The HBO 9-part documentary, the Vow, is premiering on Sunday, August 23 at 10 pm.
The Albany Times Union obtained copies of an email sent from and to followers of Keith Alan Raniere, asking them to send emails to HBO.
Here is the email sent to followers of Raniere:
“From the trailer for the soon to be released HBO documentary, The Vow, it is obvious HBO has obtained a large amount of footage that was taken at ESP/NXIVM events. If you do not want to be in this documentary, you can send the email below (or a version of it) and a picture to outreach@thevowseries.com.”
The email asked Raniere followers to write:
“Dear HBO, I understand that the trailer for the HBO series, The Vow, featured several NXIVM events that I may have attended. I also understand that footage from other NXIVM events may be included in the upcoming series, which premiers on Aug. 23rd. I hereby request that my name, likeness, and/or voice are not included in the HBO series, The Vow, or any other HBO production or promotion.
“I did not and do not issue consent for my likeness to be used for commercial purposes, and therefore, I do not consent for HBO to use footage of me for any reason without my prior written permission. I have attached my picture. Please reference it against the footage in The Vow to ensure my likeness does not appear in the series, or otherwise. Thanks, Your name.”
The documentary was directed by Emmy Award winners Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, who have been nominated for Academy awards. They attended Raniere’s trial and spent more than three years making the series, having begun prior to Raniere’s arrest on March 26, 2018.
It is not known how many followers of Raniere sent emails to HBO or what, if any, impact this will have on the show.
With the show about to air in less than a week, my guess is that lawyers for HBO have cleared every second of the footage and Raniere’s followers will not prevail [much like they never seem to prevail at anything, anyway.]
In a previous post we revealed there are still dozens of Raniere followers and I think it likely that Raniere is directing his stooges to email HBO. [See Who’s Still in Part 4:]
The Vow’s nine episodes will air between August and October:
- The Science of Joy – August 23
- Viscera – August 30
- At Cause -September 6,
- Building Character -September 13
- Class 1 Data – September 20
- Honesty & Disclosure -September 27
- TBA -October 4
- TBA -October 11
- TBA -October 18
I have not seen any of the footage, other than the teaser, but I suspect this documentary will be significant and well received. I suspect a lot of Nxivm members will appear in the series, including Raniere, Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman, Clare Webb Bronfman, Sara Rosner Bronfman, Allison Mack, Nicki Clyne, Emiliano Salinas and other Nxivm members.
I do not think Raniere loyalists will have any sway over HBO, and that the use of the footage is either the property of the original videographer [Mark Vicente] and/or is now the property of the Vow and/or is covered under the legal doctrine of ‘fair use.’
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If, in fact, the people who were filmed at NXIVM events gave up all their rights to NXIVM/ESP at the time of the filming, it’s also possible that the U.S. government now controls those rights. We don’t really know the extent to which the U.S. government has moved to take control of NXIVM’s former assets.
The government should ask for the film release to them, even though some people signed a paper accepting to be recorded. I can assure you there’re people who were shot on video, and who never sign a film release. The image of a person can only be used by that person, not the government, not a company. If that person wants to give rights to others to use their image, that should be written in a contract. The image is protected worldwide, and remember there’re people from different countries that have different laws to protect the image of a person. Finally, in order to know how the US government has taken control of the assets, as this information should be public, it may probably be released once the judge reads the sentence of Raniere, Bronfman, and Salzman.
Dear Email Author,
In other words, K.R. Claviger is letting you know that [redacted]
The good news is your family, friends, colleagues, fuck-buddies, and other acquaintances will now view you in a whole new light…….
