Back online...

Three weeks ago, in order to end a dispute and move on, I took STFlexU! blog offline. I did this despite the guy involved - Mark (Abba) Anderson - never retracting the lies he's told about me, starting January and repeated many times, as recently as mid-August.

After a few days peace, Mark began complaining there was still a link to this blog on my YouTube profile, and demanded I remove it. I replied the link was dead, and no one dictates what I have on a profile.

It would have been easy to give in to Mark's demand. But once you allow someone to order you around, there's no end to it. The link stayed.

So Mark's now attempting to blackmail me, threatening to post all the messages we exchanged while on friendly terms. He already tried that. It didn't work the first time, and it won't work now.

Mark started off lying about Flexinglads - claiming I uploaded videos without consent and had porn links on my blog. He never gave proof, because his claims were false.

He's since called me a "pervert" and a "fake", saying I have no real interest in fitness - that my websites are a "ploy to get straight lads to pose"! He hasn't explained how that's supposed to work:/

Mark now plans to 'prove' his point by showing we exchanged messages with links & photos of men and sexual comments about them. What that has to do with Flexinglads he doesn't say. Those were private messages. None of the photos or links were on my FL blog.

Mark's 'argument' seems to boil down to this:

"Kit Newton, who has a channel/blog focused on sport/fitness, is gay and chatted with me about men and sex. Therefore, he must be using his channel/blog to dupe straight guys into making videos for him."

You see the logic there? Me neither.

Millions of people daily make sexual comments on- and offline. On Facebook such comments are often public, under the person's real ID. Is this even an issue?

If it were just about me, it wouldn't matter much. I don't expect anyone to be much bothered about our chat messages. There are new celebrity scandals every week. Who cares what two unknown guys chat about?

Here's the thing though. If Mark is capable of using private messages to enforce his demands, then people need to be aware, and not to trust this guy. Blackmail, if used on a vulnerable person, can have devastating consequences. That's reason enough to stand up to Mark.

On top of that, when you recall Mark posted vicious lies about others, you realize his staggering sense of entitlement - to be allowed to say whatever he likes about you, and if you answer back, to blackmail you into silence.

That's why STFlexU! is back online, and will stay online permanently.