool off, maybe argue some more.

But then the car started moving.

“Clayton!” you shouted, stepping toward the road. But he didn’t stop. He didn’t even hesitate.

You watched as his taillights disappeared into the night, the sound of the tires fading until there was nothing but silence.

Clayton barely made it a mile before regret hit him like a punch to the gut.

“Shit” he muttered, slamming his hand against the steering wheel.

He pulled a sharp U-turn, his mind racing. He never should have left. Never should have let his anger get the best of him. You were standing alone on the side of the road, and he had just driven away.

But when he got back, you weren’t there.

His heart dropped. He parked haphazardly, jumping out of the car, scanning the area “Y/N?”

No answer.

His stomach twisted as he pulled out his phone, calling you. Straight to voicemail.

Panic settled in his bones. He tried again. Nothing.

He checked every nearby street, every corner, calling your name into the night. He flagged down a passing car, asked if they had seen anyone walking—no luck.

After an hour of searching with no sign of you, he drove straight to the police station.

Filing a missing persons report was one of the most terrifying things he’d ever done. The questions felt like static in his ears. When did you last see her? What was she wearing? Does she have a history of disappearing?

Clayton ran his hands down his face, feeling sick “No,” he answered hoarsely “She doesn’t just disappear”

Another hour passed. Still nothing.

Desperate, he pulled out his phone, texting the team group chat:

Clayton: Has anyone seen Y/N?

The three dots appeared almost instantly, and then a text appeared.

Logan: She’s at your place, man. She showed up like an hour ago. Didn’t say much, just asked for the spare key.

Clayton exhaled sharply, relief flooding him so fast he felt lightheaded.

Without another word, he bolted out of the station, driving home faster than he probably should have.

When he opened the front door, you were curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, staring at your phone.

The moment you saw him, your eyes flashed with something unreadable—relief, anger, exhaustion—all at once.

“You left me” you said softly.

Clayton swallowed hard “I know”

“I had to walk back alone. I had to find a way home alone”

“I know,” he repeated, voice cracking. He moved toward you cautiously, guilt weighing him down like lead “Y/N, I—”

“Do you even understand how scared I was?”

His stomach twisted “Yeah,” he admitted “Because I was terrified too. I went to the police station. I thought—I thought something happened to you”

You looked down at your hands, exhaling shakily.

Clayton knelt in front of you, resting his hands on your knees “I messed up. I let my anger get the best of me, and I left when I never should have. And I swear to you, Y/N, I will never, ever do that again”

You studied his face, searching for something—maybe sincerity, maybe just proof that he meant it.

After a long moment, you whispered “You really scared me, Clay”

His throat tightened “I know”

Silence stretched between you before he finally reached for you, hesitantly, like he wasn’t sure if he had the right anymore. But when you leaned into him, letting him wrap his arms around you, he knew he wasn’t too late.

“I’m so sorry” he murmured into your hair “I love you, and I’m so damn sorry”

For a while, you didn’t say anything. But then, finally, your fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.

“I was so scared”

It felt like his heart was breaking in his chest and he couldn’t stop it.

#nhl imagine #clayton keller x reader #clayton keller imagine

243 notes · View notes

littlesolo · 7 months ago

Text

This Made Me Tear Up

The article:

Students at the New York City Institute for Special Education in the Bronx welcomed Friday a special visitor who spoke about the importance of representation of people with disabilities in the media. Actor Charlie Cox, best known for his role as the Marvel superhero with a visual impairment Daredevil, spoke with K-12 students about his experience portraying a blind character. Marvel’s Daredevil follows the story of attorney Matt Murdock, a vigilante who fights crime on the streets of New York City when the sun goes down. Cox played the iconic character in the television adaptation of the comic book written by Bronx legend, Stan Lee. Founded in 1831, the New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE) is a private non-profit school that serves children who are blind or visually disabled and preschoolers who are developmentally delayed. It was one of the first schools to serve the unique educational needs of students with visual impairments in the United States. Cox discussed the need for people with disabilities to be represented in the industry, noting their low numbers. For instance, the 10th annual Hollywood Diversity Report from the UCLA Entertainment and Research Initiative found that less than 1% of shows in the 2021-2022 season featured characters with physical or visual disabilities. Cox and the students watched his performance in Daredevil, then created superhero themed craft projects. Cox encouraged the NYISE students to realize their full power and potential. Cox, who is not visually impaired, worked with teacher Joe Strechay at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) on the role, observing his movements and learning to walk with a cane while blindfolded. The AFB awarded Cox with a Helen Keller Achievement Award for his work to portray the blind Marvel superhero accurately.

#daredevil #matt murdock #charlie cox

200 notes · View notes

animenostalgia · 4 months ago

Text

News - Sailor Moon: The Super Live will be getting a North American tour, starting in March 2025! After it's stop in the UK for their London showings, the Japanese musical will be making stops in the following US cities:

March 12: Pittsburgh, PA — Byham Theater

March 15: Austin, TX — Bass Concert Hall

March 18: San Antonio, TX — Majestic Theater

March 19: Sugarland, TX — Smart Financial Center

March 25: Seattle, WA — Paramount Theater

March 27: Spokane, WA — First Interstate Center

March 29: Portland, OR — Keller Auditorium

April 1: Dallas, TX — Winspear Opera House

April 3: Midland, TX — Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center

April 6: Minneapolis, MN — Orpheum Theater

April 8: St. Louis, MO — The Fabulous Fox

April 11: Dayton, OH — Schuster Center

April 13: Louisville, KY — The Kentucky Center

April 15: Chicago, IL — Chicago Theater

April 16: Milwaukee, WI — Riverside Theater

April 18: Newark, NJ — NJPAC

April 22: Philadelphia, PA — Miller Theater

April 25-26: New York — Palladium Times Square

The musicals will be performed in Japanese with "English subtitles" (most likely screens on the stage with text.) Tickets will be going on sale January 31st, 2025.

#news #Sailor Moon #Sailor Moon The Super Live #Seramyu #sera myu #links out

59 notes · View notes

supercap2319 · 1 year ago

Text

"Just talked to the ole man. I think I can get you into the Serpents." Archie grinned as he strolled up to his boyfriend, Y/N, who was leaning on his motorcycle.

"Let me guess. As the Southside slut?" Y/N asked.

Archie chuckles. "Well... that offer is still on the table, but I think Kevin Keller is more than happy to fill that position."

"So, what did F.A. say?"

"You don't have to take care of Hotdog, get a knife from a rattlesnake cage, or get beaten up by everyone in the Serpents." Archie assured.

Y/N frowns. If he didn't have to take the Serpent initiations, how was he supposed to get into the Serpents? He thought to himself as he looked at Archie. "So, what do I have to do to get into the Serpents?"

