Listen to Opening Arguments Podcast. They are doing a fantastic job providing insightful legal analysis. They stick to the facts and their predictions are mostly on the mark. When they aren’t, they’re up front about, and explain the situation. Great jokes too, like “Cheese and Crackers” to describe Chessebro and Powel’s speedy trial getting tied together
OA was great until the whole sexual harassment thing and the shit show/takeover that happened afterwards. I miss the information but absolutely refuse to support Andrew after all that. Had to unsubscribe.
Daily Beans, Cleanup on Aisle 45, and Jack are all great alternatives for getting similar information.
Scathing Atheist and Skepticrat are also good ways to stay broadly informed while listening to irreverent jokes about our fucked up situation.
Are you me? That is my core podcast rotation, lol. I want another lawyer driven pod that covers the Trump and all the satellite cases. I’ll come back here with a recommendation when I find one.
Too bad Andrew is a creep, and after Thomas supported the allegations and added his own, Andrew hijacked the podcast and now makes it without Thomas. Since they’re equal partners, Andrew shouldn’t be able to make the podcast without Thomas. Thomas thinks he won’t be able to much longer.
I try not to support people who claim moral high ground and treat people like sexual objects. Here’s copy pasta from reddit. For external links, feel free to go to the original post.
Edit from 7/10/2023: I’m rewriting this thread so as to be more evergreen/an archive. Other than rephrasing some things, I’ve also reorganized the list (moved references to accusations with unnamed accusers to the end) and added one small additional accusation, so keep those changes in mind if you read any older comments (you may want to refer to the original post which is archived here).
In early 2023, lawyer and host of the legal podcast Opening Arguments Andrew Torrez (AT) was accused of personal misconduct from 11 people* up to 9 of which are detailed below, mostly of sexual harassment but of sexual assault in 2 instances as well.
The story broke when the outlet Religion News Service (RNS) published a story of how AT resigned from the board of the American Atheists concurrent to an ethics complaint being filed against him. The story also included some details about these accusations including Felicia Hart (1). In the following days more people came forward with accusations against him, regarding misconduct from 2017 to 2022.
Keep in mind they’re not all accusations of equally problematic misconduct nor do they all have the same information/receipts given. The accusers were often candid of this when sharing. Please do not contact anyone involved nor anyone on this list.
There will be discussion of sexual misconduct beyond this point, so content warning for that:
Felicia Hart (AKA Felicia Entwhistle): This is the accuser the RNS article focused on, and her statement and screenshots of her DMs with Andrew have been pretty widely disseminated. She accuses Andrew of inappropriate messages, and violating boundaries multiple times in conversations.
Charone Frankel : the RNS article references her as a consensual partner and that Andrew wanted to continue their relationship after it ended. However she feels like the article left out a lot, giving a short statement/accusation of nonconsensual physical contact, on Facebook. (screenshot backup) Charone also has a slightly shorter statement available publicly on facebook.:
[…] My chief complaint against Andrew Torrez is that on more than one occasion, he aggressively initiated physical intimacy without my consent. When he did this, I would either say no and try to stop it, or I would let myself be coerced into going along with it.
Dell Onnerth: They worked with Felicia and others to bring the accusations to light, and is thanked/referenced to in Felicia’s statement above. Dell has helpfully provided a summary of the rough timeline of events (screenshot backup), and has accused Andrew of sending them inappropriate messages:
[…] I was one of many people who received inappropriate messages from Andrew. For a long time, there have been whisper network accusations of physical assault and lots of high pressure sexual messages. I hope all the other hosts will do the right thing and cease platforming someone who has been unsafe for women and femmes because it has had a major impact on who feels comfortable in this movement.
Kaylie Woomer: Based on this twitter thread she also went to the PIAT crew (Puzzle in a Thunderstorm, a podcast network with which OA was associated) with unspecified concerns about Andrew. According to Dell’s timeline above, it was with allegations of harassing messages. I’m unaware of her account commenting with specifics.
