ABOUT HAROLD EMERT
Men Write About Me
A Facebook search of my entire history there reveals the following posts I’ve made about Harold Emert. I believe these posts are relevant to organize here, with all the linking potential that Substack provides, because Harold claims that I have said certain “libelous” [sic] things about him. I very rarely delete any posts, and cannot recall deleting any about Harold. So I believe, if Facebook’s search function is working properly here for me, that this is the entirety of what I have written about Harold Emert on Facebook.
Additionally, I have shared more of Harold Emert’s commentary about me on my own website, in a special section entitled “Men Write About Me.”
This is my March 10, 2021 Facebook post.
It comprises the following words and text but can also be viewed at the link above:
More from My Thoughts are My Own:
If you were ever wondering why women don't want to speak about endemic sexual harassment... it's because this counts as "journalism" about the topic while colleagues tend to avoid protecting their own from another of their own like the plague, while company managements pretend HR is for the benefit of employees. The author of this beautiful article at theconcertsociety.com about 18 months later came to me and suggested I play his works for oboe! Back then, I was really nice and just ignored him. He did delete this article upon making the performance request, but thankfully, when he came back to my personal page to spew his misogyny yesterday, the internet came through.
While I refer here to comments Harold left the day prior, he blocked me and I did not screenshot them. Therefore, I could not document his comments. However, I posted this in the comments of this post:
In case anyone missed his comments, they were a few posts back. He hasn't deleted them, but did block me from responding or looking at his page. A recap:
1) Harold writes this article and shares it to at least 25 different Facebook groups in September, 2018. A number of key facts wrong.
2) I ignore the article despite being told about it and many of my friends and colleagues seeing it on the internet. I dismiss it as the rantings of someone completely out of touch. I don't even screenshot it.
3) Eighteen months later, Harold the Composer deletes the writings of Harold the Journalist and asks me to play his works on my Lockdown Oboe Solo Concerts once they get going and develop an audience. I again ignore.
4) I write a post about women in music and Harold de-lurks with a comment about how there have been no women genius composers. He gets a bit of backlash and responds with videos of his own compositions, taking advantage of his notoriety in a higher traffic area than he gets on his own. I ask Harold to share his article about me many times, but he evades that question, eventually saying he doesn't cancel people, but I could cancel him if I wanted to.
5) He blocked me.
N.B. The following article written by Harold Emert, entitled Sex and the Oboist, will be shared many times further by me on this Substack entry. For brevity, I will just share it just here once and thereafter refer to it as “Sex and the Oboist Article Screenshots.”
On March 31, 2021, I made the following post in a small doublereed group on Facebook:
This is my July 8, 2022 Facebook post.
It comprised the following text and photos but can also be viewed at the provided link above.
Thanks to all for sharing with me about Harold Emert's post today. I honestly do not give one F what he thinks and was blowing it off for awhile. But I'm going to share his comments today (confirmed to be about me from other posts on his page) against an article he wrote about me several years ago.
Read what he has to say about women. Read it, and think hard about it--especially if you are not a woman. Don't roll your eyes and say, "Oh, that's just Harold."
Keep in mind that this man runs a festival, is active on many oboe message boards, is a journalist with at least dozens of published pieces, and has many colleagues who follow my page. You all are standing for this; you all are supporting it. Now please block my page. Don't follow me and support him at the same time.
(Also included were Sex and the Oboist Article Screenshots.)
This is a link to my April 21, 2023 Facebook post.
There was no text, just this screenshot:
This is a link to my May 16, 2023 Facebook post.
It comprised the following text and photos:
This is a public post (from March 15, 2023) I am sharing in screenshot form.
ETA: Due to some confusion about this post, and my initial desire to leave it with no analysis, I'll say please look at both his comment and the name of the letter writer. I take those to indicate this is a mock letter designed by Mr. Emert himself to be humorous.
I'm attaching a news article the same Mr. Emert the journalist wrote back in 2018 for further context.
(Also included were Sex and the Oboist Article Screenshots.)
