Chapter 123

At the beginning, Arnold was still very confident.

After old Matthew's funeral, he made a serious promise in front of Su Ning, Shen Mingzheng and others, appearing very serious.

"I will protect this award, no matter what it takes," he said, "Please trust me."

He trusted people who had talked to Old Matthew, but he was still a little unfamiliar with people like Shen Mingzheng from Su Ning, but he didn't show it on the surface.

From Arnold's perspective, they have their own companies to manage and are not the leaders of the Thorn Award. It is good enough for them to express their support, and they should not be bothered with the specific matters.

Shen Mingzheng and Su Ning saw his current mentality, but they didn't explain anything at the time. It was useless to say anything at this time, they just kept it in mind.

At that time, nothing really happened and everything seemed calm, but the incident of blocking the judges happened too quickly.

The number of judges for each Thorn Award is not fixed. Sometimes there are only a dozen people, and sometimes there are more than 30 people from various countries. When Fu Jing was invited by old Matthew to join again, she was already the 27th one, and the last one of this session.

27 people is not a small number. According to the previous rules, no more people should be added. However, not long after old Matthew died, someone wanted to take action in this regard.

Although the Thorns Award has strict rules, the judges are always selected by humans, which leaves loopholes.

This time, the person who tried to squeeze himself in met all the judges' requirements in terms of hard conditions and was indeed a well-known figure in the entertainment industry.

——Raymond, he was a journalist when he was young, and later became a documentary director. He has made many works, some mediocre and some award-winning. In recent years, he has opened his own channel on the short video website.

He has traveled a lot and knows a lot of things, which makes him very suitable for self-media. He now has tens of millions of fans on the Internet and is a big blogger who can make waves.

Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with his qualifications, but at this point in time, it is a bit strange.

There are many staff members in the Thorn Award. Under the chairman is the vice chairman, and under the vice chairman are the staff of the permanent office. They all have certain powers.

Although old Matthew has tried his best to be clear, he cannot prevent some people from hiding things and not exposing them until now.

When one of the vice-chairmen recommended Raymond to Arnold as one of the new judges, on the grounds that he wanted to make good use of the power of self-media in the new era and expand the influence on the Internet, and the concept was very good, Arnold instinctively felt that something was wrong.

He has a good character, but he is not stupid.

He kept in mind all the instructions given by old Matthew. Now he just wanted to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors. Besides, twenty-seven judges were enough and there was no need to add more.

So Arnold refused on the spot.

But it was obvious that those people did not give up because of his refusal. Instead, they seemed to have expected this and did not dwell on it on the surface. They also did not bring it up again with Arnold.

Raymond has a lot of drama. As expected of a self-media person, he is very good at creating momentum for himself.

He and old Matthew had met before and had some superficial interactions. Even though old Matthew had a bad temper, he was a respectable person in formal occasions, so the two of them had several photos together, and they looked very close.

When old Matthew passed away, Raymond was extremely sad. He first stopped updating his social media accounts which used to be seven or eight posts a day. Then on the third day he appeared haggard and expressed his grief. When he spoke about his sorrow, he burst into tears, which was very touching to watch.

Among so many people who mourned him, he was unique and stood out.

There is something special about Raymond. He doesn't just express grief, he also uses this gust of wind to tell stories.

The stories he tells are half true and half false, telling the origins of old Matthew from various perspectives.

For example, he said that the two people actually had a good personal relationship, which is false, but even a dead person cannot stand up to refute him. He also said that he had received funding from the Thorns Award, so he had deep feelings for this award. This is true. His works had indeed been exhibited at the Thorns Award, and he received investment when he was in the most difficult time, but that was more than ten years ago.

It sounded really false and particularly scary, and after he said this, he slowly and imperceptibly tied himself to Old Matthew and the Thorn Award.

And at this time, it is difficult to refute the rumors about the Thorn Award and old Matthew's descendants. After all, many things in it are true.

Moreover, many people who really cared about old Matthew were immersed in grief at that time, and no one would explain this matter one by one at this time, and deliberately distinguish the truth from the falsehood.

But this is just a prelude to Raymond's momentum.

Some time later, when he was interviewed by the media, he mentioned, based on these stories, that someone had recommended him to be a judge for the Thorns Awards.

He was very happy about this, and had already made a lot of preparations for it. He also posted some content on his own media, which showed that he attached great importance to it and was working very hard.

At this time, Raymond also mentioned ambiguously that Matthew had invited him before he died, and he would definitely carry on this legacy at the Thorn Awards. Although he kept saying it was "possible", his actual actions made it a done deal, and many fans were moved by his story and chose to support him.

