*NOTE* Please do not send any threats and hate toward anyone at FAKKU!, Jacob, or PapaHH. There has been enough of that in this world. Be good fap great.
*NOTE PT 2* This article has been updated to reflect additional information that has come to light. Please read the whole article before making an opinion.
It’s rare in our community that we get some serious news but I am going to do my best to report it and give my honest opinions about the situation at hand.
Hentai Haven was an illegal streaming site which was about to throw in the towel because they faced legal charges for publishing content illegally. Jacob Grady from the site FAKKU! agreed to help re-establish the site and make it legal on December 21st 2018 and fans of HH and FAKKU! were both thrilled. (myself included)
FAKKU! also comes from a pirating background as they used to publish hentai illegally but have since moved above board.
In a tweet by PapaHH the anonymous creator behind Hentai Haven on Sunday July 6th 2019, FAKKU was called out with some very serious allegations. The tweet has now been deleted but here are the contents of what was said:
Jacob followed up with his own statement on Twitter where he tells his side of the story and calls out the community for sending his employees death threats. He also throws a jab at PapaHH for making millions and not paying anyone. (Which, if true, is shady AF and continues to prove this industry is extremely exploitative.)
Following Jacob’s statement PapaHH made a new statement (meme?) on his Twitter claiming things have all been worked out after a talk.
Fan reactions are all over the place. Some think things are cleared up, some believe that Jacob will ruin the brand and will betray PapaHH again, and myself and others are eagerly waiting to see what happens next. One thing is very clear and that is that Jacob didn’t address anything from the original tweet by PapaHH.
There are hundreds of replies for all sides of the situation and while we don’t know everything about the story I personally don’t believe Jacob is completely innocent in this situation. Several people have reported screenshots that he’s actively blocking anyone who says anything remotely non-agreeable with his side of the story or anyone questioning his intentions which seems suspicious to me. As someone who came up as an online creator, I understand the importance of protecting yourself from negativity and blocking people but it should not extend to everyone who simply disagrees with you. It seems to me like he is creating an echo chamber of people who agree with him which isn’t healthy as a leader in the hentai space.
Kotaku wrote a piece where Jacob gave a statement and much of it was less than true and showed a lot of hostility.
“Honestly, it was me being kind of pissed,” said Fakku founder Jacob Grady of his decision to appropriate Hentai Haven. “If you search for ‘hentai’ on Google, Hentai Haven is the first thing,” he said, even though Fakku is “the only official hentai publisher in the U.S. doing this stuff.” “Competing with pirate websites like Hentai Haven is not sustainable and it was really starting to screw us over,” he said. – Kotaku
FAKKU! is not the only official hentai publisher in the U.S. They were the first to start streaming legally but there are many publishers releasing manga, eroge, and DVD/Blu-Ray releases. It’s also super questionable to me that he was so angry that Hentai Haven is doing so well when his own site has the same origin story.
I’m not going to lie. Reading the statements in the Kotaku article gave me flashbacks of working for dude bros who have put themselves and their businesses on a pedestal while making absolutely terrible business decisions behind the scenes and downplaying other businesses that have made the same mistakes they have. With PapaHH and Jacob it is now out for everyone to see and it is concerning.
For now I personally will sit back and see how this all transpires but I see a lot of opportunity in the hentai space for people with business smarts and curbed egos to come in and make a better and more legit space for us all.
If I could offer Jacob and PapaHH any career advice it would be to keep things like this behind closed doors and handle their business like grown adults instead of teenagers slinging insults across social media. The hentai industry deserves better than this.
7/11/19 1:30PM PT Update: I recently checked out the Hentai Haven Twitter post all the drama and they are actively stealing art from artists without crediting or linking to them. This is beyond problematic and hurts the artist community. For as much as Jacob is on his high horse for being legit when Hentai Haven was not he is still pulling the same stuff but now with artists.
There are tons of tweets just like this with thousands of likes and hundreds of retweets and Hentai Haven/FAKKU! is literally robbing artists of prime promotion. Not cool.
7/15/19 1:15AM Update: PapaHH released a new statement clearing up the issue.
After the statement was released Hentai Haven also deleted the uncredited artwork they have been posting. Unfortunately they didn’t make an apology but I’m glad they removed their posts and hopefully moving forward they will not continue to steal art.