WICKED GAY
WICKED GAY
Noodles and Beef: Dylan and Tank
Send J. Harvey a text! (Try to be nice, but I get it, everyone's a little cranky sometimes...)
It's Wicked Gay's Season 4 finale! It's a tragic story of misplaced devotion and body modification gone very, very wrong. It's also the first time Wicked Gay has ever had a guest. Welcome, Mark! Don't mind the furniture.
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A couple of things before we begin. Firstly - this episode of Wicked Gay might sound a little different in places because I recorded the bulk of it in my dining room as opposed to my usual office area because I had to accommodate for a surprise this episode.
And secondly, please be aware that this episode of Wicked Gay cover subjects that include alternative sexuality including fetish content and in particular, extreme body modification. So, if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing or you’re my mom (hi Ma!), may I suggest you keep your finger on the fast-forward or perhaps join us again in Season 5. Thank you and please enjoy.
This episode of Wicked Gay concerns alternative sexuality, extreme body modification and illegal medical procedures. I’ll try to keep it as tasteful as I can but it’s going to get a little graphic in some parts. So, if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing or easily scandalized by sexuality other than straight people engaging in the missionary position, either keep your finger on the fast forward or we’ll happily meet again in Season 5. And note to my mom - this episode probably isn’t for you, RiRi. Love you!
You’re listening to Wicked Gay, a true crime podcast.
Hello! I’m J Harvey and this is the season 4 finale of Wicked Gay - and the pod’s 40th episode! Seeing as this is a momentous occasion, I thought I’d do something kinda special for this one. For the first time in Wicked Gay’s short history, I’m having a guest on, or a co-host or whatever you’d call it.”
Mark!
So seeing as this is my first ever Wicked Gay episode with a guest, tonight might go a little differently than you’re used to. Hell, you might even enjoy it more than just having to listen to me babbling on solo.. Hell you might actually even enjoy it!
A couple of weeks back, Mark and i and the rest of our motley crew of queers were getting drunk at the bah watching Drag Race when Mark broached the subject of appearing on the pod for a laugh. It’s already funny because Mark hates podcasts or doesnt have tine for then, and has never actually listened to Wicked Gay.
And then I immediately flashed onto the case I wanted to cover.
Ok, so he didn’t say whether he actually enjoyed they podcast, and I’m hoping that I kept him productive by hurrying him along so he could finish up making paper mache evil dyke vampire floats for his parade and leave the studio so he wouldn’t have to listen to me anymore.
Ok, so tonight’s case - I approached it with some trepidation. This is not that old of a case and the alleged (a word I will be using A LOT this episode) culprit is alive and kicking. Actually, I got an update on him last Friday night and we’ll get into it at the end of the ep. THis person was never prosecuted and today is a free man. The Seattle police apparently cleared him of any wrongdoing.
So I enter this case by stressing the word ALLEGEDLY. Tonight’s sources include Seattle’s The Stranger magazine, Buzzfeed, various posts on Tumblr and other social media platforms, Facebook messaging threads that have been posted by Tank’s friends, and an episode of an Australian news program called The Project . Some of the blog and social media posts I used as sources were written by Tank’s friends, as well as the deceased himself.
I think I wanted to share this story because, well, I’m a gay guy. I know about hating your body, or thinking your physical appearance is really your only currency in Gayville. Lots of people are hard on themselves about their appearance but, well, I feel like gay guys it’s a very visual, sexual culture. When I read about Jack wanting to change his body to please himself and others, because he wanted love from both himself and others, well, I got it, you know? it’s a also tragedy, a young impressionable man lost his life in a really weird, unfortuante way. While some of the details are unknown or up for interpretation, from what we do know, we can also see it as cautionary tale about letting your tastes for kink go too far, for letting your need for love, validation and self-confidence in your appearance overtake self-preservation, and maybe about placing your trust in someone whom you shouldn’t have. A person who could be a narcissist with issues, or someone who maybe isn’t/wasn’t equipped to handle your devotion. Or maybe just isn’t a good person.