Archie smirks. "Oh, nothing much. Just the Serpent dance." At the mention of "Serpent dance, " Y/N's eyes widened in shock. "The Serpent dance? But that's for the female serpents. Why would your dad say that I have to do that as my initiation?"

"Well, I was very persuasive. Besides, you're not afraid of showing a little bit of skin, are you?" Archie teased. The thought of the whole Serpents watching his boyfriend perform on stage in his underwear, or a tight jockstrap, made Archie's dick twitch in his pants.

"I'm not afraid. I just didn't think you'd like me stripping for a bunch of older men. You know how horny the Serpents can be."

"Oh, I know. Which is why it's perfect, and who knows? You might get asked for an off-stage performance." Archie chuckles, pulling Y/N into his lap. Y/N smirks and wrapped his arms around Archie's neck and grinds his ass on his crotch. "You know I don't take cock for free. If you want me to be fucked by everyone, I want something worth my while."

Archie groans and grinds his bulge upward. "Fuck, baby. I'll give you whatever you want. Name your price, and it's yours."

"Good." Y/N kissed him.

#x male reader #male reader insert #male x male #kj apa #archie andrews #archie comics #Archie Andrews x male reader #southside serpents #Serpent Archie #biker Archie Andrews #riverdale

156 notes · View notes

wheelsgoroundincircles · 7 months ago

Text

"Bullitt" (1968) was director Peter Yates' first American film. He was hired after Steve McQueen saw his 1967 U.K. feature "Robbery," with its extended car chase. Joseph E. Levine, whose Embassy Pictures had distributed "Robbery," did not like the film much, but Alan Trustman, who saw the picture the week he was writing the "Bullitt" chase scenes, insisted that McQueen, his Solar Productions partner Robert Relyea and producer Philip D'Antoni (none of whom had ever heard of Yates) see "Robbery" and consider Yates as director for "Bullitt."

Bullitt is notable for its extensive use of actual locations rather than studio sets, most notably the city of San Francisco, California, and its attention to procedural detail, from police evidence processing to emergency-room procedures. Yates' use of the new lightweight Arriflex cameras allowed for greater flexibility in location shooting.

At the time of the film's release, the exciting car chase scenes featuring McQueen at the wheel in all driver-visual scenes generated prodigious excitement. Film critic Leonard Maltin has called it a "now-classic car chase, one of the screen's all-time best." Fellow critic Emanuel Levy wrote in 2003, "'Bullitt' contains one of the most exciting car chases in film history, a sequence that revolutionized Hollywood's standards."

Drivers' point-of-view shots were used to give the audience a participants' feel of the chase. Filming took three weeks, resulting in 9 minutes 42 seconds of pursuit. McQueen, a world-class racecar driver at the time, drove in the close-up scenes, while stunt coordinator Carey Loftin, stuntman and motorcycle racer Bud Ekins, and McQueen's usual stunt driver, Loren Janes, drove for the high-speed parts of the chase and performed other dangerous stunts.

Billy Fraker, the cinematographer for the film, attributed the success of the chase sequence primarily to the work of the editor, Frank P. Keller.

The editing of the scene was not without difficulties. Noted editor Ralph Rosenblum wrote in 1979, "Those who care about such things may know that during the filming of the climactic chase scene in 'Bullitt,' an out-of-control car filled with dummies tripped a wire which prematurely sent a costly set up in flames, and that editor Frank Keller salvaged the near-catastrophe with a clever and unusual juxtaposition of images that made the explosion appear to go off on time." (Wikipedia)

#car #cars #muscle car #american muscle #mopar #ford #moparperformance #moparnation #moparworld #chevrolet #movie cars #movies

62 notes · View notes

kykyonthemoon · 6 months ago

Text

Under The Shooting Stars

A millennium has passed since I sat on the throne of Philos, now Xavier only exists in my memories.

── .✦ Xavier x Reader (MC)

♡︎. Tags: (heavy) angst, hurt no comfort, tragedy, emotional hurt, myths related, oneshot.

♡︎. Word count: 1000w

♡︎. Requested by Felicia Keller.

♡︎. Ky Ky's note: This story is closely tied to Xavier's first myth: Shooting Stars and written in first point of view. Please consider reading his myth before this fic, or refrain from proceeding if you do not want any spoiler.

── .✦ My L&D Masterlist

── .✦ Request a fic - closed for the time being.

The afternoon sun sprinkled kisses on my face. I awoke on the roof of a high tower, where the bell began to ring right in my ear.

“Are you awake?” A familiar voice rang out. Right after that, two soft hands swiftly covered my ears as I grimaced from the bell's loudness.

“Xavier?” I called. That person smiled at me.

“It's time for your class.”

The bell eventually ceased ringing. I rose up and grabbed his hand in haste.

“Don't go…”

Yet, he disappeared.

“Your Majesty, what do you think of our performance today?”

I turned back to look at the group of young students at Astria Knyght Academy. They were anxiously awaiting my comments. I focused my attention on the pair who had recently dueled each other. A boy and a girl. Two of the greatest knights in training here. They were around the same age as he and I at the time.

"Excellent. Both of you.”

They bowed.

“We always strive to become your Knights, Your Majesty!”

“The future of Philos is in your hands.” I smiled at them. After that, the crowd dispersed and I caught a glimpse of the two clasping their hands together.

“If the two of them compete against us, who do you think will win?”

I looked up towards the statue of the Holy Sword of the Goddess, where Xavier was standing with his arms crossed. His back was drenched in midday sunlight. The scent of wavyleaf sea lavenders wafted in the air.

I replied: "That depends on whether you want to skip class today or not."

Xavier's laughter echoed in the wind. I blinked. When I looked back, no one remained where he stood.

This was where Xavier and I used to duel a lot back in those days. He was the best knight of the Starhunters, and I was the top student from the Moonchasers. He was the prince, and I was the sword that would protect him. Everyone believed he and I were true rivals. Nobody would have imagined that the sword clashes were mainly for his convenience in skipping class or avoiding messengers from the palace.

I proceeded walking, leaving the Academy behind. I traveled alone through the trees, following the trail to Starfall Forest. This place had been sealed ever since my coronation. Except for me, no one could step foot in there anymore.

Its mysteries remained buried. But I knew that I would not last much longer if Xavier did not come back.

“Wait for me.”

How long? Seven days? Two hundred years? Or a millennium?

I was always left behind like that. Still, I could not stop waiting. Hope became my breath, my sky and my stars. I could not give it up. Even when waiting was like poison, causing me to slowly die on the high throne.

If Philos did not consume me first, my love for him would.

This planet was dying. I was dying.

Since my coronation, I had not permitted any soul to come to Starfall Forest merely to die. But Philos still needed to be fed. That was why, every year, I discreetly ventured deep into the forest, using my own power to quench its hunger. I knew that was not enough. It was never enough. But this would allow me to hold on a bit longer until Xavier returned.