[redacted]
The NXIVM people probably signed away any rights to their images, voices, among other things, when they signed all of those long and complex agreements that they weren’t given copies and didn’t understand years ago – the same thing happens with Amway and other MLM scams. LOL
…And I thought they were so proud to be associated with the smartest man in the world. LOL
I don’t think Mark Vicente has all the rights for the material. The owner of that material was NXIVM, and it was inside their servers. Bronfman may demand HBO or the creators. It depends on the things they release. But, watching the trailer, I see they use Keith’s real voice and image. He can demand HBO. If he demands, then HBO will have more ratings. I think that’s what they are waiting for. HBO must have a contract with Keith in order to release his words and images. If Mark Vicente gave them the material, he is making REAL money with it, but probably he doesn’t have the rights to do so.
The Times Union wrote: “The women in DOS were told to provide “collateral,” which consisted of embarrassing or sexually explicit material that could be released if they turned on the organization.” Misleading because the woman had to “stage” sexually explicit photographic material and/or “make up” embarrassing written material.
Variety wrote: “Sarah Edmondson, a Canadian actor whose thinking about NXIVM radically shifted after she was forcibly branded.” Misleading because SE was duped into “willingly” letting herself be branded, then only became upset when she learned it was KAR’s initials and he ran the so-called women’s group.”
I wondered what Nicki Clyne, aka Tongue O Flame was up to.
Nicki, let me give you some advice.
After toothpaste is squeezed out of a tube you can’t put it back in.
Nicki, After a criminal trial and the filing of a civil suit the toothpaste tube is empty.
Nicki, let me illustrate the point with a story.
In 1924 two Chicago punks named Nathan Leopold and Robert Loeb decided to commit the perfect crime by kidnapping and murdering a 14 year old boy named Bobby Franks.
Their perfect crime unraveled in 3 days.
Both punks were sentenced to prison.
Loeb was murdered in prison while trying to rape a fellow inmate.
Leopold was eventually released from prison after 40 years.
A journalist named Meyer Levin wrote a novel based on the story.
It was titled “Compulsion”
/Hollywood made a movie based on the book.
Nathan Leopold, being an arrogant asshole, sued to stop the movie.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled against Leopold.
Nicki, if you try to stop this TV series in court !you will lose Big Time!
In 1959, Leopold sought unsuccessfully to block production of the film version of Compulsion on the grounds that Levin’s book had invaded his privacy, defamed him, profited from his life story, and “intermingled fact and fiction to such an extent that they were indistinguishable.”
Eventually the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against him,[59] holding that Leopold, as the confessed perpetrator of the “crime of the century” could not reasonably demonstrate that any book had injured his reputation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb#Leopold's_post-prison_years
Nicki, don’t be a punk like Nathan Leopold.
Here is the movie “Compulsion”.
That’s a bad analogy, because Clyne hasn’t been convicted of anything. However, HBO would probably welcome a lawsuit, as they will probably make more money from the publicity than the lawsuit will cost them, not to mention bringing more unwanted attention to Clyne. LOL
Shadow,
When will you give up trying to educate [redacted]?
Alex-
Imagine how fun Shadow must be at family get togethers. Then imagine how happy Shadow’s family is [redacted] on the holidays.
Or it could be innocent people that were friends, families of NXIVM that were invited to events well before any disgusting behavior by Keith and his top people was discovered. These are the people who will be most affected. Maybe they worked at a company whose CEO encouraged or paid for everyone to attend NXIVM programs and events and never had a clue anything was wrong with the company. Maybe they are a former partner or family member or trusted friend invited to the program. These people are the ones most worried and upset about their picture or footage being shown. It’s hard enough to have a job during this pandemic, can they ever find work again having been presented in the documentary as a sex cult member?