In the post linked above, I am speaking about David Blumberg and his “playoff” challenge with me.
This is a link to my July 11, 2023 Facebook post.
It comprises the following text and screenshots.
Hmmm. I wonder if this "wonderful invited artist" is going to "confront the Me too gals who play double reeds today" this year?
And yes, I am told that the International Double Reed Society, both their conference committee and DEIB committee, read Mr. Emert's articles and other writing and decided afterward to make him a "wonderful invited artist." It's important to understand what this international organization chooses to make space for. This is not a case of "we didn't know."
I don't know what he'll be playing there, but here's a recent video of him playing one of my favorite pieces:
(Also included were Sex and the Oboist Article Screenshots.)
This is a link to my April 10, 2024 Facebook post.
It comprises the following text and photos but can also be viewed at the provided link above.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
I see Harold Emert's concerts are still being promoted and presented by serious instrument makers and educational institutions, including a concert in three days at the Royal Academy of Music. Emert claims to be "former solo English Horn" of the Israel Philharmonic - הפילהרמונית הישראלית. Can anyone confirm for me that this is a true statement? I cannot imagine this is true, or how that could be possible, but please do let me know. If so, this is absolutely remarkable to me.
Here is an article Emert shared widely on the internet in September, 2018, about me and my EEOC charge, as well as the industry-wide "secret" about the New York Philharmonic which led to the firing of two musicians, who were later reinstated.
I'm also attaching other public comments Emert has made about the #metoo movement. In the comments you can find a recent recording. I am quite sure that if any women played like that, no one would be promoting their work or hiring them for anything.
(Also included were Sex and the Oboist Article Screenshots.)
This is a link to my April 30, 2024 Facebook post.
It comprises the following text and photos:
Here are some posts made within the last 8 hours by someone in the oboe community named Harold Emert. He's always been a bit of a mystery (listen to him play Dranishnikova on utube) to me. In one of his Facebook profiles, he claims he was "former solo English horn" of the Israel Philharmonic, which is patently false. Yet, our oboe community gives him space all the time, from the International Double Reed Society to groups with thousands of readers to major instrument manufacturers promoting his concerts.
I've also added an article he wrote (and since has tried to scrub from the internet) which he shared to dozens of Facebook groups and tens of thousands of people in addition to publishing on a website. He calls himself a journalist of same nature, but maybe that's like the IPO job. The article comes from the week of September, 2018, where Muckey and Wang were fired from the New York Philharmonic for unspecified misconduct (but certainly everyone "knew" why) and the news of my EEOC charge hit the press as well.
The comments which came in response to his posting this article to the large oboe group at that time are one of many reasons I don't participate in them any longer.
Seems like a "good guy," right?
ETA (May 1): Adding a screenshot. Apparently, he wants to sue me for "liberl."
(Also included were Sex and the Oboist Article Screenshots.)
This is a link to my May 3, 2024 Facebook post.
It comprises the following text and photo:
𝐈’𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎.
Last night, I shared the story of a victim who appears in the Cleveland Orchestra report. She mentions how the man who abused her “threatened to sue [her] and scare [her] into silence for sharing [her] story.” She also said that he "did sue [her] closest supporters, who both lost a lot and were forced to sign NDAs.”
In less than 24 hours yesterday, I received notification that oboist Harold Emert is looking into suing me for “liberl” as well as receiving an email from the wife of a BFM of Oboe threatening various things, including legal action.
Emert has posted about his potential “liberl” suit in a big online oboe group and on his own page here. He seems to be upset that I’ve shared his own words about me (that “article” from 2018) and questioned his Facebook profile in which he still claims he is “former solo English horn of the Israel Philharmonic.” The IPO itself has indicated that he has not ever been a member of their orchestra. But somehow, I’m responsible for his loss of income. You can hear him play here, and I posit it as evidence that my question about the veracity of his claim of a former employer is not responsible for any lost oboe work:
Furthermore, his 2018 “article” about me where he did not seek comment from me and then attempted to later scrub it from the internet is also evidence that he doesn’t know much about journalism. The only thing he ever reached out to me about was after scrubbing the 2018 article. He wanted me to play his solo oboe piece on one of my Lockdown Oboe Solo Recitals in 2020. Hard pass. Queens don’t forget.