Would he return?

Or was it just another lie?

I opened my eyes to see a sky full of stars across my eyes. I was still in the wilderness, unconscious since I had lost so much power. Alive, still.

Little specks of light, resembling fireflies, emerged around me. The person seated in front of me was staring at me with care. I sat up, leaning against the tree. My trembling hand continued to reach forward, until I touched his face.

“Xavier…”

“I'm here. You are not dreaming. I really came back…”

My hand clenched into a fist. I wanted to punch Xavier for leaving for so long. Yet I could not do it. I could only stare at him, tears obscuring the forest and the stars. He drew me closer and held me.

“I'm sorry. For keeping you waiting.”

I sobbed aloud.

“I'm so weary, Xavier… I don't know how much longer I can do this anymore…”

"You rest. I will be by your side. Always."

Staying here was my decision. Becoming Queen was also my choice. But that did not mean that I was strong enough to get through this all alone.

For a thousand years.

I was in agony, I was angry, I even resented Xavier. Even so, I could never forget him. I always chased his silhouette in the sky, every time a star fell. Where was he amid the abundance of stars out there?

It seemed I finally understood what it meant to love someone when they did not care about you at all. It seemed I finally understood why he always chased after her, even when she had entirely forgotten him.

I was the only one left in Philos. For the last millennium, there was solely me.

Every morning, I would wear that crown on my head, smile at my people, and tell them how prosperous Philos was. I would go around all the places he had been to, hunting for his traces in every fragmented recollection of us. Every night, I would stare up into the sky to look for shooting stars. My hope would be lit up again with each star that fell; perhaps one of them would be his returning spaceship.

He forgot me, right?

“Xavier… Don't leave, please?…”

Xavier gently stroked my back and placed a kiss on my hair.

“Wait for me.”

How long? Seven days? Two hundred years? Or a millennium?

My tears had dried up. The fireflies eventually died. The warmth that enveloped me vanished into the darkness. Up in the sky, a star fell. Yet it did not bring him back to me.

-The end-

69 notes · View notes

operachristine · 9 months ago

Text

Lesser known/recorded Christine’s that you need to listen to! (An audio gifting post)

Katharine Buffaloe

Steve Barton (The Phantom of the Opera), Katharine Buffaloe (u/s Christine Daaé), Davis Gaines (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny), Jeff Keller (Monsieur Firmin), George Lee Andrews (Monsieur André), Marilyn Caskey (Madame Giry) || March 19, 1990; Broadway || Notes: Steve Barton and Davis Gaines's first performances. Missing Magical Lasso, Notes/Prima Donna in the first act.

Link

Kris Koop

Hugh Panaro (The Phantom of the Opera), Kris Koop (u/s Christine Daaé), Tim Martin Gleason (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny), Anne Runolfsson (Carlotta Giudicelli), Tim Jerome (Monsieur Firmin), George Lee Andrews (Monsieur André), Marilyn Caskey (Madame Giry), Larry Wayne Morbitt (Ubaldo Piangi), Kara Klein (Meg Giry) || September 14, 2005; Broadway

Link

Leigh Coggins

John Owen-Jones (The Phantom of the Opera), Leigh Coggins (u/s Christine Daaé), Simon Bailey (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny) || June 19, 2012; Third UK Tour || Notes: Includes Think Of Me, Title Song, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, and Point Of No Return.

Link

Terri Bibb

Jeff Keller (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Teri Bibb (Christine Daaé), Gary Mauer (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny) || October 14, 1996; Broadway

Link

Glenda Balkan

Ciaran Sheehan (The Phantom of the Opera), Glenda Balkan (Christine Daaé), Laird Mackintosh (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny) || August 25, 1995; Toronto

Link

Tamra Glaser

Michael Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Tamra Glaser (u/s Christine Daaé), Michael Piontek (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny) || 1990; First National Tour || Soundboard || Notes: Highlights ripped from YouTube.

Link

Kelly Jeanne Grant

Stephen Tewksbury (u/s The Phantom of the Opera), Kelly Jeanne Grant (Christine Daaé), Greg Mills (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny) || September 20, 2009; Third National Tour || Matinee

Link

Kyoko Suzuki

Eiji Akutagawa (The Phantom of the Opera), Kyoko Suzuki (Christine Daaé), Kanji Ishimaru (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny) || September 22, 1991; First Japanese Tour

Link

#phantom of the opera #audio gift

89 notes · View notes

wcsternnights · 1 year ago

Text

✦ ࣪ ˖ 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐢��𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐳 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐬

𝐨𝐫

𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠

arabella perez stood beside her boyfriend and his two brothers as larray introduced the video. he informed the viewers that he would be helping the triplets and arabella cook fried chicken.

"now, arabella, i know you already have seasoning to you - you sexy latina." larray joked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "but, for the sake of this video... embrace the uncultured-ness that is your boyfriend."

matt awkwardly held his thumbs up and grinned at the camera, before snatching his girlfriend back from larray and placing both hands on her shoulders, resting his chin on her head. the pair listened as larray continued to talk, throwing in a joke every now and then.

"hold on, should i move my cake?" arabella asked, looking at her beautiful chocolate star cake.

it was made for her sisters sixteenth birthday, and she would be giving it to her the next week. it was perfectly designed, with chocolate frosting and gold sprinkles, with the words 'happy 16th pops!' on top. the cake was currently on the furthest corner away on the counter, as no one had actually used the kitchen in a while.

"nah, it'll be fine." nick shook his head, walking over to it and checking it out. "it looks amazing though."

"thanks, i spent all night on wednesday making it for poppy." arabella smiled, looking at the camera as she spoke about the cake. "we can't show you guys cuz this vid's gonna come out before her birthday, and poppy usually watches these videos."

"shame." chris deadpanned, no amusement in his voice whatsoever.

"LET'S GET STARTED." larray shouted, clapping his hands. "right, we're having a deaf, a mute, a blind, a helen keller a whole package deal."

"hold on, someone's gonna be blind, deaf and mute?!" nick exclaimed, looking at his friend in utter shock.

"yeah... there's five of us, sis, what do you want me to do?" larray snapped back, bobbling his head as he spoke.

"i think nick should be mute and blind cuz he doesn't shut the fuck up." arabella snorted, resting her hands on the counter.

"no, i'm being mute and blind." larray butted in. "bella, boo-- betty boop-"

"huh?" matt raised his eyebrows, looking at larray with confusion. "where did that come from..."

"i dont know, she reminds me of that bitch." larray shrugged, pulling out a bandana and waving it in arabella's face. "you're blind babe."

"oh, fuck me." she groaned, "wait, like right now? or are we swapping over?"

"you can be blind in a bit, how about you be all three for now." larray offered, his evil giggle coming out as he watched arabella stare at the camera with a blank look.

