i loathe speculation is a singularly hysterical thing to say when one of ur most popular articles that you've built ur reputation as a 'journalist' on opens with:
"I cannot emphasize enough that this is my description of claims someone else made and relayed to me. I have done as much follow-up and confirmation/debunking as possible, but this is an article about an accusation.
The only things I’m treating as truly confirmed are the ones that I was able to independently confirm, which I’ve noted. Enough of it is verifiably true that it was worth telling people about, but I cannot personally endorse this account. It’s not my claim!"
...and includes such gems as:
"It is highly likely that by 2014, this source no longer worked at What Pumpkin, and these descriptions of late-2014 are only semi-informed speculation,"
"If [What Pumpkin] had been transparent about the reasons for the change, there’d be less need [by me] to speculate, at any rate."
"This means that some of these claims are most likely speculation, although..."
like. speculation is the bedrock of gio's whole brand. why even say this???