It’s been less than a month since The Cinefamily closed due to an ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct (harassment, intimidation, assault, etc). An anonymous email named two specific perpetrators of the misconduct, who have since been fired. They set up a case with an independent investigator which included an anonymous phone number always to be answered by a female questioner.

It’s been less than a month since Joss Whedon’s ex-wife came out with allegations about his ongoing emotional abuse, string of affairs, gaslighting, and various other bullshittery that points to his feminism being performative. It’s been less than a month since Tig Notoro revived the Louis C.K. rumors (even though we’ve seen the first rumor to be largely unfounded and the rest now exist as zombie rumors).

Less than a month after all of this, while a majority of film critics are at TIFF fighting late screenings and getting angry about being in uncomfortable seats for 8 hours a day, Drafthouse quietly dropped a bomb.

Devin Faraci was back. For about 48 hours.

Well, to say that Drafthouse dropped the bomb is disingenuous. And to say that Devin Faraci was back for only 48 hours is also disingenuous. But, let’s go back.

In 2010, Devin Faraci was the founder of the blog Badass Digest, an Alamo Drafthouse-based blog where he reigned supreme as a massive dick with hipster taste. It was much like the old AV Club, except the editor hated you, especially if you didn’t agree with him. Actually, it’s kind of like the new AV Club with Sean O’Neal at the helm. Anyways, in 2015, Badass Digest turned into Birth. Movies. Death., where Faraci remained editor-in-chief.

Over the years, Faraci would refine his reputation for being a dick by telling multiple people to commit suicide, hitting on a writer’s wife while telling the writer to kill himself, and starting fights with Drafthouse employees who challenged him. He blamed his alcoholism, but he still had a boxing match with Joe Swanberg where he compared Swanberg to Hitler. On top of all that, Faraci tried molding himself as an aggro bro with a feminist heart. He would lash out at anybody he deemed insufficiently feminist.

This was all undone last October after Trump’s “Grab ‘Em By The Pussy” tape surfaced. A day after that tape surfaced, a female film critic came forward with a story that Faraci himself nonconsensually violated her and bragged about it at the bar they were at. And, thus, Faraci’s dictatorship as Editor-In-Chief of Birth. Movies. Death. finally ended. Tim League – founder of Alamo Drafthouse, Drafthouse Films, Mondo, and co-founder of fledgling studio Neon Films – announced Faraci’s resignation while Faraci stepped away from his Twitter account.

…but that’s not the end of the story.

Around a month later, Devin Faraci was quietly moved into copywriting in varying capacities under Tim League’s giant umbrella. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of Drafthouse’s programmers quit in March in no small part because of Faraci’s non-firing. But, most of this work was behind the scenes and one of the “worst kept secrets” in Austin.

This past week, a fan of Fantastic Fest noticed Faraci’s name appearing on the program’s blurbs. Because that fan posted about it on Facebook, Tim League was forced to make a statement that he had “rehired” Faraci after a period of reflection and recovery.

Devin has spent the time since this allegation examining the choices he made that led to it. He has recognized and acknowledged his struggles with substance abuse; after stepping down, he immediately entered recovery and has been sober ever since. This is an important step in the right direction.

His departure from Birth.Movies.Death meant losing his job, his livelihood, his career, and his place in the film community, but Devin has started the work to rebuild himself first with the understanding that all else is secondary. Seeing the work that Devin has been doing to acknowledge his faults, to address his addiction, and to better himself, I thought it was important to contribute to his recovery process by helping him with some means to earn a living. Once it became clear that his efforts were sincere, I offered Devin copywriting work at Alamo Drafthouse and have recently expanded that to include writing blurbs for our Fantastic Fest festival guide. He does not hold any leadership position at Alamo Drafthouse or Fantastic Fest and is not involved with Birth.Movies.Death. in any capacity.

As a result, one of the Fantastic Fest programmers, based out of Toronto, quit his position after stating he did not know that Faraci was writing the blurbs. Another woman came forward with her story of coming forward last year  and the response she originally received from League.

Finally, on Wednesday night, Tim League and Devin Faraci finally decided it was time to “split permanently” again.

I would like you each to know that I have spoken with Devin today, and we agreed it is the right decision for him to leave the company permanently. He offered his resignation, and I have accepted it. 

Listen…I totally get most sides of this story. Tim League and Devin Faraci have had a working relationship for nearly a decade. I’m sure that League considered Faraci one of his family, in essence, and didn’t want him to suffer needlessly since Faraci flamed out in such a public way. Any casual google search of Devin Faraci would come up with stories of his sexual assault, rendering him unemployable. It’s tough watching your friends suffer, especially when they did nothing to you personally.

The thing is, Faraci is an asshole, a creep, a dictator, and somebody who sexually assaulted multiple women. “One month” of punishment is unacceptable. If he even did that one month’s penance. There are plenty of unpaid reviewers, copywriters, cultural critics, and other commentators who would murder for Faraci’s “second chance” who didn’t sexually assault anybody. League’s creating a position for Faraci may have been helping his friend, but it is also hiding the problem and is helping perpetrate the sexism in the film community. It’s been less than a year since we’ve been rid of him, and that’s not nearly enough time for anybody to reassess their role in their own bad behavior.