Peddler Brewing cancels screening of ‘Seattle is Dying’

Meghan Walker Ballard

Peddler Brewing has chosen to cancel their previously scheduled screening of KOMO’s documentary Seattle is Dying.

The decisions both to screen and now cancel the documentary have sparked criticism, so we reached out to Peddler to learn more.

Peddler co-owner Haley Keller explained to My Ballard that the idea arose when they were asked to host a panel on homelessness by a young professionals group that would include a viewing of clips from the documentary and a panel discussion with various representatives to provide diverse viewpoints, including former Seattle City Council candidate Christopher Rufo, Seattle University law professor Sara Rankin, and Seattle restaurant CEO Chad Mackay.

“This sounded like a valuable discussion to have in our community and we agreed to host,” Haley said.

However, as the event neared, she says the host organization chose to change it into a full screening of the documentary. Unaware of the controversy surrounding the documentary, they agreed.

“With all the time constrains of running a business and having an 8-month-old infant with no childcare, we failed to exercise due diligence and research the documentary and organizations involved,” Haley said. “We did not realize the social media storm push-back of even mentioning the documentary exists.”

The Kellers considered dropping the screening but keeping the panel, but in the end decided that wasn’t enough.

“It is not possible to control the perception on social media that we are merely the venue, not the organizers of this event,” Haley said.

“We at Peddler believe in having open debates about important subjects, such as homelessness, but this business is also our livelihood.  While we were merely the venue, Peddler was incorrectly being perceived as organizing this event and aligning our business with a particular viewpoint.  We felt it was best for the reputation of our business, and the safety and enjoyment of our customers and employees, to remove ourselves from hosting.”

While Haley said they’re “encouraged by the energy and passion our community has for ending homelessness,” they’re going to avoid hosting events on the topic in the near future.

“As a brewery with a goal to bring people together, we look forward to events like our summer viewing of The Big Lebowski, because we can all agree that The Dude abides.”

50 thoughts to “Peddler Brewing cancels screening of ‘Seattle is Dying’”

    1. Actually, we do need these kinds of round-table discussions here, and everywhere. Inability to grasp why someone doesn’t share your viewpoint is the enemy of debate; debate often being the catalyst for real changes. You can accuse Trump of having a closed-off mindset (actually, he doesn’t – he doesn’t have any mindset. He says what he thinks will make him the most popular at the time he says it), but if you feel cancelling something you are opposed to is a good idea, then you have the same mindset of Trump – that of a self-serving echo chamber facilitating only those views and opinions you perceive as ‘the correct viewpoints’.

    2. I’m a “Trump person”. You do NOT know me, yet believe everything you hear ABOUT me, don’t you. I am for reality and following existing laws already on the books. You, are for more chaos and apparently love the shreds of human debris stealing your shit and being hooked on heroin. Nice of you to decide for us all. I hope you come to your senses and do stop drinking your bath water. Sober up.

    1. Rufo, like most of us here, seems more likely to be desperate to solve the issue. You can take issue with some of his solutions — I do — without wholesale discounting his intentions. You seem to be part of the problem with that attitude.

        1. Neither does voting ‘up’ or voting ‘down’ opinions you either like or dislike. That’s not a solution, it’s bullying through anonymity.

        2. What solution are you finding by attacking high school students on every post about them winning an award? Seriously, I’d like to know what you are accomplishing with your compulsive attacks on children.

          2. So you are not solution oriented with your constant harassment of children?

          4. What did we learn about using Wikipedia as a source today?

            I’m sorry if you think it’s unfair that someone questions you about your very public posts calling children names.

          5. I’ve learned that those of a certain era distrust it as well as other forms of technology.

          6. DeVos can’t be blamed for this one. There is nothing sexy about stupid, take another stab at the answer.

          7. Jokes and snark posted on a website isn’t “harassment”. How do you function when something bad actually happens? You you turn in a writhing, weepy neurotic mess at jokes? Imagine if fascists ackshually did take over the country, they could conquer all you snowflakes with a few bad jokes.

      2. Fascinating. Rufo put his tail between his legs and ran from an anonymous person telling him to “get bent” online. What dedication to the cause!

        Actually, he’s desperate to shove his Sean Hannity/FOX/Sinclair right wing agenda down Seattle’s throat. Try Alabama instead; a bit more open to the ginned up right wing propaganda that passes for “information”.

        1. Agreed. People in this city should not have those opinions. Anything right wing (or perceived as right wing) should be immediately dismissed.

        2. So if we don’t think like you we’re a “right wing nut”? Too rich you totalitarian. Try learning some history. Tell me, are there any “left wing whack jobs” around Seattle? You too need to own your vote and the chaos it has created. Perhaps listening and learning about Hannity would do you some good. Because there are 2 of him as well as most conservatives. The ones I hear, and the ones YOU tell me about. So you believe everything Colbert, Jinimy Kibbler and MSLSD tells you about conservatives eh? Try Cuba instead pal.