I’m going to try to be as impartial as possible here and stick to the facts,
This is episode 40: Noodles and Beef: Dylan and Tank Hafertepen
Now, before I start anything - I should stress…heavily stress…again that no one has been charged with any wrongdoing in this case. In fact, the only legalities involved have been lawsuits filed by different parties. One was filed by the victim’s mother against the men she blames for her son’s death, and I wasn’t able to find the outcome of that one yet or if its been decided. The other was filed by Dylan against the Australian television news show that aired an expose about the case complete with footage of the victim’s mother confronting the man in question.
Jack Chapman aka Tank Haferteoen was a young gay man from Melbourne Australia. I struggled with whether to call him Jack or Tank. He had legally changed his name to Tank when he got with Dylan and the pups. But then I read accounts from his friends that said he wanted to be known as Jack again after splitting with Dylan for a time. But he got back to Dylan and was calling himself Tank again. So guess I’ll go with Tank for this episosde. It was his legal name.
In pictures pre-his transformation into a massive musclebound type, Tank is a tall beefy ginger guy, bald and pale with a big grin. After his death friends described him as “warm, friendly guy with a big personality and endless curiosity and as “a big goofball who always had a smile”
At 22, Jack self-identified as a bear.
Bear culture.
Jack entered a local bear paegant and while he didnt win, he made a big splash and became quite popular on the scene as the ginger beef everyone wanted to get with. He even started a podcast called The Cubby House that reportedly developed a following with as buzzfeed quotes, “the international bear community”.
At some point, Jack connected with a man named Dylan Hafertepen on Ok Cupid. Dylan hailed from Sacramento CA, who is 35 today. From what I’ve managed to dig up, Dylan first sprung up online as a skinny skater kid posting his anime/manga artwork on a site called DeviantArt. Eventually he underwent a whole body makeover and became a voracious musclebear. Tank had been a fan of Dylan’s newsletter and blog and social media posts which included workout tips.Dylan also led a polyamourous lifestyle, with a BDSM slant to it. He was the master of several men, whom he referred to as his pups, and they all lived together in a polyamorous family, first in San Francisco and then in Seattle.
So Dylan and Tank began a year long online romantic relationship. At one point, Tank visited Dylan for five days in San Francisco and later said that he got very turned on during the visit by trying on one of Dylan’s pup collars. He later described it as a “sexual awakening.”
I should mention here that both Dylan and Tank would develop pretty big online followings and were, I should stress supposedly here, very open with their followers and readers about their lifestyle, their kinks, and their relationship.
When Tank got back to Australia, he and Dylan began working on a contract for him. And Dylan sent him a ”training collar:” When they revised their contract to its final version, he then provided Tank with the collar he wore for several years that marked him as Dylan’s property.
As for the contract, which Tank eventually shared online with his Tumblr readers, some of the, highlights, um, most interesting parts…or notable parts, not sure what word to use here…in no particular order.
Tank to get a "Property of Master Dylan" tattoo on his back above his butt like the other pups had, which he eventually did.
The contract read that "A pup will identify as any name that his Master bestows upon him. If the name sticks, the pup will be encouraged to change the name legally." Which is something Tank did, legally changing his name from Jack Chapman to Tank Heathcliff Hafertepen.
Their contract went on to say that the "pup may never feel worthy of his Master's love," adding, "Master's word is law and must be trusted and obeyed. In an ideal mindset/subspace, Master's word should overwrite a pup's internal reality and be accepted as absolute truth."
I mean, it’s one thing to like get spanked and lick some boots but fer chrissakes. Hi please accept this perma-gaslighting from me.
The contract said that Jack couldn’t use deodorant, masturbate watch TV, or speak unless spoken to by the Master. It said that he had to grovel, cry, and kiss his Master's feet whenever they meet, "until the pup has permission to rise to his feet once again."
It demands that Jack "relinquish his salary to his Master" and maintain complete financial transparency with his Master at all times. He wasnt allowed to socialize with anyone without Master Dylan’'s express permission, and furthermore said "It is expected that social connections outside of one's Master fall away until the pup is completely socially and emotionally dependent upon his Master, finding contact with other people pointless, unfruitful, and unfulfilling."
And more - , "A pup has no sense of value or identity outside of that which is given to him by his Master. When a pup does wrong or finds fault in himself, he is to internalize his flaws, dwell upon them, and then take all corrective actions he can to improve himself for his Master."
