Karl Jobst and SomeOrdinaryGamers (separate video linked here) have accused Jirard Khalil of lying to viewers about his charity.

Jirard is a YouTuber who runs a channel known as the Completionist, where he plays games to 100% completion and reviews them based on how enjoyable the experience was.

The Open Hand Foundation, which was co-founded by Jirard in 2014, was set up to raise money for dementia charities after his dementia-stricken mother passed away. However, their yearly filings with the IRS suggest that none of this money has been donated to charity.

Jacque (Jirard’s brother) responded to Karl’s emails to the Open Hand Foundation claiming that they are still searching for the correct charity to partner with and disburse these funds, whereas Jirard claimed that he was only aware that none of the funds had gone out last year, yet is still openly promoting Open Hand on stream and claiming they support the UCSF, Alzheimer’s Association, the AFTD and many other charities.

  • GenBlob@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    Jirard never seemed like the type of guy to pull something like this and I really want to see his response but having the money just sit there (and hopefully still there) for years is a really bad look for him. At the very least he was just clueless but that’s still damaging taking into account all the lies on the charity streams

    • badaboomxx@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, but after listening to the call, basically he pass the bamlame on both because they found the issue, to the point of a ating that they did it for the views…

      After that I knew that something is off, then he replied with something like “what do you want me to do, give all the money away, that will only make me look bad if I do it right now”, but that was the goal of the donation.

      I mean, I wouldn’t see an issue if he was giving money but he didn’t and he was claiming to donated to several associations, which didn’t get a single dime.

  • BigFig@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I have only EVER heard nice and good things about Jirard, so I’m going to wait for some actual evidence before making any judgements.

    • underwire212@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      What “actual evidence” are you waiting for? The filings are public (you can confirm literally right now) and Jirard admitted to the accusations himself? What else do you need?

    • andyMFK@reddthat.com
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      2 years ago

      …did you watch the video? You can see their contributions have been $0 year after year with their tax filings, and Girard admitted they haven’t donated anything.

      • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        2 years ago

        I don’t know who this guy is or anything about the situation other than what’s written here, but if he’s naming specific charities supposedly receiving these donations, it makes zero sense that they’d be “looking for a good charity to donate to.” If that were the case there’d be zero reason to name the ones they did.

        • andyMFK@reddthat.com
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          2 years ago

          you should watch the content in the post before engaging in discussion about it. What you’re saying is kinda the whole crux of the issue. Jirard has been caught lying, saying his fund has donated to specific charities when in reality the fund has donated nothing. You’re right - it doesn’t make sense to lie about something so easily verified, but here we are.

    • code@lemmy.zip
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      2 years ago

      Easy to check the filings yourself. The research presented in the video is legit. There is no reason to have zero donations to charities since 2014. Zero

  • GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    claiming that they are still searching for the correct charity to partner

    Isn’t that something you should do before you start a donation drive? Wtf?

  • 108@kbin.social
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    2 years ago

    Even after he found out it didn’t go anywhere he was still shilling it as it was ALL going to charity. Using his dead mother too. As someone who’s Father died with Alzheimer’s, fuck this guy.

  • Silverseren@kbin.social
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    2 years ago

    Funny enough, I think the most blatant and consequential example of this not being able to be taken in good faith is the use of the quote from the UCSF person on the charity website. A person who was fired for money problems 7 years before the charity existed.

    No matter what explanation they can give for why they have a quote from him thanking them for donating to UCSF, I see no way for the explanation to be good.

  • GreenMario@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    Watched it too, fan of both channels so this is strange.

    There is a possibility that Jirard just wasn’t in the loop and didn’t know, but someone was (brother?) But regardless this is very suspect.

    • underwire212@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      At best, he didn’t know, which means he really didn’t care enough to even check to make sure the money was going to where it was supposed to be going? Like, the ONE thing a charity does? Even so, in 10 years, he wasn’t suspicious at all about not hearing back from these organizations (like a “Thank You for your donation letter”)? He didn’t give a shit about the charity, and used it to flaunt his own brand and ego. And that’s the BEST case scenario.

      Worst case scenario he is knowingly committing charity fraud…by using his own Mother as bait. Fucking deplorable if you ask me.

    • Silverseren@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      I don’t see how there’s any good explanation though for having a website quote thanking them for donating from someone who was fired for money issues 7 years prior.

  • Gamingdexter@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    I’d say watch both videos, Muta’s video is a little more in depth, but it is just odd to hold onto the money for so long. At least they aren’t spending it on nonsensical things, but if they get audited, that will be a big problem with how they filled out their taxes. I’m hoping for the best though, I do like Jirard and I can’t imagine how it is with your parent/family going through that

    • Ebennz@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      At least they aren’t spending it on nonsensical things

      They pulled out like 30k two years 10-12k other years. No idea what that was spent on.

  • Computerchairgeneral@kbin.social
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    2 years ago

    Well, this is incredibly disappointing. I wasn’t aware the Completionist had a charity dedicated to dementia, but I’ve respected his commitment to preserving gaming media and history. Still none of this looks good and I’m struggling to find a good reason as to why you would just sit on donations for nearly a decade without dispersing them.

  • spudwart@spudwart.com
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    2 years ago

    The Game Grumps Curse Continues

    • Jontron
    • Arin [Egoraptor]
    • Dan
    • ProJared? (I think he redeemed himself i dont remember.)
    • Jirard

    The list keeps on Chuggin, god I hope we don’t get a Grant Kirkhope controversy.