No Results Found for “OPEN LETTER: Dear Eric Bogosian, are you letting disabled, COVID-impacted artists be erased in your name?”
After the apparent disappearance of their July 21 Open Letter to AMC Networks and actor and playwright Eric Bogosian from Google search results, disabled, queer, and trans theater makers living with Long COVID have published a Request for Repair. Its publication aligns with the October 10th panel for AMC’s New York Comic Con Interview with the Vampire, in which Bogosian is a lead actor.
Where’s the letter over Long COVID?
In the Request for Repair, the group documents what they describe as six months of “patterns consistent with crisis PR suppression” of their news coverage and public interest accountability work. They say it began April 2025, when they produced a non-commercial mutual aid fundraiser play “for vulnerable members of the Long COVID arts community.” The play earned news coverage and included critical commentary of the public figure named in the Open Letter.
In April, the group says, their news coverage seemed to disappear from Google News. After they publicly asked the community to monitor, the news coverage appeared to return to search. To bring attention to the issue, members of the Long COVID arts Community placed empty chairs in front of theatres and civic spaces around the world, including the National Theatre in London, Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, and the Public Theater in New York.
In the days following the play’s performance, they say that “a density of promotional articles from Mr. Bogosian were published. Seven in total, including the original interviews, republication in other outlets and mirrors.” While the disabled theater makers living with Long COVID do not allege coordination or intent, they note that “the articles appear to include overlapping keywords and themes from our work, including the AIDS crisis, of which many members of our community are survivors and activists. The publication of these articles also had the effect of driving down our news coverage in search results.”
San Diego Comic Con
In July, the theater makers living with Long COVID documented what they describe as a “second wave of visibility fluctuations,” when their news coverage appeared to be no longer searchable on Google News. On July 21, they published an Open Letter addressed to AMC Networks and Eric Bogosian asking for transparency.
The letter included documentation of actions which they say fit industry standard crisis PR tactics, such as de‑indexing from news search results, SEO saturation with promotional material from Mr. Bogosian that appeared to use overlapping keywords and themes from their work, and cross-platform flagging of accounts. Following its publication, the group placed an empty wheelchair inside AMC’s New York headquarters to bring attention to the issue, and on July 24 sent a formal request for transparency to AMC and Bogosian’s representatives.
To date, they report that no reply has been received.
Now, they write, the Open Letter appears to be no longer searchable on Google, even under exact title queries. They have published screenshots sourced from the wider Long COVID patient community to document the claim. They also invited members of the public to verify.
“If you would like to verify the disappearance from search:
Go to Google.
Search: “OPEN LETTER: Dear Eric Bogosian, are you letting disabled, COVID-impacted artists be erased in your name?” (with quotes).
Here is the letter still live on Medium: https://medium.com/@longcovidnarrativejustice/open-letter-dear-eric-bogosian-are-you-letting-disabled-covid-impacted-artists-be-erased-in-your-fac62a9e5904”
They add:
Subsequent references to the Open Letter will appear in search. This has been the result of our efforts to reindex the letter on Google since its apparent disappearance. They have not been successful.
Crisis PR and accountability culture
While not making allegations, the group provides context, describing the reported use of crisis PR in high-profile cases involving discrimination, sexual harassment and occupational injury in the media industry:
Crisis PR as media industry infrastructure was not built with a Long COVID Zoom play in mind. Its most common use is against people who’ve experienced discrimination, whistleblowers for workplace safety, and sexual harassment and assault survivors…
Crisis PR is a largely unregulated industry used by businesses, brands and public figures facing calls for accountability. It has grown into what GQ has called the ‘celebrity-industrial complex‘ as backlash infrastructure to accountability culture, what the Hollywood Reporter has referred to as the ‘New #MeToo Economy’… Though we do not imply an equivalence of conduct, public figures who have reportedly used crisis PR include Justin Baldoni, Johnny Depp and Harvey Weinstein. While news reports on crisis PR connected to high-profile survivors like Blake Lively and Amber Heard, we will not hear from most crisis PR survivors.
The theater makers living with Long COVID have also reported that multiple accounts affiliated with the play and its collaborators have been experiencing what they describe as cross-platform account visibility drops:
In addition to shifts in visibility of our lawful news coverage and transparency work in search results, we have documented the following more concerning patterns:
Cross‑platform flagging of social media accounts.
This has included both public-facing professional, and unconnected personal accounts.
They continue:
If our personal accounts have been located and monitored, this is consistent with the widespread crisis PR use of private surveillance… We are not making blanket accusations about any unlawful activity, but we do take seriously any actions that would raise concerns about harassment or data profiling of vulnerable communities.
They also express concerns about escalation, naming standard crisis PR tactics such as:
token gestures meant for optics rather than addressing the harm, triangulation with audiences or other marginalized communities, using identity or adjacency as a shield for accountability, strategic co-optation of messaging of those harmed, as well as ‘flooding the zone‘ and narrative laundering through relationships with friendly journalists and publication networks.
It can also escalate to more dangerous tactics, like attempts to undermine credibility and limit professional opportunities through whisper networks or smear campaigns, unauthorized collection of personal information, flagging of accounts, doxxing, and legal intimidation through cease-and-desist letters or SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) threats.
Repair Template
The Repair Template addressed to AMC Networks and Mr. Bogosian’s representatives outlines three central requests:
“Cease any suppression practices. This includes any possible de‑indexing, search manipulation, coordinated flagging, monitoring, or any form of algorithmic suppression against our work or aligned voices.Adopt policy reforms Ban any use of crisis PR tactics against marginalized communities, survivors, or whistleblowersRequire public, transparent audit trails for any potential content takedown or moderation that involves in-house comms, third-party firms or “trusted flaggers”Recognition and restoration Official reamplification of the wider community of disabled artists living with Long COVIDAttribution for the artistic work of people with disabilities whose content may have been used or referenced in promotional materialsAcknowledgment that harm done to people with disabilities, or any vulnerable group, is a matter of cultural responsibility and not public relations.”
Future-facing civic accountability over Long COVID
Referencing the political conditions in the United States, the theater makers living with Long COVID frame their request for repair as future-facing civic accountability for other multiply-marginalized communities who are being targeted in escalating state and corporate aligned violence:
We are also creating a framework which survivors might use in such processes to name the harms, even if they are considered professional standards now, constructing a process that can regulate and adjudicate them, and providing a pathway for reintegration, when safe and reasonable, by those who may have done harm through proportionate repair and truth-telling.
To amplify the request, they have forwarded the repair template to press and advocacy institutions, including: PEN America, ACLU, GLAAD, EFF and the National Coalition Against Censorship, inviting them to monitor responses.
Featured image via the Canary
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