"sure, whatever, fuck it." arabella shrugged, taking the bandana and tape that he was holding.

"that's my girl!" matt clapped excitedly as he took the things off of her and proceeded to tie the bandana at the back of her head, before taking the tape off the edge of the counter and pressing it over her lips and smoothing it down.

"is it good?" her voice was a hum, but her words were obvious. matt proceeded to hold a thumbs up, forgetting the fact she was blindfolded. "matt, is it good?"

so far, the video was going well. they had somehow managed to have chris and arabella successfully season chicken while matt helped them out and nick and larray danced around the kitchen, singing 'the sweet escape' by gwen stefani.

it was now turn to swap over, and everyone removed the items making them unable to perform certain actions. arabella and matt winced and wriggled in pain as they peeled the tape off of their mouths.

"babe, you got a makeup line." larray mocked, pointing at her mouth and cackling evilly. some of the tape had removed her face makeup, but, luckily, on camera it wasn't that obvious.

"you still look beautiful." matt mumbled as he stood in front of her, trying to blend the line away with the pad of his thumb.

"aww!" chris, nick and larray screamed, before chris fake gagged and burped in the space between them, making them step apart.

"you're fucking disgusting." matt groaned, punching his arm.

"can i be blind again? it was fun as shit." arabella grinned, snatching her blindfold back and attempting to tie it, when matt came to help.

"okay, bella's blind, matt's deaf, chris is blind and deaf, larri is mute and i'm mute and blind." nick announced, moving his hands dramatically as he spoke.

"but now, there's nowhere to hide-!" arabella started to sing randomly, even though she wasn't even listening to music. "since you've pushed my love aside!"

chris, who was yet to put his headphones on, found arabella and wrapped an arm around her neck from behind, dragging her back and shutting her up. larray jumped in shock, looking between the assault and the camera, whereas matt pushed chris aggressively, pointing a finger in his chest and shouting. "don't fucking do that!"

chris pushed him back before pointing at arabella and placing a finger on his lips. "tell her to shut up! she's making my senses inbalanced!"

"you're senses have been inbalanced." arabella spat back, kicking the back of his knee as revenge.

matt placed himself in front of her as he saw chris go to hit her. he turned around to face her and shouted, not realising his volume: "bels, you have to be quiet!"

"okay! i got it! stop yelling in my damn face!" arabella shouted back.

as the video continued, it was still going smoothly, until chris and matt began to fight each other again, and nick and larray had began to dance around again, mentally singing songs as both of them were mute. that left arabella all alone to complete the chicken, and she was beginning to get overwhelmed. she couldn't see, matt and chris were screaming at each other, and no one was helping her at all. she took a deep breath in and shook her hands, trying to dry them of the damp sweat that was building up, she scrunched her eyes underneath the blindfold, trying to remove the tears that were also building up.

she cleared her throat and continued to make the chicken to the best of her ability. before matt unintentionally screamed at her. "no! bella, stop! wrong thing!"

"it's not my fucking fault, no ones helping me!" she shouted, her voice cracking and wavering.

"what?!" matt shouted back, having not heard her.

larray, who was the only one (besides nick) who could hear her distress, waved his hand in front of his neck, trying to tell matt to stop yelling, but matt thought that meant carry on.

"bella stop!"

"stop what?!" she began tearing up, her bottom lip quivering.

larray quickly hit him and pointed at him, telling him to stop. arabella wiped her hands on her jeans as she felt herself getting really hot.

then, chris accidentally walked into matt from behind, making him shove him aggressively into the counter. a loud clatter and the sound of glass breaking came as everyone stopped their movements.

"what? what broke?" arabella asked, looking around for someone to help her.

sudden arms wrapped around her shoulders, one pressing into the back of her head. she reached her hand up to try and feel who it was. "who is it?" her hands came into contact with the spikey facial hair she loved. "oh, it's matt. what happened?"

matts fingers moved to untie the her bandana and she squinted as they adjusted to the sudden light. everyone stood in silence, jaws slack and in shock horror. nick had a hand over his mouth as chris' were interlocked around the back of his neck.

"what?" arabella muttered, walking around the back of the counter and seeing what everyone was so shocked about.

poppy's 16th birthday cake was splattered all over the floor, face down, and the plate was smashed. the kitchen as a whole was a complete mess, but this was the cherry on top to the growing panic attack arabella could feel approaching.

however, she shrugged it off with a sniffle and returned to her work station, cracking an egg and putting it in a foil tin.

"bella, i'm so sorry." chris muttered, too scared to look at her.

she shrugged, and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand, ignoring the stares of everyone. matts hands snaked around her waist and he rested his chin on her shoulder, pressing light kisses to her neck.

"im sorry, baby. i know how hard you worked." he mumbled. "im so sorry."

"no, it's fine, i'll just remake it, it's whatever." arabella passed over the way her voice cracked multiple times and continued making the chicken.

"bella i stopped the video." larray told her, letting her know she could stop.

she nodded her head and walked over to the sink, washing her hands before disappearing into matts bedroom. she hid in his covers, pulling them up to her chin and silently crying, trying to regulate her breathing while trying to be quiet. it was a mission and a half.

but matt walked in a few minutes later, quickly shut the door behind him and sat next to her in bed, pulling her into his lap. "it's okay. it's okay, shh. shh."

his hushes and coos only made her more emotional, as she soaked his shirt with her tears.

"oh bels, i'm so sorry. we'll remake it. we'll all help." matt whispered in her ear, dragging his fingers through it.

"no." she coughed/ sobbed out, sitting up and wiping her eyes. "no, it's not just that but i was doing everything myself and no one was helping me everyone was just shouting at each other."

matt placed a hand on her chest and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "you gotta breathe, baby. follow my own breathing, look at how i do it."

"did you know, you're bandana is the same colour as your bead bracelet that madi bought you?" arabella stared at his face as he helped her, looking at his encouraging eyes and warm smile. "there you go, you're doing so good. just like that, bels."

after a while, her pants had ceased and her panic attack was over, making her feel entirely drained and tired.

"i'm so sorry, arabella. we can all remake the cake, and you can decorate it, or you can do it all yourself, whatever you want." matt told her, holding her tightly. "and we're gonna redo this video another day because there's no way larri is posting this one, it was a mess."

"i feel so ridiculous." she muttered, hiding in his chest. "crying over a fucking cake."

"you're not ridiculous, bella." matt replied, kissing the top of her head lovingly.

a/n

dude this one is so long omfg im sorry about that yall but i hope you liked it. i had this idea for a few days now and decided to write it up because i love fanfics where the s/o is in a yt vid

#nick sturniolo #matt sturniolo x reader #matt sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #chris sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo imagine #chris sturniolo imagine #larray #nicolas sturniolo #sturniolo triplets

271 notes · View notes

karmaspidr · 2 months ago

Text

Hellion: I am THE KRAKOAN!!! Try and stop me, Laura!