Thomas Smith, former cohost of Opening Arguments until AT seized the podcast from him: he has accused Andrew of inappropriately touching him when they were drinking.
An unnamed Accuser has accused Andrew Torrez of inappropriate messages sent to them in 2020 and 2021. (Screenshot Backup) Note: initially this accuser posted this on social media with their real name and DM screenshots but shortly thereafter it was unavailable, and then this anonymized statement was provided. I won’t be sharing their name/the DM screenshots but I did see the original post and do have a record of it.
Unnamed person who accuses Andrew of nonconsensual physical contact them in 2017. Their accusation is a key part of the story of the accusations being brought forward. They are apparently too worried of retribution to come forward, but did confide in other people and also told peers of Andrew (like some hosts of PIAT). This seems to be the earliest relevant misconduct in the timeline. Dell has referenced them several times in their statements (see here, also included above), as has Ari Stillman (screenshot backup) (Ari is a former admin for PIAT on Facebook)
Another woman shared creepy texts with Andrew Torrez (on Facebook, so originally a named accusation) on a post authored by Dell Onnerth. Dell later deleted this post, which also made the replies unavailable. Out of an abundance of caution I’m not sharing this one either. But like with 6 I did see the original post and do have a record of it.
In reply to a statement Teresa Gomez published on this (r/OpenArgs) subreddit (Teresa was formerly an admin of the OA Facebook group and ran the previous live shows), a user commented in reply saying that AT has sent them things that were “disrespectful and wrong”. As this is anonymized/details are not known, this may be a redundant entry.
Collectively these are nine accusations. On the google drive, Dell Onnerth mentions there are eleven accusations known of to them. So there are at least two more out there that I either missed or are private.
For the sake of completion, I’m going to include AT’s two attempted apologies for his actions. First his initial statement on the OA group, and here his second one uploaded as a statement to the OA podcast feed (done after/in response to Thomas Smith’s (6) accusation in specific). In said statements he affirms sending creepy text messages, denies Thomas Smith’s accusations, and does not address the more serious accusations from (2) and (7). In a later statement in court filings, AT characterizes these as profusely apologizing.
As before, if I have missed something or a link is inaccessible please let me know!
Listen to Opening Arguments Podcast. They are doing a fantastic job providing insightful legal analysis. They stick to the facts and their predictions are mostly on the mark. When they aren’t, they’re up front about, and explain the situation. Great jokes too, like “Cheese and Crackers” to describe Chessebro and Powel’s speedy trial getting tied together
OA was great until the whole sexual harassment thing and the shit show/takeover that happened afterwards. I miss the information but absolutely refuse to support Andrew after all that. Had to unsubscribe.
Daily Beans, Cleanup on Aisle 45, and Jack are all great alternatives for getting similar information.
Scathing Atheist and Skepticrat are also good ways to stay broadly informed while listening to irreverent jokes about our fucked up situation.
Are you me? That is my core podcast rotation, lol. I want another lawyer driven pod that covers the Trump and all the satellite cases. I’ll come back here with a recommendation when I find one.
Too bad Andrew is a creep, and after Thomas supported the allegations and added his own, Andrew hijacked the podcast and now makes it without Thomas. Since they’re equal partners, Andrew shouldn’t be able to make the podcast without Thomas. Thomas thinks he won’t be able to much longer.
I try not to support people who claim moral high ground and treat people like sexual objects. Here’s copy pasta from reddit. For external links, feel free to go to the original post.
Summary of all the Accusations/Allegations against Andrew Torrez Andrew/Thomas
Edit from 7/10/2023: I’m rewriting this thread so as to be more evergreen/an archive. Other than rephrasing some things, I’ve also reorganized the list (moved references to accusations with unnamed accusers to the end) and added one small additional accusation, so keep those changes in mind if you read any older comments (you may want to refer to the original post which is archived here).
In early 2023, lawyer and host of the legal podcast Opening Arguments Andrew Torrez (AT) was accused of personal misconduct from 11 people* up to 9 of which are detailed below, mostly of sexual harassment but of sexual assault in 2 instances as well.
