Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 10, I got a call.
"This is Tony T, Brian Surewood’s partner.
"I have an issue. You and Gene Ross are going online and putting out stuff as though you were there. You’re slaughtering the dude online. That’s not cool.
"Brian didn’t hit anyone. He was hit. There’s no evidence that he did anything. The 19 yo kid f—ed everything up.
"There are lawyers involved. This is a life-and-death situation.
"I’ve been with Brian since yesterday, the minute the thing happened, until now. I’ve been through the cops. I’ve been with the lawyers. None of these details even came up in this investigation. His lawyer is pissed off because this is a life and death matter. It’s not a joke.
"The dude never did anybody wrong. He’s always been respectful to you.
"If something happened to you, would you want people to go online and talk s— like that about you?
"We’re supposed to be holding together in this business.
"If anything online gets used against him, we’re going to have some serious issues. You’re saying he raped a girl. He never did. It was proven. You only put the parts you like to put up. When the truth comes out, you never put it up."
"It’s killing me because you, the press in the business, are the people who are supposed to have our back, not attacking us. You don’t think the cops look at sites like that?"
"If I see one more thing smashing Brian on your site, you are going to receive a letter from a lawyer. Next thing you know we’re going to meet in court."