Kamala: Any ideas on how to stop your ex?

Laura: There's only one person on the planet who can get through to Julian.

Kamala: Who?

Peter, apearing out of nowhere wearing a teacher outfit over his suit: Detention, Mr Keller!

Hellion: Wha- Professor S, no. This isn't fair! You can't do this

Peter: Stop performing acts of terrorism right now or that'll be two weeks detention.

Hellion: ...fine.

Kamala: ...how the hell did that work?

36 notes · View notes

digrigpowersports · 10 days ago

Text

Keller Performance: Trusted Upgrades for Serious Riders Keller Performance parts are built tough for riders who push limits. From ball joints to steering upgrades, these proven mods offer durability, control, and long-term performance—perfect for off-road enthusiasts who demand reliability. Get them now at digrigpowersports.

#dig rig powersports #utv suspension #atvperformance #keller performance

0 notes

lxvvie · 1 year ago

Text

A relationship with Alex Keller and Farah Karim would consist of the following:

First thing's first: Farah's in the middle of group hugs. Always. Just because, and much to your and Alex's amusement.

Alex actually being the one to address the elephant in the room. What with all the shit he's done and experienced, do really you think he'd draw the line at having two partners?

Boss as a pet name still remaining. Alex just has two people to call such. A variant is Boss Lady or Ma'am for Farah.

Reiterating this: Alex has no issues letting you two take command so long as he knows what's going on; also has no problems running interference when need be but for the most part, lead the way, Boss.

Alex usually having an arm around you both when it's just you three; it's either around your shoulders or your waist.

Talking Farah into taking a break every so often. You're doing the damn thing, Boss Lady. Time to rest and give yourself a pat on the back, yeah?

You and Alex taking turns making Farah flustered. In many ways. Sometimes you team up on her and what will she do with you two?

Having a random conversation on what would happen if you three managed to have a cat and dog as pets.

Using Alex's scarves more often than not for... a lot of reasons. Like tying his hands up. 👀

You and Farah also teasing him about his bed hair in the morning, especially after you two spent the night before tugging and running your hands through it.

Funnily enough, Alex would more than likely occupy the middle spot in bed. Just because, and much to your and Farah's amusement.

Alex being on the receiving end of a kiss attack from you two. Farah is tough as nails but her kisses are tactful and gentle. Yours are more on the playful side and he has many hickeys to hide and not enough scarves to do so.

Both you and Alex performing oral on Farah at the same time because her moans are so melodious and she absolutely needs to release the pent-up frustration.

Both you and Farah absolutely going feral seeing Alex's mustache coated with your juices. 👀

@leeisadumbass

266 notes · View notes

antiporn-activist · 1 year ago

Text

A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influencers.html

Seeking social media stardom for their underage daughters, mothers post images of them on Instagram. The accounts draw men sexually attracted to children, and they sometimes pay to see more.

Feb. 22, 2024

By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller

The ominous messages began arriving in Elissa’s inbox early last year.

“You sell pics of your underage daughter to pedophiles,” read one. “You’re such a naughty sick mom, you’re just as sick as us pedophiles,” read another. “I will make your life hell for you and your daughter.”

Elissa has been running her daughter’s Instagram account since 2020, when the girl was 11 and too young to have her own. Photos show a bright, bubbly girl modeling evening dresses, high-end workout gear and dance leotards. She has more than 100,000 followers, some so enthusiastic about her posts that they pay $9.99 a month for more photos.

Over the years, Elissa has fielded all kinds of criticism and knows full well that some people think she is exploiting her daughter. She has even gotten used to receiving creepy messages, but these — from “Instamodelfan” — were extreme. “I think they’re all pedophiles,” she said of the many online followers obsessed with her daughter and other young girls.

Elissa and her daughter inhabit the world of Instagram influencers whose accounts are managed by their parents. Although the site prohibits children under 13, parents can open so-called mom-run accounts for them, and they can live on even when the girls become teenagers.

But what often starts as a parent’s effort to jump-start a child’s modeling career, or win favors from clothing brands, can quickly descend into a dark underworld dominated by adult men, many of whom openly admit on other platforms to being sexually attracted to children, an investigation by The New York Times found.

For this investigation, the reporters analyzed 2.1 million Instagram posts, monitored months of online chats of professed pedophiles and interviewed over 100 people, including parents and children.

Thousands of accounts examined by The Times offer disturbing insights into how social media is reshaping childhood, especially for girls, with direct parental encouragement and involvement. Some parents are the driving force behind the sale of photos, exclusive chat sessions and even the girls’ worn leotards and cheer outfits to mostly unknown followers. The most devoted customers spend thousands of dollars nurturing the underage relationships.

The large audiences boosted by men can benefit the families, The Times found. The bigger followings look impressive to brands and bolster chances of getting discounts, products and other financial incentives, and the accounts themselves are rewarded by Instagram’s algorithm with greater visibility on the platform, which in turn attracts more followers.

One calculation performed by an audience demographics firm found 32 million connections to male followers among the 5,000 accounts examined by The Times.

Interacting with the men opens the door to abuse. Some flatter, bully and blackmail girls and their parents to get racier and racier images. The Times monitored separate exchanges on Telegram, the messaging app, where men openly fantasize about sexually abusing the children they follow on Instagram and extol the platform for making the images so readily available.

“It’s like a candy store 😍😍😍,” one of them wrote. “God bless instamoms 🙌,” wrote another.

The troubling interactions on Instagram come as social media companies increasingly dominate the cultural landscape and the internet is seen as a career path of its own.

Nearly one in three preteens lists influencing as a career goal, and 11 percent of those born in Generation Z, between 1997 and 2012, describe themselves as influencers. The so-called creator economy surpasses $250 billion worldwide, according to Goldman Sachs, with U.S. brands spending more than $5 billion a year on influencers.

Health and technology experts have recently cautioned that social media presents a “profound risk of harm” for girls. Constant comparisons to their peers and face-altering filters are driving negative feelings of self-worth and promoting objectification of their bodies, researchers found.

But the pursuit of online fame, particularly through Instagram, has supercharged the often toxic phenomenon, The Times found, encouraging parents to commodify their children’s images. Some of the child influencers earn six-figure incomes, according to interviews.

“I really don’t want my child exploited on the internet,” said Kaelyn, a mother in Melbourne, Australia, who like Elissa and many other parents interviewed by The Times agreed to be identified only by a middle name to protect the privacy of her child.

“But she’s been doing this so long now,” she said. “Her numbers are so big. What do we do? Just stop it and walk away?”

In investigating this growing and unregulated ecosystem, The Times analyzed 2.1 million Instagram posts, monitored months of online chats of professed pedophiles and reviewed thousands of pages of police reports and court documents.

