CDaae

Chris, They/Them, Phantom Phanatic “And through music my soul began to soar...”

[cdaae]

Get more from Le Fantôme de l'Opéra on Patreon

Phantom Historian and Connoisseur

Interviews in my Phantom Interview Series so far

Nadim Naaman

Eve Shaun-Wilson

Raphael Wong

Scott Davies

David Christopher-Brown

Antonio Orler

Adam Robert Lewis

Margherita Toso

Aaron Pryce-Lewis

Lauren Molina

Greer Rivers

Drafted for the end of this month is a cast member who was with the show for ten years across five different productions👀

More to come!

[cdaae]

Leigh Munro and Andrew Riley interviews have been dropped!

Oh! And Raissa Katona Bennet!

[phantomonabudget]

A Safety Notice to the Phantom Community

⚠️*TRIGGER WARNING* - Violent threats⚠️

If this individual appears in your comments or DMs, I strongly recommend you block immediately and do not engage. The screenshots and his AI generated letters should explain why. He has harassed several other Phans, and it escalated with me to actual threats of violence.

"Dean Rochford" on Facebook and his various accounts on YouTube have been blocked/hidden for online harassment and death threats he sent to me between 19-20 April 2026. This individual and his threats have been reported to multiple police agencies because it turns out...threatening to harm or kill someone online is still a crime.

This was about me not responding quickly enough or sincerely enough to his 48 messages in 4 days, and politely/professionally asking he refrain from dark or threatening attempts at humor. See below.

Additional threats/harassment to other Phans:

Please DO NOT contact this individual or dogpile. Let the authorities handle it. This information is being shared to alert others. If you have been harassed and/or threatened by this person, I encourage you to report it to your local law enforcement office. Most have online reporting tools for this type of abuse. If you are located in the US, I also recommend you report via the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.

Based on statements in their messages and their YouTube videos, this individual appears to be in or from the UK. If you are also in the UK and have been harassed or threatened, please report it to the Met Police via their Internet Crime reporting tool at met.police.uk.

This individual might be a minor and might have developmental disabilities or be neurodivergent. They do not appear to distinguish between reality and fantasy. However, none of that excuses the behavior, and it absolutely does not allow said individual to harass and threaten others.

This serves as an overdue reminder that the Phantom of the Opera is NOT REAL. It is a story. A story that has taken many forms and has many passionate fans. Acting like this is not only wholly inappropriate, it has consequences…Serious ones.

There's fandom drama, and there's threatening someone's safety. I think we can all agree that while the former is stupid, the latter can never, ever be tolerated in our community. 

[phantomonabudget]

And some more they sent via another Phan:

They don't know how INTERPOL works, but I am excited for them to find out.

[carlottagiudicellivevo]

re: the idiot of the week

At this point, most of us in the POTO corner of Tumblr have dealt with @/ouat90, a rando who posts mostly AI slop of women being bridal carried by men, targeted harrassment of a community theatre in Brooklyn, NY and his own former high school in the Midwest, and complaining about how he thinks Black women can't play Christine Daaè in Phantom of the Opera (despite the fact that at this point at least six of them have professionally, to say nothing of how they always could and just weren't given the opportunity for way too long).

I've learned, almost by accident, over the last few days that this guy isn't some new rando out of nowhere when it comes to pulling this stuff. He's been a malignant presence in various theatre fan communities for over a decade, pulling mostly the same stuff. This post, and the identifying information therein, contains nothing this guy hasn't put out there himself. My point in sharing this isn't to start a counter-harassment campaign. It's that this guy will not go away but is very easily identifiable when you know what to look for, and I feel that people in the spaces he digs into should be prepared so he can be blocked/kicked out as necessary.

Meet Joey Velazquez. He's an aspiring actor who takes basically anybody getting cast above him extremely personally and makes up inflated claims about his own successes. When called on this, he begins years-long harassment campaigns against anyone who corrected him/denied him/whatever. This is part of where his whole vendetta against Narrows Community Theatre in Brooklyn comes from; he was in a production of It's a Wonderful Life a few years ago, and when the company tried to accommodate his lack of experience without kicking him out of the show, he accused them of discriminating against him for being autistic. It should go without saying that a lot of people who work in theatre are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent and don't have his issues.