As for Tank’s body -
"Master has explicit body goals for his pups regarding their weight, their muscle mass, their measurements, and their proportions. The pup will make all efforts possible to ensure these goals are realized and should never feel satisfied until his Master is satisfied. There is always additional room for a pup to push their physical limits."
Tank’s mom Linda Chapman says that despise his popularity in Melbourne and his many friends, Tank felt a little lost outside of Dylan’s immediate orbit because he had fallen in love. So he ended winning a visa lottery prgram to go to the States and he moved to San Franscios to be with Dylan Ray Hafertepen, the well-known member of the dom/sub BDSM musclebear pup play communities in San Francisco and later Seattle.
In fact, Seattle’s The Stranger reported at the time of the tragedy that that Hafertepen's Instagram amassed 60,400 followers, that his weekly newsletter, yes he had a newsletter, had more than 200,000 subscribers, and his personal blog, NoodlesAndBeef.com, had 2.2 million readers.
In a 2011 blog entry, Hafertepen said that he had seen himself as "skinny, underdeveloped, small, yet fat in places, completely undesirable." He added, "It probably sounds silly, but I've had breakdowns over how small I feel... sometimes it gets the best of me."
Dylan didn’t just talk about his body dysmorphia on his own media channels, he was also interviewed by ABC News for a 2016 Story called Bigorexia:When the Obsessive Desire for Muscles Is a Dangerous Medical Condition for Some Men."
The story notes that Master Dylan "doubled his size" in seven years with "intense workouts, drinking six protein shakes a day, and spending half of his paycheck on supplements." He also told the news that he ended up in the hospital "having gotten so big that his blood pressure became so high, he had to have his heart shocked back to normal." He was quoted as saying that "I had negotiated with myself that it would have been okay to succumb to death at an early age by pushing myself beyond what my body was capable of."
So Jack Champman became Tank Heathcliff Hafertepen, and basically Dylan’s slave. And he began posting along with Dylan about their lives together. He was also fairly open about what their relationship entailed, including posting the contract.
So one thing I can remember noticing about Dylan and the pups is that sometimes, well see they were usually only wearing like underwear or jockstraps or thongs in the photos they all posted. And I can remember beginning to note that some of them had something kinda unusual going on in the crotch area. Their bulges began looking big. I don’t mean like gray sweatpants season big, I mean like did you stuff a baby seal down your pants big.
From what i read, I learned that any silicone entering the bloodstream can lead to embolisms, infections, and death. Reactions to illegal silcone injections can occur as long as 25 years after the initial injections. So yes, saline scrotal injections are not harmless. You do you, I say. But I also say, pushing yourself or someone else to do something potentially risky and harmful to themselves to satisfy a fetish or a partner’s requirement is a full stop.
At a certain moment in time, Dylan’s Tumblr account and the accounts of some of his pups, according to The Stranger, began depicting numerous images of engorged scrotums, increased in size due to liquid silicone injections. Tank was the subject of one of these pictures. The writer of the Stranger article compared his scrotum’s new appearance as the size of two dodgebals. So he was definitely engaging in the practice. What is not known to this day was whether it was something Tank was doing on his own or if he was doing it after being coerced by his master,
Tank once summed up his view on being a submissive to Dylan or being a submissive in general by writing in a blog post in 2015 that "submission for me is about love... Submission is not an all-or-nothing affair, it exists on a spectrum... it requires fundamental things like trust, love, empathy, understanding, common interests, emotional security... You need to be flexible."
But increasingly in his online presence, amongst all the happy posts from Dylan, Tank and the other pups about how circuit parties and leather harnesses and being owned and big pup orgies were a blast, there were some signs that all was not well in Noodle and Beefland.
The first big sign was what I’ll call the “I am shit” post. Friends of Tank’s were very concerned when he posted a photo one day that he’d taken of himself sobbing. The accompanying post was worse, and got shared around online.
In part, he wrote:
"I am shit. I am a shit person. I do horrible and inexcusable things. I am dishonest. I am deceitful. I am a coward. I am stupid. I hurt my Master. I don't deserve love. I don't deserve forgiveness. I only deserve to suffer."
It was discovered later that what Tank had done wrong was sit in a hot tub with a platonic longtime friend without asking for Master Dylan’s permission.