Reporters also interviewed more than 100 people, including parents in the United States and three other countries, their children, child safety experts, tech company employees and followers of the accounts, some of whom were convicted sex offenders.

This is how The Times found its sample of 5,000 mom-run accounts.

The accounts range from dancers whose mothers diligently cull men from the ranks of followers, to girls in skimpy bikinis whose parents actively encourage male admirers and sell them special photo sets. While there are some mom-run accounts for boys, they are the exception.

Some girls on Instagram use their social media clout to get little more than clothing discounts; others receive gifts from Amazon wish lists, or money through Cash App; and still others earn thousands of dollars a month by selling subscriptions with exclusive content.

In interviews and online comments, parents said that their children enjoyed being on social media or that it was important for a future career. But some expressed misgivings. Kaelyn, whose daughter is now 17, said she worried that a childhood spent sporting bikinis online for adult men had scarred her.

“She’s written herself off and decided that the only way she’s going to have a future is to make a mint on OnlyFans,” she said, referring to a website that allows users to sell adult content to subscribers. “She has way more than that to offer.”

She warned mothers not to make their children social media influencers. “With the wisdom and knowledge I have now, if I could go back, I definitely wouldn’t do it,” she said. “I’ve been stupidly, naïvely, feeding a pack of monsters, and the regret is huge.”

Account owners who report explicit images or potential predators to Instagram are typically met with silence or indifference, and those who block many abusers have seen their own accounts’ ability to use certain features limited, according to the interviews and documents. In the course of eight months, The Times made over 50 reports of its own about questionable material and received only one response.

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, found that 500,000 child Instagram accounts had “inappropriate” interactions every day, according to an internal study in 2020 quoted in legal proceedings.

In a statement to The Times, Andy Stone, a Meta spokesman, said that parents were responsible for the accounts and their content and could delete them anytime.

“Anyone on Instagram can control who is able to tag, mention or message them, as well as who can comment on their account,” Mr. Stone added, noting a feature that allows parents to ban comments with certain words. “On top of that, we prevent accounts exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior from using our monetization tools, and we plan to limit such accounts from accessing subscription content.”

Influencers use TikTok, too, but Instagram is easier for parents to navigate and better suited to the kinds of photos that brands want. It is also home to a longstanding network of parents and brands that predated TikTok.

From time to time, Instagram removes child-influencer accounts for unspecified reasons or because people flag them as inappropriate, The Times found. In extreme cases, parents and photographers have been arrested or convicted of child exploitation, but barring evidence of illegal images, most of the activity does not draw the attention of law enforcement.

Like many parents, Elissa, who received the threatening messages about her daughter’s photos, said she protected her daughter by handling the account exclusively herself. Ultimately, she concluded, the Instagram community is dominated by “disgusting creeps,” but she nonetheless keeps the account up and running. Shutting it down, she said, would be “giving in to bullies.”

The account’s risks became apparent last spring when the person messaging her threatened to report her to the police and others unless she completed “a small task.” When she did not respond, the person emailed the girl’s school, saying Elissa sold “naughty” pictures to pedophiles.

Days later, the girl tearfully explained to her mother that school officials had questioned her about the Instagram account. They showed her images that her mother had posted — one of the girl in hot pants and fishnets, another in a leotard and sweatshirt.

Elissa had reported the blackmail to the local sheriff, but school officials only dropped the matter after an emotional interrogation of the girl.

“I was crying,” the girl said in an interview. “I was just scared. I didn’t understand what was going on.”

‘Walking Advertising’

In today’s creator economy, companies often turn to social media influencers to attract new customers. Giants like Kim Kardashian, who has 364 million followers on Instagram, have turned the phenomenon into a big business.

Young girls strive to do the same.

In the dance and gymnastics worlds, teens and preteens jockey to become brand ambassadors for products and apparel. They don bikinis in Instagram posts, walk runways in youth fashion shows and offer paid subscriptions to videos showing the everyday goings-on of children seeking internet fame.

“We costumed somebody for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ thinking that would be huge P.R., but we ended up finding out the bigger return on investment is these microinfluencers,” she said. “We have parents that will spend thousands of dollars to buy styles that no one else will have. That’s our best market.”

The most successful girls can demand $3,000 from their sponsors for a single post on Instagram, but monetary gain can be elusive for others, who receive free or discounted clothes in exchange for their posts and have to pay for their own hairstyling and makeup, among other costs. Even youth fashion shows, including events in New York that coincide but are not affiliated with New York Fashion Week, charge the girls to participate and charge their parents to attend.

In interviews, parents defended spending the money to promote their daughters’ influencer ambitions, describing them as extracurricular activities that build confidence, develop friendships and create social media résumés that will follow them into adulthood.

“It’s like a little security blanket,” said a New Jersey mother whose mom-run account has led to paid modeling jobs for her daughter and invitations to work with sought-after choreographers. “She can help pay for college if she does it right,” she said.

A mother in Alabama said parents couldn’t ignore the reality of this new economy.

“Social media is the way of our future, and I feel like they’ll be behind if they don’t know what’s going on,” the mother said. “You can’t do anything without it now.”

One 12-year-old girl in Maryland, who spoke with The Times alongside her mother, described the thrill of seeing other girls she knows wear a brand she represents in Instagram posts.

“People are actually being influenced by me,” she said.

In 2022, Instagram launched paid subscriptions, which allows followers to pay a monthly fee for exclusive content and access. The rules don’t allow subscriptions for anyone under 18, but the mom-run accounts sidestep that restriction. The Times found dozens that charged from 99 cents to $19.99. At the highest price, parents offered “ask me anything” chat sessions and behind-the-scenes photos.

Child safety experts warn the subscriptions and other features could lead to unhealthy interactions, with men believing they have a special connection to the girls and the girls believing they must meet the men’s needs.

“I have reservations about a child feeling like they have to satisfy either adults in their orbit or strangers who are asking something from them,” said Sally Theran, a professor at Wellesley College and clinical psychologist who studies online relationships. “It’s really hard to give consent to that when your frontal lobe isn’t fully developed.”

Instagram isn’t alone in the subscription business. Some parents promote other platforms on their mom-run accounts. One of them, Brand Army, caters to adult influencers but also has “junior channel” parent-run subscriptions ranging from free to $250 monthly.

“Message me anytime. You will have more opportunities for buying and receiving super exclusive content😘,” read a description for a $25 subscription to a minor’s account. For $100 a month, subscribers can get “live interactive video chats,” unlimited direct messages and a mention on the girl’s Instagram story.

The Times subscribed to several accounts to glean what content is being offered and how much money is being made. On one account, 141 subscribers liked a photo only available to those who paid $100 monthly, indicating over $14,000 in subscription revenue.