    2. So Rufo is on the board of the Discovery Institute. He is complete far-right religious whack job that doesn’t believe in evolution.

      How do people treat him seriously, and why does this site legitimize him by calling him a “city council candidate”?

      The reality is that he lasted 2 weeks during that race, and he created this excuse about being harassed to avoid facing what is the very clear reality that he is never, ever, EVER, going to win any election for anything with his science-denying, bible based politics. And he keeps hanging around trolling for attention.

      Please, stop treating him like a rational mainstream political voice – he isn’t. He is an extreme far right religious candidate that doesn’t believe in science and is unfit to represent any district of Seattle in anything.

  3. So typical of this PC country. Just show the bleepin’ documentary and the hillbillies that don’t want to see it don’t have to attend. Easy.

  4. Good, we don’t want any of that narrow-minded, conservative crap around here. Take it to Alabama, we want progressive, open-minded attitudes around here.

    1. You libtards are so open minded that EVERYTHING has already fallen out. Own the mess in Seattle. It’s your votes that brought us the mess(es).

      1. Huh. I thought it was Reagan’s tax cuts for the wealthy in the 80s that all but cancelled mental health services, drug addiction services and homeless services, causing the the “trickle down effect” we’re seeing right now with the homeless crisis.

        Who would have though that the nationwide drug, mental health and homeless problem was actually caused by the Seattle Council?

        Thanks Paintking, you’ve opened my eyes!

          1. Yeah being progressive means being open minded, trying new things, LISTENING TO THE PUBLIC. Being progressive means, you try one thing and if it doesn’t work you try another thing and if that doesn’t work you just keep going until a solution is reached such as not incarcerating our homeless but helping them. But it takes a certain skill set, a certain mind to see being the narrow scope of sticking to the same old same old.

            Let’s keep our part of the nation educated and keep them rednecks jealous!

  5. anyone that has lived in Ballard more than 10 years knows full well what the news report is saying and what is happening to the city. that said, its too bad the brewery caved to some weeeeeeepy woke folk that seem to think there is nothing wrong or out of the ordinary going on in our neighborhoods….

  6. “With all the time constrains of running a business and having an 8-month-old infant with no childcare, we failed to exercise due diligence and research the documentary and organizations involved,” Haley said. “We did not realize the social media storm push-back of even mentioning the documentary exists.”

    Wow. They played the new baby card and the “Facebook media storm” card. I’m sure the owners retweet Trump/Russia conspiracies daily. Such diligence and objectivity! How many bicycles have been stolen by in this city in the last few yrs? Such devotion to cyclists and their safety!

    Well, in any case, their beer sucks, and anybody who has been to Bavaria or Belgium can tell you that.

    1. I do admit, they totally caved in the face of social media pressure. That’s totally within their rights, it is their business, after all (and the right wing factions would say Small Businesses have trouble surviving in Seattle, so they did what they felt was correct in order to survive), and as such, they can run it as they see fit.

    2. “Well, in any case, their beer sucks, and anybody who has been to Bavaria or Belgium can tell you that.”

      Wow, you are playing the privileged American “I’ve traveled the world” card to try to insult a business for making a decision which is in their own best interest.

      So what you are saying is that you are alright with dictating how a private business decides to operate, and if they don’t operate according to your rules, their product sucks? Doesn’t sound very American. in fact it sounds like Totalitarianism or a Dictatorship, but you’ve made it very obvious here that that’s your thing.

      1. They can do what they want, but YOU GUYS want to censor me for criticism. That’s liberal logic for you. I never said they were required to do anything, Moron.

  7. Zeitgeist censorship, mob mentality is what you all should be concerned about. Then again you are the same people that think “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” should be banned because of one word. Anyone that has actually read the book or knows anything about it will tell you it is a narrative against slavery. However one would need to open their eyes and clear their mind to grasp what is written.

    “It is discouraging to try to penetrate a mind like yours. You ought to get it out and dance on it. That would take some of the rigidity out of it.”
    ― Mark Twain

  8. Does Peddler pay their employees a living wage? If they don’t they shouldnt even be mentioning homelessness in Seattle. I wonder how much the employees make in relation to the owner.

    1. What GD difference does that make, that’s the best you can come up with? It’s an at will state, no one is forcing them to work there for whatever wages are being paid. People should be compensated for their skill set and what they bring to the table, not what you perceive as a livable wage. If the owners make a million bucks and the employees make $50 grand a year by their own free choice, you think that is somehow unfair and wrong?

      How much is enough, give me a number?

      Do the employees leverage themselves to the hilt and take the risk of losing everything?

