A slew of Australian comedians have put their former management, Junkyard Artists, on blast after the director of the company allegedly “swindled” its talent and ghosted them.
Earlier this week, comedians who were previously affiliated with Junkyard Artists took to their Instagram accounts to call out the company with a series of allegations including unpaid invoices.
One of the comedians, Lewis Garnham, shared a video explaining his perspective on what had been going on behind the scenes, alleging that he was “lied” to.
“I’m not going to get the money from ticket sales for so many shows that I did this year. The whole of Edinburgh Fringe, Melbourne Fringe, another week of shows, and yeah, it’s brutal,” he alleged in his video.
The comedian went on to list a bunch of shows he’s about to embark on, encouraging viewers to support comedians and artists if they can before thanking the comedy community for their support during this time of confusion.
“Everyone in the comedy community getting around anyone that’s been fucked over and, you know, just being so supportive and reaching out so many people that work in this industry, and comedians and other people have just really rallied,” Lewis continued.
“And I’ve felt so supported by the whole community. So big shout out to everyone in the Australian comedy scene, except for one person. Everyone else, mad respect to you.”
In the caption of his video, Lewis claimed that his management “went bankrupt out of absolutely nowhere” and that he’s yet to hear anything from them.
“I thought, you know what? After how much you deceived me the least I can do is talk about my experience and hopefully get some ticket sales out of it cause I have no money now thanks to you,” he wrote.
Fellow comedian Alexandra Hudson also echoed the same allegations in her Instagram post, blasting her former management for allegedly swindling her and her fellow comedians.
Comedian Andrew Hamilton took to his Instagram accounts to address the Junkyard debacle, claiming that he lost his national tour money. Despite this, he also shared that he was thankful to his management for helping his career, particularly his helping his YouTube channel.
“This whole debacle with Junkyard Management has a lot of people talking about it and it sucks and a lot of people lost money,” he began.
“But it’s also worth pointing out that my management helped me get our new YouTube channel, the OGs, off the ground.
“So, it feels like someone has cut off my toe moments after they performed penis enlargement surgery on me.
“It’s hard to be completely bitter about it even though it has left me in short-term financial ruin.”
Where is Junkyard now?
At the time of writing, it appears that Junkyard Artist has completely wiped its social media as well as its official website.
When you attempt to click on its Instagram and website — which can still be found via Google search — it leads to dead pages.
However, a July 2024 Star Now casting page from the company is still up and running, offering upwards of $200 for a role in a Reality Comedy Video.
It is not known exactly how much Junkyard Artists allegedly owes its comedians, but it is known that the company did disappear only months ahead of festival season.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Lewis, Andrew, Scout and Alexandra for comment.
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