Some of the descriptions also highlight the revealing nature of photos. One account for a child around 14 years old encouraged new sign-ups at the end of last year by branding the days between Christmas and New Year’s as “Bikini Week.” An account for a 17-year-old girl advertised that she wasn’t wearing underwear in a workout photo set and, as a result, the images were “uh … a lot spicier than usual.”

The girl’s “Elite VIP” subscription costs $250 a month.

Brand Army’s founder, Ramon Mendez, said that junior-channel users were a minority on his platform and that moderating their pages had grown so problematic that he discontinued new sign-ups.

“We’ve removed thousands of pieces of content,” he said. “The parents’ behavior is just disgusting. We don’t want to be part of it.”

‘The Wealth of the Wicked’

“You are so sexy,” read one comment on an image of a 5-year-old girl in a ruffled bikini. “Those two little things look great thru ur top,” said another on a video of a girl dancing in a white cropped shirt, who months later posted pictures of her 11th birthday party.

For many mom-run accounts, comments from men — admiring, suggestive or explicit — are a recurring scourge to be eradicated, or an inescapable fact of life to be ignored. For others, they are a source to be tapped.

“The first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do when I go to bed is block accounts,” said Lynn, the mother of a 6-year-old girl in Florida who has about 3,000 followers from the dance world.

Another mother, Gail from Texas, described being desensitized to the men’s messages. “I don’t have as much of an emotional response anymore,” she said. “It’s weird to be so numb to that, but the quantity is just astounding.”

Meta does not provide public information about who uses Instagram, so The Times analyzed data from the audience firms Modash and HypeAuditor, which estimate follower demographics based on their own algorithms.

The proportion of male followers varied greatly in The Times’s sample, according to the estimates. Many accounts had a few thousand followers who were mostly female. But while men accounted for about 35 percent of the audience overall, their presence grew dramatically as accounts became more popular. Many with more than 100,000 followers had a male audience of over 75 percent, and a few of them over 90 percent, the analysis showed.

To be sure, not all men following the accounts have bad intentions. Some are grandparents and fathers of the young influencers. Many have inoffensive profiles and simply post compliments or greetings, and mothers react appreciatively.

“In responding or even hitting ‘like’ on it, it boosts your algorithm,” said a mother in Florida whose 16-year-old daughter has been an Instagram influencer for six years. “We tried shutting comments off at one point, and some of the brands didn’t like that.”

Brands that feature children from mom-run accounts face similar challenges.

Dean Stockton, who runs a small clothing company in Florida called Original Hippie, often features girls from the Instagram accounts, who earn a commission when customers use personalized discount codes. After initially deleting many male followers, he now sees them as a way to grow the account and give it a wider audience because the platform rewards large followings.

“The Bible says, ‘The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous,’” he said. “So sometimes you got to use the things of this world to get you to where you need to be, as long as it’s not harming anybody.”

Mr. Stockton said he deleted male followers who were disrespectful or sexual in their interactions. An examination by The Times of the three dozen brands that are popular among mom-run accounts found inappropriate, predatory or pornographic followers in almost all of the brands’ accounts, including Original Hippie.

Many of the men posted pornography, or their bios included sexual language and emojis that child protection experts say pedophiles can use to signal interest in children. For instance, one follower of a children’s dance wear brand described himself as a “thong & anl sx lover.” A user named “sexy_69nazi” followed a children’s apparel company and exclusively posted pornography.

Chixit, a brand selling swimwear and other clothing, describes itself as “an International Sorority,” but business records show that it was run by Philip Russo, who advertised himself as a tutor operating out of his home in the Hudson Valley of New York. Other websites registered to Mr. Russo’s email are a tutoring business and inactive domain names describing sex with animals.

After The Times reached out to Mr. Russo, the website for his tutoring business went offline. He did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment.

‘Girls Become a Currency’

The vast world of child-influencer followers on Instagram includes men who have been charged with or convicted of sex crimes, and those who engage in forums off platform where child sexual abuse imagery, including of girls on Instagram, is shared.

The Times traced the account of one follower, who goes by the moniker “jizzquizz,” to a man named Joshua V. Rubel, 39. He was convicted in 2008 of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and is listed on the New Jersey sex offender registry. (Instagram’s policy bars sex offenders from using the platform, and the company said it removed two accounts after The Times pointed them out.)

Another account belongs to Daniel Duane Huver, a man in Lansing, Mich., who told law enforcement in 2018 that he had “top fan status” on girls’ pages, a designation bestowed by Instagram’s sister company, Facebook. The police searched Mr. Huver’s cellphone after it was confiscated by his probation officer and found hundreds of images and videos of children, including many considered inappropriate and sexually suggestive and two believed to be illegal (showing minors engaged in explicit acts.)

Mr. Huver told officers he was sexually attracted to children and masturbated to images of them, according to police records. He was charged with possession of child sexual abuse material, but the prosecutor in Eaton County later dropped charges, citing insufficient evidence because of the poor quality of the imagery.

Mr. Rubel did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Huver said that the police mischaracterized his words and that the lack of prosecution was evidence he had done nothing wrong.

In monitoring multiple Telegram chat rooms, The Times found men who treat children’s Instagram pages and subscription services as menus to satisfy their fantasies. They trade information about parents considered receptive to producing and selling “private sets” of images.

A group with more than 4,000 members was highly organized, with an F.A.Q. page and a Google sheet that tracked nearly 700 children, identifying them by hashtags to help members find them within the long chat history. The group’s logo showed a child’s hand in an adult hand.

The Times asked the Canadian Center for Child Protection, an organization that monitors online child exploitation, to review links and other potentially illegal material posted by the Telegram groups and elsewhere. The center identified child sexual abuse imagery involving multiple underage Instagram models from around the world, as well as sexualized videos of others, including a preteen girl wearing a thong and a young teenager raising her dress to show her bikini bottom.

Men in these groups frequently praise the advent of Instagram as a golden age for child exploitation.

“I’m so glad for these new moms pimping their daughters out,” wrote one of them. “And there’s an infinite supply of it — literally just refresh your Instagram Explore page there’s fresh preteens.”

A small group of men go even further and cultivate business and patronage relationships with mothers.

One man posts videos and photos on Instagram of girls thanking him for shopping sprees, gifts like iPhones and iPads, and cash. If he does not receive a message of gratitude quickly, he sometimes shames the mother and daughter on his private Instagram account.

Another makes recommendations about increasing visibility by using specific hashtags and photographers. But two mothers said they became suspicious, and stopped working with the man, after he suggested they make certain their daughters’ nipples and other private areas could be detected through their outfits.

A third man tried to persuade a mother to sell her daughter’s used leotards because many men, including himself, were “collectors,” according to a recording of the conversation.