What about all the Muslim young men and women that came to the program on recommendation of a loved one years ago and whose face will be recognized by their family and friends? Is it so hard to imagine they will be subjected to being disowned by their families and to the extreme murdered by their family members as a an honor killing? Young Muslim girls have been killed for far less offences by their families, imagine being shown on HBO as a sex cult member (even though they were not and were completely innocent)? I hope the director considers this before showing the documentary without blurring the names and faces of the members. Innocent people are already on edge, suffering severe depression or suicidal before the airing of this documentary. Their names and faces were never known to you or the media as they did nothing wrong and simply showed up to events and classes they were invited to by people they once trusted. Once they realized the media reports of what filthy Keith and his sick small group were up to, they left or left many years before any wrongdoing began and never wanted to have anything to do with NXIVM. Now their lives can potentially be destroyed because of classes and events they attended 5,10, 15 even 20 years ago. I hope HBO and their film makers protect these people’s innocence by blurring out any of their names, photos or footage.
I doubt that some juicy footage of somebody sitting in a classroom will ruin their life. If I have friends or family who can’t understand my simple explanation to having my face show up in a classroom setting, I’d do some mirror looking and consider a different strategy to inviting people into my circle of aquantences.
NutJob,
—If I have friends or family who can’t understand my simple explanation to having my face show up in a classroom setting, I’d do some mirror looking and consider a different strategy to inviting people into my circle of acquaintances.
Two questions:
1. How long did it take you to find new circle members?
2. I understand how you found new friends for your circle, but how did you find new families members?
This request kind of insults the intelligence of viewers, among which may be family of those who may have attended such meetings for innocent reasons already stated. If you can make the distinction that these people could not have known about the internal machinations of Keith and his inner circle, then certainly people who love them can as well. Also, the disproportionate emphasis on participants who were Muslims is kind of insulting to them too, as if honor killings is a common religious practice of 1.8 billion people instead of some tiny minority of them, ignoring the social, economic, political and psychological dynamics of such deleterious behavior. Is there even statistics on how many Muslims even attended such classes to warrant such singling out as opposed to other religious or non-religious affiliations? Aren’t most of the inner circle members who were the primary enablers of the cult and who did illegal things of white European ancestry, e.g., Raniere, Mack, Del Negro, etc., many of them with Jewish backgrounds, e.g., Salzmans, Bronfmans, etc.? Even the rich Mexicans have that heritage in their blood.
—Now their lives can potentially be destroyed because of classes and events they attended 5,10, 15 even 20 years ago. I hope HBO and their film makers protect these people’s innocence by blurring out any of their names, photos or footage.
So we all know [who] to look for…
…..Who are you? ….And are you female?
….And are you attractive?
How do you feel about dating married men? My friend Johnny Table wants to know.
Oh please. Stop apologizing for criminals. Either you were a part of NXIVM, owned it, realized you were being conned, and moved on.
Or you are still part of the group.
Whoever sent these emails is still part of the group,.
Yet our commenter has taken the time to explain uncomplicated and perhaps quite valid reasons that someone who was uninvolved with Nxivm/DOS cultiness or criminality might have been filmed visiting a Nxivm-sponsored event or a class. Not everything is always as it might appear. No one like you can barge in and make some sweeping, judgmental statement about the motives or especially the happenstance of others, whom you, very likely, don’t know at all. Enough of the crappola.
How do you know all of this? LOL
Also, you can’t have it both ways:
1. They just took a class or two years ago, AND
2. They were full-on sex pervs? LOL
There are much more important things to be concerned about, such as the millions of new people scammed in the U.S. by Amway and other MLM scams. LOL
Scott,
Clearly the email is from someone who was involved with NXIVM on some level….
I believe I understand why you were victimized by Amway for over 8 years.
I am sorry.
By the Mexican law, people involved and showed in the documentary may demand. Also, some people didn’t sign a release document so NXIVM could use their image. If for some reason these people appear in the documentary, HBO can be sued, or demand the US government in case they are the new owners of their material. Maybe they cannot stop the streaming, but those people can get money for the moral damage, and that they do not authorize the recording of them, even though they were invited by someone inside the cult.
Why are you hiding comments again? So much for your canard of free speech, hypocrite.
Anonymous,
Umm canard? You mean canon.
You are so angry.
Hiding comments…..You ever play hide the baloney?
I can furnish the baloney. Can you supply the buns?