Official Statement – The Hollywood Comedy

On Wednesday, January 21, three influencers known as The Kalogeras Sisters performed at The Hollywood Comedy open mic night. They filmed their performance and posted a video on YouTube. In the video, they blatantly lied and exaggerated their experience to their 7 million followers. They did so for clout. It is not funny.

Their followers responded by negative review-bombing our small, Asian women-owned comedy club, resulting in near thousands of racist and sexist one-star reviews and credible death threats. They also filmed other comedians without consent. Despite not signing up or following open mic protocols, they asked for and were given special consideration to perform.

Our business is now in jeopardy, and the safety of our staff, performers, and patrons is at risk because The Kalogeras Sisters chose to exploit our club and our support of female comics for personal greed and clout.

For clarity, our open mic follows standard industry rules: performers must sign up in advance. Walk-ins are not guaranteed stage time. They did not sign up but expected special treatment due to their 7 million YouTube followers.

They also falsely claimed in their video that our club is run by men and that young women are sexually harassed here. This is untrue.

As a woman in comedy, I actively support first-time female performers. Our club manager, also a woman, and our host made extraordinary accommodations, including other comedians voluntarily giving up their own stage time in good faith to support women and new voices.

Throughout the night, The Kalogeras Sisters were loud, disruptive, and disrespectful, filmed comedians without consent despite repeated requests, performed sexually explicit material and jokes about minors while reading from their phones, and continued behavior that made staff and performers uncomfortable.

After the event, they posted a YouTube video making false claims that they were forced to wait three hours, that one male open-mic comedian who called their behavior out was our host, and that they were sexually harassed by our male comics—all untrue. The comedian of color they misidentified has since been subjected to racial slurs and death threats, including being called the "n-word" and told to slit his throat.

Despite our club manager reaching out multiple times to apologize 2 hours after they post their YouTube video, check in, and de-escalate, they ignored all attempts to resolve the situation peacefully.

Because no one laughed at their jokes and a male comedian called out their loud, disruptive behavior, The Kalogeras Sisters made up stories claiming sexual harassment by our male comedians and harassment by our host and staff. This is deeply harmful to real survivors of sexual harassment and damages the reputation and safety of innocent male comedians.

At our open mic, comedians of all genders are allowed to discuss sexual experiences and roast one another in good faith. Stand-up requires thick skin.

No one is required to laugh at cringey material read off a phone, especially while cameras are pointed at other comedians without permission. Having 7 million followers does not place anyone above the rules. We treat all comics equally, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

As a result, our business experienced a coordinated review-bombing campaign, receiving over 700 one-star Google and Yelp reviews within a few hours from fans and people who have never attended our venue, and it continues to increase. We have also received credible death threats and violent messages directed at our club manager, our staff, performers, and the owner (myself), including 25 verbal phone calls in less than an hour, as well as emails, text messages, and Instagram DM death threats toward me.

I am very open about my struggle with mental illness and have been a strong advocate for suicide prevention. I personally survived a suicide attempt after giving birth to my first child, during postpartum depression and a bipolar depressive episode. I am now almost six months pregnant, and I am receiving numerous death threats as a result of The Kalogeras Sisters' lies and manipulation.

This is extremely harmful to my pregnancy and my mental health. I will not allow my staff or fellow comedians to endure this level of harassment and death threats that are currently being directed at us.

As an immigrant, I built my club from nothing. My club is a minority, women-owned small business. We prioritize safety, consent, and respect for performers and guests. We do not tolerate harassment, defamation, or intimidation, online or offline.

In late 2019, after just two weeks of doing open mic, I bought this club out of love for stand-up comedy, committed to putting in my 10,000 hours and creating a safe space for women, minorities, and all comedians.

We are one of the largest and most reliable open mic spaces in LA, open nearly 365 days a year. The club opened on my son's first birthday and is my baby, a testament to my relentless passion for stand-up. I kept it alive through COVID and after my divorce, even when I was broke and selling my jewelry to pay rent, so I could keep the doors open for our community and for the love of the craft. I built this club from nothing as an immigrant with no money and no English.

This is where Punkie Johnson had her first headlining show, where Damien Wayans tests new jokes, and where working comics come daily after a hard day at work to chase their dreams.

This is not a place for entitled influencers to read cringey material off their phones, film comedians without consent, disrespect the art of stand-up, then falsely claim sexual harassment for clout and greed because no one laughed.

They spread lies online for clout and YouTube money, leading to racial hate, death threats, and attempts to destroy an Asian women-owned business—one named by the LA Times as one of the best places in Los Angeles to do stand-up comedy.

I will not let this happen.

Over my dead body.