“In retrospect I feel like such a stupid mom, but I’m not stupid,” said a mother of a young gymnast, who dealt with similar men before she realized they were predators and received threatening messages from several of them. “I didn’t understand what grooming was.”

Sometimes the men flirt or try to develop virtual romances with mothers, offer to protect them and become possessive and angry if they interact with other men.

“It’s almost like the girls become a currency,” said the gymnast’s mother, who did not want to be named.

This feeling of ownership and jealousy can drive attempts at blackmail, The Times found.

Instamodelfan, who sent threatening messages to Elissa, sent blackmail threats to at least five other mom-run accounts. When one mother responded, he demanded that she sexually abuse her child and send him photos and videos, emails to the mother show. She refused and contacted law enforcement.

The Times communicated with a person identified on Telegram as Instamodelfan who said that he lashed out at the mothers because he believed other men got illegal images of children and he wanted them for himself.

Reporters also received information from an anonymous tipster, who they later found was linked to the blackmailer, indicating that some parents had produced explicit imagery of their daughters.

The Canadian center reviewed the imagery and said it included illegal nude photos of two girls. One girl’s mother said she was shaken to learn of the photos and did not know who could have made them. The other girl, now 17, said in an interview that the photos were for her and a girlfriend and that she told law enforcement that they had been stolen.

Others images either were borderline illegal, were too poor quality to be conclusive or were digitally altered, the center said.

Several mothers who had been identified by the tipster said they reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which, they said, had conducted an investigation. The F.B.I. declined to comment.

Ultimately, the gymnast’s mother said, a federal agent told them to stop talking to men online.

“They told everyone to get off Instagram,” she said. “‘You’re in over your head. Get off.’ That’s what they told us.”

‘My Limit of Pedophiles’

Meta failed to act on multiple reports made by parents and even restricted those who tried to police their own followers, according to interviews and materials provided by the parents.

If parents block too many followers’ accounts in a day, Meta curtails their ability to block or follow others, they said.

“I remember being told, like, I’ve reached my limit,” said a mother of two dancers in Arizona who declined to be named. “Like what? I reached my limit of pedophiles for today. OK, great.”

Mr. Stone, the Meta spokesman, said “there are lots of reasons an account might face limitations or restrictions based the account’s activity,” and therefore it was difficult to know why parents encountered these problems.

Ms. Pastore of LA Dance Designs said it was “very much overdue” for Instagram to add the ability to filter by age and sex to help identify suspicious followers. “If you’re starting to gain a following, there needs to be some sort of way to control it,” she said.

Even some egregious violations led to no action by Meta.

One parent reported a photo of erect male genitalia sent in a direct message. Another reported an account that reposted children’s photos with explicit captions. A third reported a user who propositioned her child for sex, offering $65,000 for “an hour” with the girl.

In response to those three reports, Meta said either that the communications did not violate “community guidelines” or that its staff did not have time to review them. In other cases, Meta told parents that it relied on its “technology” to determine the content was “probably” not a violation.

Separately, The Times found comments that included links to sites identified by the Canadian center as trading illegal, nude imagery of children. None of those reports received a response from Meta.

Former Meta trust and safety employees described an organization overwhelmed despite knowing about the problem for years.

“You hear, ‘I reported this account, it was harassing my daughter, why is he back?’” said a former investigator for the company who requested anonymity. “There are not enough people, resources and systems to tackle all of it.”

In recent years, conspiracy theories like QAnon, which claims Democratic politicians are trafficking children, have led to an excess of unfounded reports that have muddled the evaluation of child abuse tips, three former Meta trust and safety employees said.

A 2020 document that surfaced in a lawsuit described child safety as a “non-goal” at Meta. “If we do something here, cool,” the document said. “But if we do nothing at all, that’s fine too.” The lawsuit was brought against Meta and other companies claiming damage from using social media. Lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to provide more information about the document.

In documents from 2018 included in a separate lawsuit making similar claims of harm, a top Facebook executive told Instagram’s chief executive that unless changes were made, Facebook and Instagram were “basically massive ‘victim discovery services,’” an allusion to the considerable evidence of abuse on the platforms.

Mr. Stone, the Meta spokesman, disputed the suggestion that the trust team was understaffed and underfunded, saying that 40,000 employees worked on safety and security and that the company had invested $20 billion in such efforts since 2016. He also referred to a previous statement about the lawsuits, saying they “mischaracterize our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents.”

In addition, he noted that Meta reported more suspected child abuse imagery to the authorities than any other company each year. In December, it announced plans to encrypt its messaging services, which would reduce the reports.

‘It’s All Over Instagram’

Experts in child protection and development say young people should never be made to have negative feelings about their bodies. But clothing that is appropriate in a gym or dance competition may take on an unintended meaning when shared online.

Children’s dance attire regularly features strappy bra tops, sheer fabric and bikini bottoms, and popular cheer outfits combine sports bras with little skirts — part of a long-term trend toward more revealing clothing for girls.

“In the dance world we’re in, they’re half naked all the time and their legs are in the air,” said a mother in Massachusetts who declined to be named. “And if you’re not used to seeing that, maybe it’s different.”

Lynn, whose granddaughter in Texas is an ambassador for a cheerleading brand, said there was no logic to the reactions her posts received. Photos of the girl’s feet attract the most extreme comments, she said. “You can’t stop weird people, I guess.”

Still, many of the would-be influencers suffer. In some instances criticism of the posts, and accompanying bullying, becomes so severe that mothers turn to home-schooling.

“She got slaughtered all through primary school,” said Kaelyn, the mother in Melbourne. “Children were telling her, ‘We can’t play with you because my mom said too many perverts follow you on the internet.’”

In the United States, parents have substantial leeway in making decisions about their children. But people who suspect illegal behavior on Instagram quickly discover that the authorities are overwhelmed and typically focus on the clearest-cut cases.

Even the most unsettling images of sexualized child influencers tend to fall into a legal gray area. To meet the federal definition of so-called child pornography, the law generally requires a “lascivious exhibition” of the anal or genital area, though courts have found the requirement can be met without nudity or sheer clothing.

There have been criminal prosecutions against parents accused in child sexual abuse cases.

In Louisiana last year, a mother was arrested and charged with working with a photographer to produce illegal images of her daughter in a thong bikini. In Texas, a mother was sentenced to 32 years in prison in December for producing nude photos of her 8-year-old daughter with the same photographer. And in North Carolina, a mother is awaiting trial on charges that she took her 15-year-old daughter to a photographer who sexually abused her and she failed to get medical help when the girl tried to kill herself, according to court documents.

Still, those prosecutions are rare, and some male followers of the mom-run accounts openly welcome the windfall.

“As long as this stuff legally exists, I just enjoy it :),” one of them wrote on Telegram.

“Exactly,” another responded. “It’s all over Instagram.”

#there's no hope for women

231 notes · View notes