The story broke when the outlet Religion News Service (RNS) published a story of how AT resigned from the board of the American Atheists concurrent to an ethics complaint being filed against him. The story also included some details about these accusations including Felicia Hart (1). In the following days more people came forward with accusations against him, regarding misconduct from 2017 to 2022.
Keep in mind they’re not all accusations of equally problematic misconduct nor do they all have the same information/receipts given. The accusers were often candid of this when sharing. Please do not contact anyone involved nor anyone on this list.
There will be discussion of sexual misconduct beyond this point, so content warning for that:
Felicia Hart (AKA Felicia Entwhistle): This is the accuser the RNS article focused on, and her statement and screenshots of her DMs with Andrew have been pretty widely disseminated. She accuses Andrew of inappropriate messages, and violating boundaries multiple times in conversations.
Charone Frankel : the RNS article references her as a consensual partner and that Andrew wanted to continue their relationship after it ended. However she feels like the article left out a lot, giving a short statement/accusation of nonconsensual physical contact, on Facebook. (screenshot backup) Charone also has a slightly shorter statement available publicly on facebook.:
[…] My chief complaint against Andrew Torrez is that on more than one occasion, he aggressively initiated physical intimacy without my consent. When he did this, I would either say no and try to stop it, or I would let myself be coerced into going along with it.
[…] I was one of many people who received inappropriate messages from Andrew. For a long time, there have been whisper network accusations of physical assault and lots of high pressure sexual messages. I hope all the other hosts will do the right thing and cease platforming someone who has been unsafe for women and femmes because it has had a major impact on who feels comfortable in this movement.
Kaylie Woomer: Based on this twitter thread she also went to the PIAT crew (Puzzle in a Thunderstorm, a podcast network with which OA was associated) with unspecified concerns about Andrew. According to Dell’s timeline above, it was with allegations of harassing messages. I’m unaware of her account commenting with specifics.
Thomas Smith, former cohost of Opening Arguments until AT seized the podcast from him: he has accused Andrew of inappropriately touching him when they were drinking.
An unnamed Accuser has accused Andrew Torrez of inappropriate messages sent to them in 2020 and 2021. (Screenshot Backup) Note: initially this accuser posted this on social media with their real name and DM screenshots but shortly thereafter it was unavailable, and then this anonymized statement was provided. I won’t be sharing their name/the DM screenshots but I did see the original post and do have a record of it.
Unnamed person who accuses Andrew of nonconsensual physical contact them in 2017. Their accusation is a key part of the story of the accusations being brought forward. They are apparently too worried of retribution to come forward, but did confide in other people and also told peers of Andrew (like some hosts of PIAT). This seems to be the earliest relevant misconduct in the timeline. Dell has referenced them several times in their statements (see here, also included above), as has Ari Stillman (screenshot backup) (Ari is a former admin for PIAT on Facebook)
Another woman shared creepy texts with Andrew Torrez (on Facebook, so originally a named accusation) on a post authored by Dell Onnerth. Dell later deleted this post, which also made the replies unavailable. Out of an abundance of caution I’m not sharing this one either. But like with 6 I did see the original post and do have a record of it.
In reply to a statement Teresa Gomez published on this (r/OpenArgs) subreddit (Teresa was formerly an admin of the OA Facebook group and ran the previous live shows), a user commented in reply saying that AT has sent them things that were “disrespectful and wrong”. As this is anonymized/details are not known, this may be a redundant entry.
For the sake of completion, I’m going to include AT’s two attempted apologies for his actions. First his initial statement on the OA group, and here his second one uploaded as a statement to the OA podcast feed (done after/in response to Thomas Smith’s (6) accusation in specific). In said statements he affirms sending creepy text messages, denies Thomas Smith’s accusations, and does not address the more serious accusations from (2) and (7). In a later statement in court filings, AT characterizes these as profusely apologizing.
As before, if I have missed something or a link is inaccessible please let me know!