In fact, he's just as vicious toward other autistic people. A personal friend of mine who is also on the spectrum shared this account with me:

This was over a decade ago. Joe continued harassing him for over ten years for calling him on an obvious lie. He might still be trying to do so, but my friend blocked him a while ago after one of the emails crossed the spam filter. My friend continues:

Regarding the first marriage in question, my friend mentioned that Joe attempted to force the woman into a "relationship contract" by which he claimed she couldn't leave him, and that he would grow verbally abusive whenever she simply walked into the home she shared with Joe and her ill mother rather than letting Joe carry her over the threshold. While this came up in a phone call, so I don't have screenshots, Joe's own Tumblr features multiple posts where he complains that his "wicked ex-wife" didn't let him carry her. His kink for men carrying women wouldn't have even been mentioned in this post if he didn't leverage it as an excuse to abuse his ex-wife, but here we are.

After his marriage ended, Joe had a long-distance relationship with a Norwegian YouTuber named Martine, who ended things after a few months. Joe has since had several Reddit accounts banned for begging others to try to force Martine back to him and to contact her on his behalf (which, to be clear, the Redditors refused to do). Martine is also on the spectrum, and Joe has used that as an excuse for why they "belong together". He's also posted alarming intent to defy a restraining order Martine might have placed against him:

@littleeliza-lotte has also spoken to Joe's former castmates at Narrows Community Theatre, who mentioned that his harassment of Amelie Jacobs began while she was still underage and that he's been banned from the theatre. I have also had to ban him from my bookstore in Brooklyn before I even knew who he was (it was recognizing his photo that tipped me off that it was the same guy as this incident) for following and harassing the staff of a local theatre in the same complex. I ended up having to get him escorted away by complex security, and he might very well be banned from the whole thing.

His tumblr right now as far as I know it is ouat90; he is on Instagram (and presumably Threads?) as joevelazquez2.0, joe.velazquez.7, and biggestpassionsfan. I'm not sure if he has any other accounts, but I've tried to provide a comprehensive breakdown of his behavior so he can be recognized and avoided accordingly.

[ouat90]

Look how terrible this is.

She's not even trying to escape. And if she is, she's doing a terrible Job.

Again, a black woman cannot play Christine

[cdaae]

Idk why you need tumblr to know you’re racist, but thanks for telling on yourself I guess.

[cdaae]

You want to talk facts?

Phantom doesn’t take place in America or during the Great Depression. The musical is sometimes vague but usually settles on 1881.

FDR wasn’t the president when phantom takes place.

But in 1878, Marie Selika Williams, an opera singer, was the first black artist to perform in the White House.

If you’re going to make excuses for your racism, maybe make sure you actually know what you’re talking about.

[ashadeintheshade]

Dude what in the hell is going on

Am I seeing this discourse on my dash in the year of our lord Andrew 2026

Christine Daae is a fictional character

I’ll say it again but fancier

Christine Daae is a fictional character

Anyone can play Christine. And they have, and they’ve been amazing

The requirements are:

Know how to act, sing, and dance

That’s it, that’s literally it

Don’t come to our house and start saying that a person of any race, gender, religion, sexual preference, etc etc etc cannot play a character in Poto because of historical accuracy.

It is a work of fiction. Don’t gatekeep art.

[cdaae]

(I know some of what I added on was in the original post but I just wanted to reiterate because like… holy shit)

[littleeliza-lotte]

Warning about @/quat90

No idea who this person is, they’re either a bot or a 13 year old, there have been some notorious racists and bigots in this community that are more well known but this rando decided they wanted to get added to the mix! They seem to be making racist and fatphobic comments and insulting community and high school theatres. They’re also trying to say they’re important in the theatre community (if that’s true then I’m playing Eurydice in the west end next month since we seem to be playing make believe) and it’s just very strange, but I suppose if you don’t know how to make content then rage baiting is probably your only option.