  9. Showing “Seattle is Dying” as a discussion of the homeless crisis is like showing “Debbie Does Dallas” as a sex ed film. Neither one is rooted in reality nor a truthful representation of the topic at hand.

    1. What an absurd comparison but in fairness, how would you describe the “situation”, if it’s not a drug problem, crime problem or homeless problem then what is it?

      BTW, Reagan left office 1/20/89, that was over 30 years ago and 16 of those years were democratic administrations. Blaming Reagan for the situation we are faced with right now is even more absurd than your previous comparison.

      And furthermore, anytime you want to walk the tracks with me on the ship canal and pick up the filth left by these good folks (which was never part of my job description) feel free to contact me and I’ll hook you up with the hazmat PPE you will need to use to clean up after these fine folks. Maybe I’ll change your mind and visa versa, an open mind is required.

      1. The simple version, Sockpuppet, is that Reagan and all the rest have given ME unnecessary tax breaks for 30+ years, while neglecting infrastructure, education, services, and common good for-tax breaks for the wealthy. Like me.

        You happy, Sockpuppet, that I; yes, liberal me, gets massive tax breaks from the GOP for decades?

        The irony is staggering.

      2. BTW, Reagan left office 1/20/89, that was over 30 years ago and 16 of those years were democratic administrations. Blaming Reagan for the situation we are faced with right now is even more absurd than your previous comparison.

        Last I checked, the Reagan era tax cuts on the wealthy are still in place (and in fact more cuts on the wealthy have happened since) and the “wealth will trickle down” STILL hasn’t happened, despite promises by the GOP. So I’m curious how you think the cuts to mental health, drug addiction and homeless solutions are magically going to be reversed. So if not Reagan, who do we blame for all the Reagan era cuts that are still in place?

        What an absurd comparison but in fairness, how would you describe the “situation”, if it’s not a drug problem, crime problem or homeless problem then what is it?

        I never said that, didn’t even hint or allude to it. I’m just saying that “Seattle is Dying” is not a discussion on the homeless situation. It’s a conservative media company filming a select few people screaming how we’re in some dystopian wasteland and it’s everyone’s fault but them. Sinclair Media is well known for hating Seattle and anything progressive or liberal, hence why people dismiss their sensationalist misery trash.

        And furthermore, anytime you want to walk the tracks with me on the ship canal and pick up the filth left by these good folks (which was never part of my job description) feel free to contact me and I’ll hook you up with the hazmat PPE you will need to use to clean up after these fine folks. Maybe I’ll change your mind and visa versa, an open mind is required.

        If you’re talking about the Ballard Shortline, I run/bike that route everyday from Ballard to Fremont as do many, many, many other people. Yes there’s sometimes homeless people, but it’s nowhere near as bad as you describe it. I don’t understand what you stand to gain by spinning such sensationalist lies.

        1. I’m open to discussion, however since I have a different opinion than yours and my experience is different that yours, I am told that I’m spinning lies? This is the difference between you and me, I have an open mind.

          We were all born with one and as hard as it may be I suggest you find yours and use it because your insults accomplish nothing.

          1. I’m just saying that I’ve not once seem a single person in a hazmat suit or other protective gear using or cleaning up the BGT or Missing Link section. So either there are a significant amount of people putting their lives in danger every day or you are telling a tall tale. Again, to what purpose, I’m not sure.

            There are people that regularly clean up the BGT along Canal Park in Fremont, and somewhat West, mostly trash from park users (please thank them if you see them!). They aren’t wearing hazmat suits or other protective gear.

            So would you care to elaborate where and when the BGT/Ballard Short Line get so bad that one would need a hazmat suit or some other protective gear? Are you maybe talking about some other portion along the Ship Canal that I’m not as familiar with?

    2. “Showing “Seattle is Dying” as a discussion of the homeless crisis is like showing “Debbie Does Dallas” as a sex ed film. Neither one is rooted in reality nor a truthful representation of the topic at hand.”

      That’s only because normal, heterosexual copulation is now a hate crime. I think all the Sex Ed now must be deviant to be approved by the Public Schools. Good news for you, Truth!

  10. I would love to see a balanced discussion on this issue, whether with that bias opinion piece or without. I’d like to see educated, informed people on both sides discuss the issue at hand and offer well researched, viable solutions.

    I don’t blame Peddler for backing out of hosting this. They are a small business and need to look after their reputation and bottom line.

    We do have a problem and there are ways to solve it. I think a well-mannered discussion would be beneficial to give citizens a non-partisan picture of the problems and potential solutions without demonizing the victims of this crisis. People are suffering; people are on the street, addicted, mentally ill, and those who are homed and trying to make a go at having the life they have worked hard to achieve are scared. The victims of this crisis are on both sides of the homed/homeless fence.

    This is something the city should put on. We are all in this stew together.

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