Can confirm the Charles thing. I don’t remember what length I went into previously. Pete and Charles do not speak after the fallout. Also, I don’t think he was dating Pete’s niece. I met her and don’t recall Pete ever saying he was related to h. I’ve met most of Pete’s family and Michelle (I think was her name) separately but she was Pete’s personal chef but that was after her and Charles got together.
Charles was really hated by the fans at first but then he made this long article about growing into a Disney fan and public view changed almost overnight. I always liked Charles as we had very similar self-deprecating humor and had messy backgrounds, he just felt mine was much worse than his and unforgivable. I felt, he of all people, should understand someone in a desperate situation trying to turn it around and better their life but he really wanted to die on that hill. The problem of ‘Sean’ grew and grew since Charles lived with Pete and it just became awkward. (Also I’m certain that Charles was getting a LOT of hot takes from Pete that likely weren’t true but he really believed anything Pete said as gospel so I couldn’t convince him otherwise). When Pete was angry he would say I was in it for money and wanted to be in the spotlight and the star of the DIS (lol) but then when he calmed down and was fine, I was the greatest thing ever.
I think it’s like when you fight with a friend and then tell your mom about it but then you work things out with the friend but the mom still hates them, even though there was likely 2 sides to the story but she’s gonna side with her kid.
This was extremely compounded when politics got involved. Pete and Charles aligned pretty close in political views and I am not as far to one side as they are. Charles was very adamant that people who did not agree with his views in (relative) lock step were not morally good . Pete on the other hand will just name call and scream over you until you stop talking if he disagrees. I’m more calm like Charles but really don’t care what peoples views are, I just like hearing all sides. Pete finally made a ‘no politics’ policy because he and Charles just couldn’t cope and Charles was disgusted that Pete would be with a right wing nut job. Which I don’t believe I am, I’m not even registered to a party at all and don’t vote strictly one party. It’s silly this played such a big role in things but it did for whatever reason with him and his view of me and the tension for him and Pete.
In January of 2019, I went on vacation to New Jersey and I was flying back on whatever day Cher was in Orlando (John and Kevin had gotten a box thing and invited some DIS people and friends to go). I flew home, landed and everything was fine. When I got to Pete’s he was very angry with me, I asked what was wrong and he said it was ‘incredibly disrespectful’ (this is his favorite term of affection towards me along with Jethro, Trailer Trash, whore, and snowflake) of me to fly back on the same morning as the evening concert because if it had been delayed I might have missed it. I said I didn’t agree and thought that me taking the earliest flight possible and landing 6 solid hours before the concert was fine and nothing happened so ‘no harm no foul’ but he didn’t agree and also didn’t voice this before my trip. He didn’t speak to me the entire concert and then told me I wasn’t welcome on the San Juan Disney sailing that was happening the following week and that he wanted me to look for another job because he couldn’t stand my ‘fly by the seat of my pants ways’ and I said ok, I’d start looking the next day. The next day I also ran Pete’s credit card for $3000 to pay for the property taxes on my house. John did not want me hired on as an employee (there was no job vacancy, so why hire me? Fair point) and all payments come through Dreams.
When Pete wants a new employee but John says ‘no’ - Pete pays them personally through PayPal or buys them things in the value of the payment until John sees they are some benefit and relents on opening a new position.
Part of my pay was having some of my bills paid for like my property taxes (since my house was paid for it could be paid in one lump payment in the year and Pete would get delta points towards maintaining his diamond status by using his card so I did that kind of thing where I could since it helped out and it’s money I owed anyway) and Pete said for me to just make one lump some as part of my pay, so I did. He flipped out and accused me of stealing and I told him I didn’t and that he told me to do it back in November when it was due and I forgot about it until January. I offered to send him the money back if he didn’t feel I was owed that money and he just told me to enjoy it because it was the last money I’d steal from him and that he never wanted to speak to me again and all that. I did regret doing it because I remembered after the fight and Pete changes his view based on his feelings in the moment and it needed to be paid and felt his view might change on his offer, but it was also promised and I didn’t pay it myself all year, based on that promise and it was part of my compensation.
Pete went on his cruise and of course told everyone that I was a thief and that I randomly stole thousands of dollars from him when he told me to look for another job and Charles was very upset. When Pete got back he calmed down and apologized to me about the concert and everything. Charles hated me after the incident and Pete got mad at him for being mad at me. I told Pete that I understood why his disdain for me escalated because he feels I wronged his friend, even though Pete was now saying I didn’t Charles still felt that I did. And I’m sure people will have strong views on the ethics behind my choice here but Charles was trying to be a good friend to Pete.
Things between Pete and I improved but we did not get back together though I did return to work. He was out in California with Charles and my dad got moved to hospice care so I was upset and I called Pete and he talked me through that since his dad and sister had died and then like the next day my dog escaped out of my backyard fence and was killed by a car. I was devastated and I was just sitting in my house with her and didn’t know what to do and I called Pete. After the call (from what I was told by Pete) that Charles got very mad at him for showing me empathy with these events and that I essentially was getting what I deserved (it’s Pete so it might not have actually been this cold of a response) but Pete yelled back at charles (I imagine these were incredibly below the belt Jabs, If it’s anything like what I received from Pete on a regular basis) and Charles went back to the hotel, packed his bags and disappeared and never came back as far as I know.
He did have a write up he was supposed to do about the Wonder out of San Juan because he was the content writer that went, Jackie reached outand got him to complete the write ups because he had been paid for them and took the content writer spot on that cruise so he was screwing her over since she was now Basically alone on content and didn’t go on the sailing. He did complete the job and that’s the last I knew of him.
I hope he’s doing well and was able to enjoy staying out of the toxicity of the whole experience. I truly think he’s just an ultra loyal friend who gave his unwavering support to the wrong person and I imagine he realized finally that it wouldn’t get better and there was nothing he could do but he also couldn’t sit back and watch things happen when Pete and I inevitably got back together.