It’s just giving jealousy, like they didn’t get the role they wanted so they’re lashing out on tumblr?? For some reason

“It’s unrealistic” yeah because a phantom hiding in an opera house and training a young woman from behind a mirror then dropping a chandelier on the audience is sooo realistic. (Props to @brendadaaedestler )

Again, no idea who this is but I feel like people should be careful with them, they’re definitely not actually going to blacklist you or whatever but I’d be worried about them harassing others who don’t share their opinions or fight back against them. While it’s fun to argue and see their ridiculous responses, it’s best to block and not engage or keep your engagements limited (I say as I already commented on their stuff but I’m a hypocrite)

The best thing to do is ensure they do not become a part of this community, there is NO place for bigots here and if you share these beliefs then you can fuck right off

They have blocked me (yippee saves me the trouble) but please let me know if they say any more random shit because I’d love to see it and make sure everyone is aware.

Genuinely what does this even mean

[brendadaaedestler]

The thing that cracks me up the most is that they have the audacity to tell me “shut your face” but then are telling me “never talk to me like that”. I’m not one to be rude to people on the internet, because hello, waste of time, but this is one situation where I’m not keeping silent.

They really think they have so much power, but if they were anyone of any actual significance in theatre, they wouldn’t be trashing community productions on their little tumblr blog.

[cdaae]

I ran into 3 years ago when he kept commenting on my posts insistent that Christine is 18 in the musical because “Meghan Picerno said so”. I thought he was just stupid. In addition to being racist. There’s some really disturbing shit on his blog!

Avoid at all costs imo

[ouat90]

Look how terrible this is.

She's not even trying to escape. And if she is, she's doing a terrible Job.

Again, a black woman cannot play Christine

[cdaae]

Idk why you need tumblr to know you’re racist, but thanks for telling on yourself I guess.

[cdaae]

You want to talk facts?

Phantom doesn’t take place in America or during the Great Depression. The musical is sometimes vague but usually settles on 1881.

FDR wasn’t the president when phantom takes place.

But in 1878, Marie Selika Williams, an opera singer, was the first black artist to perform in the White House.

If you’re going to make excuses for your racism, maybe make sure you actually know what you’re talking about.

[ouat90]

Look how terrible this is.

She's not even trying to escape. And if she is, she's doing a terrible Job.

Again, a black woman cannot play Christine

[cdaae]

Idk why you need tumblr to know you’re racist, but thanks for telling on yourself I guess.

[cdaae]

Christmas at the Majestic Theater

[carlottagiudicellivevo]

I am so sick of people like you who go to Masquerade and think you're special because the actors touch you.

...I don't think Hugh offering his arm IC says anything about me? I've seen other people mention that that's a thing he does. Most of the Phantoms seem to have a point where they like to improvise a 1:1 (eg, I've seen Kyle taking a moment to touch someone's mask on the escalators twice now). I think the stroll between the lair scenes and the carnival escalator is just the point where Hugh likes to do that and I was the lucky one on Friday night. That's really all it is. The guy's been talking about book influences on his Phantom performance since the 90s; the Sunday stroll connection feels pretty straightforward to me? The idea of practicing that with someone who's not Christine is really cute and makes sense in the context of a version where he has friends tagging along.

[cdaae]

My top 8 favourite Jonathan Roxmouth moments

1. The organ playing when they arrive at the lair - Roxmouth is a talented pianist and it feels like he actually knows what he’s doing at the organ, instead of just banging on it like some phantoms

2. “Listen” - He puts an emphasis on the word and gestures to his ear and it’s adorable

3. Gate sprawl - ‘nuff said

4. The reach - A visible “oh shit she’s falling moment”

5. “Is this what you wanted to see?” - It’s so sassy that you can see the sass without hearing a word

6. The cape cover - It’s just adorable don’t @ me

7. The stomp - I love the emphasis and the childish stomp of the foot. 

8. The veil - The man wipes his tears with the veil. My heart :(

[cdaae]

Chandelier Details

x

[cdaae]

Alexandria Shiner in the US Tour

x

[cdaae]

Wishing Dress for the US Tour

x

[cdaae]

Daniel Lopez and Jordan Lee Gilbert

x

[cdaae]

Star Princess Details

x

[6g-s]