At this time, many social media also began to promote Raymond's various works. They said that he was the one supported by the Thorns Award, and now returning to be a judge is a "beautiful cycle", which made everyone accept this emotional response, as if he was the most suitable judge.

Things had come to this point, so naturally the organizers of the Thorn Awards found out. Arnold was a very determined person, and since he had refused, he would not change his mind just because of public opinion.

Therefore, there was no delay at this time, and the rumor was refuted on social networks. Raymond was not a judge of the Thorn Awards, and the organizers had never planned to invite him.

This matter should have ended with this statement, but it is not so easy to end.

Arnold's refusal again seemed like he had fallen into a trap.

It was clear that they were not easy to deal with. Raymond did not confront Arnold, but apologized on social media, saying that he had misunderstood and expressed regret.

Fans were shocked, but naturally found it strange.

Soon, someone took a photo of the vice chairman's letter of recommendation and sent it out, showing that Raymond had indeed been a candidate for the jury, but was rejected by the current chairman.

As soon as this incident happened, it immediately caused a lot of discussion.

Then, some people questioned Arnold for being too autocratic. The chairman of the Thorn Awards is not the one who has the final say and should be fair and just. Now many people think that Raymond is very suitable to be a judge. Why not consider everyone's opinions?

After this question was raised, they began to exploit the emotions aroused by the audience and fans.

Then, some well-known celebrities came out to support Raymond, hinting that the Thorns Award was too harsh on him, and even began to steer the matter towards a sensitive topic.

At this moment, the true purpose is revealed.

Raymond is a person of color, born in a slum, and he is also a disabled person. He was injured while filming a documentary. One of his eyes is blind, he has obvious scars on his face, and he lost three fingers on his left hand. He has always presented himself as a charitable person on the Internet, which is a very attractive and sympathetic character.

It can be said that he was carefully selected by certain people.

In comparison, Arnold seemed too perfect, and this perfection made him look too "superior".

His family background is so perfect that no one would sympathize with him compared to Raymond's personality. Once such a comparison is made, the new chairman will be accused of "discrimination", even if Raymond cannot be a judge this time, the Thorn Award will have a loophole.

Arnold had never expected this situation to happen so quickly and so violently, but he did not back down.

He has been explaining on official platforms, citing various regulations of the Thorns Award, using actual circumstances to show that adding judges at this time is unnecessary, and that he did not mix any personal emotions when making the decision.

However, this "rational" explanation, driven by some distorted media, does not have enough power to resist the misguided public sentiment.

Although some people believed his words after reading the video carefully, and Arnold also had the media that he could mobilize, he was not powerless. But facing the real masses, his response was not enough, and the storm was not suppressed.

After several arguments, Arnold even gained the upper hand.

Many people think that adding a judge is nothing, and Raymond seems to be a good fit, as if he has become a kind of representative, so they cannot understand Arnold's stubbornness and persistence.

If things continue to develop like this, no matter what the outcome, it will be a huge blow to the Thorn Award.

Su Ning and Shen Mingzheng soon found out about this.

Fu Jing had been following the judges' matter over there, and she quickly sent back the news. Su Ning did not take it lightly at first, and he even asked Wellington about it specifically.

According to Wellington's investigation, there is someone behind Raymond. Ever since he started his own media, he has always had capital support behind him.

Although Wellington was not sociable, his family had a long history and he had his own information channels in this country. Moreover, after this period of cooperation, he had come to trust Su Ning very much.

Although he did not have such a strong belief, since he had promised Old Matthew, he would do it to the end, and people with a technical background would never look down on such dark forces behind the scenes.

It's no big secret that there's someone behind Raymond. It's normal for stars and celebrities to have financial support, but the person standing behind Raymond is someone that old Matthew has always been at odds with.

But the general public is unaware of these inner twists and turns. It is not realistic to explain these to the public directly, and they will not be able to understand unless they are in the situation themselves.

It's not that Arnold hasn't done this before. He has tried to explain it to everyone in a logical and concise way, but few people will fully understand these things before expressing their opinions. Many people will not spend so much time thinking about it, and will be carried away by emotions that are taken out of context. This cannot be changed.

But this matter cannot be left unaddressed.

When Shen Mingzheng of Su Ning was discussing this matter with a group of people, he said, "There is no need to explain the rules of the Thorn Award to everyone. The opponent's game must be broken by his own methods."

"Things caused by emotions should be solved with emotions themselves."