The letter from the wife of the BFM of Oboe was threatening on several levels. She and he are upset that I shared his own words about me. She entreated me to consider her and her children, and indicated that I am a bad feminist because I do not consider them. By sharing the nasty things a man has felt entitled to write about me, and other nasty things his colleagues have felt entitled to write about me and he felt should be shared with me, my offense is to women and children. It’s hard to know if the words are actually hers or his, given how in line they are with the things he has written from his own email address.
One of the women I spoke to recently about sharing her story told me she had held off doing so because of the wife and children of her abuser. She didn’t want to ruin his life or theirs, and only realized how screwed up that was later, when she regained her power.
Similarly, I initially held off on reporting the concertmaster of my orchestra who asked me for sex and then became immediately retaliatory when I declined it for the same reason: his wife and three children. I didn’t want to ruin their lives. I also felt a bizarre need to protect him which is beyond my comprehension at this point. I only reported the request for sex to colleagues and the union lawyer, for her file, immediately. But then when things got too egregiously bad and I reported him directly to the orchestra, of course everyone wanted to know why I didn’t do it immediately. I describe the concertmaster asking me for sex and his retaliatory acts as well as dates in my EEOC charge.
Women don’t report immediately because our culture has been telling them to STFU since they were born, and that this stuff is all our fault and embarrassing and dirty laundry, and we need to protect and “mother” people from the get go.
How can men be threatening to sue these women on the basis of their own bad deeds and own bad words when they become public? And these men are successful so often! The Cleveland Orchestra report victim speaks of multiple NDAs for just her supporters. How should supporting a victim come with lawsuits and NDAs? How should sharing someone’s problematic words and actions come with potential legal action for the reporter rather than consequences for the bad actor?
We should be focusing on those who commit offensive actions against women rather than reinforcing the culture which teaches women to shut up. The push to shut women up is really extraordinarily powerful and likely not fully understandable by cisgender men. It starts in the form of tone policing (you can see good evidence of this in the comments on my page), moves to lost work and opportunities, and then progresses quickly to legal threats, and often, legal victories against women.
Let’s focus on exposing the bad behavior for what it is instead of accepting this “STFU, woman” attitude so culturally engrained. That will be better for all women in the long run. For those who think I’m doing nothing, or want me to go organize some march or something, this is my focus at the moment.
This is a link to my May 29, 2024 Facebook post.
It was simply this screenshot:
In the comments, which you can read at the link, I added the following as I became aware of it:
“It’s done already!”
I also added a video performance someone sent to me, which I can’t seem to attach here, but you can view at the link.
This is a link to my June 17, 2024 Facebook post.
It comprises the following text and screenshots:
𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒
Friendly reminder: sharing the words of men, the ones they write freely and publicly, is no crime, and to call it an "attack" is an admission of fragility.
I'm a witch, troll, am politically correct, and hate men musicians (yawn.) And I apparently got someone fired by sharing his words calling me "queen of filth" on this page? Really, is that what you all think happened? You don't think it was the investigation his orchestra announced and isn't sharing the results of publicly that got him fired? You think he hasn't lawyered up and threatened everyone he could yet? Nah, it's just my Facebook.
Apfelstadt is a former Chairperson of the International Double Reed Society's Gillet-Fox Competition, a pretty big deal competition.
Blumberg and Emert are already featured extensively on my website under "men write about me," but looks like I have a lot of updating to do.
This is a link to my June 20, 2024 Facebook post.
It comprises the following text and photo:
Ya'll may know I receive some legal threats from time to time. But those coming from someone who calls himself "Attorney Laurence Emert, New York City" and addressed to me only through Facebook, and not even with my real name, but "Needke woman" and "Ms. N." aren't particularly scary. Also, just a friendly reminder that sharing someone's own words is not a crime.
Also, our Jewish traditions, lol.
July 20, 2024
