Reality Is Real

An Official Statement in Defense of Toadstool Shadow

Toadstool Shadow’s Chris Till Seeking the Music of the Spheres (Image courtesy of Toadstool Shadow)

Toadstool Shadow’s creative director Chris Till is innocent of all wrongdoing alleged by notorious faephobes Cryptids Are Real (“CAR”). The North American Faerie Investigation Society (“NAFIS”) firmly stands with Toadstool Shadow as an ally.

Reality is real. Truth is true. Facts are factual. CAR, in its malicious rush to stir up hate, has forgotten these three pillars upon which science is based. While CAR deemed Till as a reality denier, in fact, it is CAR that is a science denier.

Further, CAR’s brutal attack on Till is violence for two simple reasons.            

First, in interviews quoted in Stellify and Medium, Till stated that Toadstool Shadow filmed real faeries in its music videos. Hence, it is true. To suggest otherwise is to deny Till’s lived experience. To deny another’s lived experience is to deny their existence. To deny their existence is violence.

The Four Toadstool Shadow Faeries at the Center of the Controversy (Images Courtesy of Toadstool Shadow)

Second, there is a scientific consensus that silence is violence. There is also a scientific consensus that words are violence. Therefore, CAR’s attacks on Toadstool Shadow legally constitute a criminal assault.

Unfortunately, in a society that still retains some archaic free speech protections, CAR is free to abuse Till. But it is not free of the consequences of its hate speech.

Consequently, NAFIS demands that CAR issue a formal apology to Toadstool Shadow. NAFIS also demands that CAR affirm that the faeries in Toadstool Shadow’s music videos are real faeries.

If CAR refuses, NAFIS will formally petition the Southern Poverty Law Center (“SPLC”) and the Anti-Defamation League (“ADL”) to designate CAR as a hate group for its repugnant and hate-fuelled faephobia.