When I first discovered him, I was in junior high and didn't have any friends IRL and the one's I did have moved out of state. I liked his art and his style, there was nothing like it on the internet at the time (2004). It wouldn't be until my dad got a scanner and I started posting my own artwork that Kyle and I started gelling. At that time, I wanted to be in animation but I didn't know where to go specifically, he was the one person to show me the multiple aspects of the animation pipeline and that there was still room for people who drew pictures in an era where CG was reigning supreme. For the longest time, I saw him as not only my mentor but also my best and only friend.

Of course, there were people who didn't like him or his attitude which at the time, I assumed was just him standing his ground. One former friend gave vague hints that he was dirty and a bit of a creep, to which I told them that I'd keep my eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Throughout that time, I didn't see anything weird and even asked him about what happened between him and that friend. He basically said that it was a series of circumstances that lead to them splitting up, so I just left it at that. Whenever I'd see someone bad mouth him online, I would always go to his defense, even though he wouldn't do the same thing for me.

The Ang situation was a great example of that. I basically said that publicly or privately posted things that were IMMENSELY problematic, you can either make a private account or take your lumps and touch grass. I didn't even use Ang's name, but she decided to retweet my response and sick her fans on me. I would have thought all that time defending Kyle would pay off and that he'd throw me a bone in that moment. Nothing. I ended up getting rid of my account after that.

When that situation died down, I decided to create an animated series based on his webcomic Frog Raccoon Strawberry after Mighty Magiswords got the permanent axe by Zaslav. I had gotten voice actors, animators, and even did storyboards. While we were making the first short/episode, I noticed that he was absolutely silent during production. It wouldn't be until July of 2024 that I would get the news.

I felt a pit form in my stomach, I went through a myriad of emotions that day most of them based on anger and betrayal. Not only did he practically groom me, but he put me under a false sense of security for 20 YEARS. After his arrest, more people started speaking out about the things he did behind the scenes. Things that I WAS NOT aware of. The only problematic thing about Kyle that I've heard about mostly through the words of detractors was that his attitude and personality were very shitty. Turns out that was minimal compared to what I had heard from former friends and victims. I had made a post on Instagram giving my condolences to the victims, condoning Kyle's actions, and cutting ties with him once and for all.

You'd think that'd be it, right? Turns out that same former friend that gave me a heads up about Kyle decided to talk shit about people who were groomed by him including myself. I'm sorry, I didn't know the first thing you're supposed to do when meeting a person is to ASK THEM IF THEY HAVE CP ON THEIR FUCKING COMPUTER!

I've been keeping my feelings about this matter in private for a while, mainly because I was afraid I'd get shitcanned if I started talking about my perspective after everything that went down with Ang. Speaking of, I watched most of their new videos talking about their time with Viv and Kyle, and I was left scared and confused more for them than of them.

Seeing the irreparable mental damage he had done to Ang themselves, made me realize that I had played a part in this. I know I just stated my opinion on the matter on twitter, but still I couldn't help but feel partially responsible for Ang's mental state, which is something Carrozza would never do.

Regardless, this is something that I have been meaning to get off my chest for a while. I felt that if I didn't talk about it, I'd just be letting it fester for the rest of my life. I guess the one thing I can leave on this is, "When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time".