So, some of Tank’s followers and friends were like uh please stop being so hard on yourself dude in the comments. And then Dylan commented, chewing out his pup for making Dylan look like he was hurt over nothing. According to members of the community, and people who were accquaintances of both Tank and Dylan, people started to think that something might have gone too far in their contract and things were looking abusive.
And then in Dec of 2016, in a Facebook message to a friend named Kyle, a man who had previously briefly dated Dylan in the past, Tank wrote "Keep it to yourself, but for my own sake, I need to develop an exit strategy for myself. It's a little scary because I don't have a lot of savings or know too many people."
He admitted to Kyle that he was scared of Dylan, hinted that their relationship was abusive, and he also knew that once he left him, he wouldn’t be able to communicate with the rest of the pups. Remember Tank moved to the States for Dylan. Dylan and the other pups were it for him here. These guys who for real were his chosen family. And if you’re unaware, chosen family bonds can sometimes be even stronger than your bio ones.
By this time, Master Dylan and the boys had relocated to Seattle. In March of 2017, when Master Dylan was out of the country, Tank called a friend asking to be picked up. He ended up staying with friends for several months, who tried to educate Jack on how there was life to be led outside of the paw patrol.
Dylan’s initial reaction to Tank leaving was to post photos of the two of them together on the Noodles and Beef newsletter and write “"Thank you for everything, Tank. I hope only for your happiness and success."
The next week a friend convinced Tank to let him take him to a Home Depot, and try out a pair of bolt cutters to snip Dylan’s padlocked chain from around Jack’s neck. Remember, all of the pups wore these big heavy chains and locks per Master Dylan’s orders. There’s actually video of this that I watched and Jack is smiling and happy when that heavy chain finally slides off his neck. Who wouldn’t be? Kinky playtime sure, but imagine having to sleep in that sort of thing?
That same week, Dylan’s online followers were introduced to a Pup Angus, Master Dylan’s newest pup, and a young man who some have described as looking shockingly like Tank. Included in this introduction was a photo of the new guy’s penis,sporting a piece of bloody medical tape indicating that he migth have recently received some sort of injection there.
A month after that, in April of 2017. In another Facebook exchange with a different friend who had asked him what happened with Master Dylan, Tank responded by noting that "I reached the limit of what I could take. He was being emotionally abusive, making me feel awful constantly... There wasn't enough room for me to have my own friends, my own interests, my own ambitions in the relationship."
After he was asked why Dylan didn’t go into their breakup at any length in his very popular Noodles and Beef newsletter, he replied that "That's the way he wanted it. He's extremely self-conscious about his image." He also alleged that Dylan had threatened to sue him in small claims court if Tank ever publicly mentioned their relationship troubles.
Which he apparently/allegedly did. That summer, in July, Dylan texted a pic of a small claims court filing to Tank. Tank told his friend Kyle that Dylan WAS suing him. Tank explained that he had moved in with Dylan at his invitation when he came to the US, and Dylan had covered Tank’s part of the rent for the first few months while he found a job. At the time he had been told it was a gift. But Dylan turned around and sued Tank for the money after he left him, claiming his ex owed him back rent.
This info must have gotten out as Dylan started telling his side of the story in the Noodles and Beef all the news thats fit to retch at newsletter writing "While I was in Japan, I caught Tank lying about meeting up with some men (again). He moved out before I could return home, leaving me with a tremendous amount of his debt and unpaid bills. Well, fuck you too. I returned home to my loving, supportive pups, who had removed any photos or signs of Tank's presence."
In his dialogue with friends, Tank noted that he was homeless and had only $3,000 in savings, but that Master Dylan "earns about $200,000 each year + bonus stock options of equal value based on performance." and had concluded that Dylan suining him was a scorned former master move.
Dylan explained it in his newsletter that "Tank ignored my olive branch, so I decided to collect rent he owed me."
And then, sadly Im thinking cuz well, he’s dead now, Tank returned to the fold. Dylan wrote that Tank had “ responded to my court summons with the money he owed me, and asked to try therapy and reconnecting. I accepted."
Tank moved out of his friend’s house to resume his relationship with Master Dylan. The court case was then dismissed.
And then, Tank’s friends found themselves unfriended or blocked from all of his social media accounts. The friends raised as big stink online and some were added back. Tank had definitely changed since going back with his master, though.
A friend of his received a message from Tank apologizing for everything negative he had ever said about Master Dylan to him.
"Everything that I said was more than just spite. They were malicious lies with the intention of damaging both him and his reputation. Master Dylan has not done anything wrong except making the mistake of trusting me, and for that I am sorry to both you and him. and "It's not okay, what I did was a horrible thing."
Meanwhile, back at Noodles and Beef digital HQ - Dylan wrote that he was in couples therapy with Tank and that Tank had been spreading hurtful gossip about him since they broke up. He also added that he was “fearful he’s still doing it”.
Remember when I said that Dylan was a graphic designer and artist and I always noted all these charts and graphs he would create and post? Well in one of his entries on Nov 15, he used ten-point scales to assign numerical values to how much he trusted Tank now that they had gotten back together, in addition to how secure and valued he felt by him. He gave him ratings of 3 and under in all categories. Keep in mind that Tank’s mental and emotional state by the time was allegedly severely wrapped up in Master Dylan’s approval. So he probably saw this shit and wanted to die. Friends saw this as Dylan trying to humiliate his submissive to his more than 200,000 readers around the world.
Tank’s friend Kyle wrote on Tumblr that Tank was
" was deeply submissive, and found joy, love, and belonging in his relationship with Dylan Hafertepen. He eroticized an uncommon level of physical and emotional domination. It was difficult for me to tell whether Jack's aka Tank’s relationship—involving behavioral restrictions, physical changes, reverence towards his master, and deep shame at disappointing him—were hallmarks of abuse, or a part of a healthy Master/slave relationship."
He also told The Stranger that "Folks differ on where exactly lines should be drawn. However, I think most leather people would call out withholding contact, legal or financial threats, and cutting off a sub's support network—e.g., blocking his friends—as abusive."
And then, Tank Heathcliff Hafertepen, aka Jack Chapman, died on Oct. 15 2018.
His death certificate lists his manner of death as an "accident."
After Tank’s untimely death, one of Master Dylan’s other pups Pup Alpha announced Tank’s death in a Facebook post, saying that his fellow pup had died “due to a previously undiagnosed lung ailment.” This was not Tank's actual cause of death, but it’s not known if Pup Alpha knew that at the time.
He went on to write that Tank had “ seemed fine, doing the things he loved—working out, caring for clients as part of Lifelong AIDS Alliance, and spending time with his family—until a week ago when he had trouble breathing and was admitted to the hospital with what we figured was a routine infection. It turned out to be much more. He fought very hard, seeming to get a tiny bit better day by day, until the terrible moment that we were told nothing more could be done.”
On Master Dylan’s front - in the wake of Tank’s death, his personal Instagram was closed down, the Noodles and Beefy newsletter was deactivated, and Noodles and Beef.com was taken down and replaced with a single page saying goodbye to Tank.
Tank’s death certificate read that he died of silicone embolism syndrome as a result of subcuteanious injection of silicone. The King County Washington Medical Examiner’s office investigator was quoted as saying that the "silicone embolism syndrome" led to "pneumonitis" (which is a viral inflammation of lung tissue), which led to "acute respiratory distress syndrome" (so insufficient oxygen reaching the lungs), and that this led to "diffuse alveolar hemorrhage" (which is bleeding in the lungs), and that’s what killed him..
On October 17, two days after Tanks death, a documentary filmmaker who was a friend of Tank’s, posted that, "Jack/Tank had gotten [the injections] to please his master." He also said that Tank "expressed regret over those injections to me."
I should stress that Tank WAS aware that inflating his junk to the size of dodgeballs, yikes, was a health risk. In fact, he wrote about his partaking of the practice on his own Tumblr, and noted he’d had them done by a “guy in Sacramento who is a champ”, also noting that “I will not refer any readers to any resources detailing this information. If you seek to pursue it, you're doing so at your own risk."
So one might say that ok, he knew it was a health risk, he knew it, and did it anyway. He was a grown man, capable of judging the risks and taking his chances. Ok. But it also reads like Tank might not have been acting of his own volition. Have I said “allegedly” within the past five minutes?
So when Tank’s death made it online, some members of their community recalled a friend of Dylan’s named Peter Dovak. Peter, 30, was a graphic designer who lived near Washington DC.and died on Nov 15, 2017 from a pulmonary embolism, which was silicone-related and that Peter had suffered after allegedly being directed to a silicon provider/pumper at Dylan Hafertepen’s suggestion. Dylan had allegedly directed Peter to a man named Joe Quader in Southern California who wasn’t any sort of medical professional but did have medical grade silicone that he had purchased illegally.
in Nov 2017, Peter Dovak went to Quader in SoCal for a fourth injection. Unfortunately, Quader nicked a vein that time. Silicone got into Peter Dovak’s bloodstream, it traveled to his lungs, and he died of an embolism four days later.
Peter Dovak’s boyfriend dropped a dime on Joe Quader the day after his partner’s death, giving them a name, an adress and copies of the checks used to pay for the silicone. The police detective who took the case found five other guys who had ended up in the hospital after buying and being injected with liquid silicone by Joe Quader.
In September of 2018, after the case had gone to a DA in Orange County, a police detective called Peter’s boyfriend to let him know that Joe Quader had taken his own life the day before he was to be arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Dylan didn’t ignore his friend Peter’s medical emergency or his death. On the day Peter Dovak died, Dylan spoke on silicone injecting in his newsletter saying "Free silicone is a very dangerous thing to have in your body. The risk is extremely high and a misplaced injection almost always results in death.” He also said he was going to stop sharing info about the practice because “"I have had acquaintances and friends die in pursuit of this fetish... I can't give that information in good conscious [sic] knowing the harm it can bring."
Then he referenced Dovak saying "This week, one of my oldest friends had a mistake with his procedure. He went to a clandestine lab with a high success rate, and ended up in the hospital. 'Critical, but stable' was the latest report. I am tremendously hopeful."
The day after Peter died, Dylan posted a photo of them together, noted how close they’d been, and wrote Thank you for having me in your life, you will be deeply missed in mine."
Tank died about a year after Peter Dovak. After Peter’s surviving partner found out about it he posted online that he "I have zero sympathy for all parties involved. If my partner's death wasn't enough to warn them, they got what was coming to them. If there were any justice in the world, Dylan would be headed for prison."
Meanwhile, some of Tank’s closest friends had NO CLUE he was dead or had even been in the hospital. It wasnt untl rumors started that Tank’s employer had announced his death via email to his coworkers that anyone had any idea that something tragic had occurred.
A friend of Tank’s went to Dylan via Facebook messaging to ask what was up. This is where Dylan either revealed his true colors as a creepy narcissistic sociopath with a really nice ass OR that he was absolutely panicked and grief-stricken over his lover’s death and/or possibly being linked to said death and went into CYA mode which it turns out he was miserable at.
I myself have seen all of these screen grabs. Dylan’s initial response was “that’s horrible. Who is saying this? It sounds like gossip.”
He also wrote “Tank (aka Jack) is rather upset. Tank would really appreciate if you could find the culprit"
So, uh, he’s writing about someone who is deceased. This exchange took place after Tank’s death.
The convo goes on and it actually turns into a hostile thread where Dylan demands to know where Tank’s friend got the info that Tank was dead and who was gossiping about them he wanted to know. Keep in mind - Tank? Dead. So Dylan ends up blocking Tank’s friend when he wouldnt’ tell him his source. The friend got a copy of the email Jack’s employer sent to announce his death and he sent it to Dylan on Instagram. Who thanked him and promptly blocked him on THAT platform.
The friend also checked on his connections to Tank on all of the platforms. Tank and I'm using quotes, had blocked him on all of them. From the grave.
It was AFTER all of this that Pup Alpha posted Jack’s death announcment on Facebook, followed by Dylan’s and Tank’s social media accounts being taken down. NoodlesandBeef.com was replaced with actual photos and recipes for noodles and beef. Cute?In October of 2018, the Seattle Police Department told the Stranger that "The Seattle Police Department and King County Medical Examiner's Office have reviewed the medical file related to this death, as well as concerns from the community. There is no criminal investigation at this time."
He wasn’t the only one. An uproar began to grow online. People began to take sides. The Stranger wrote the first article questioning what happened and noting what some people were saying online, The Strange has a readership. Buzzfeed’s however is much bigger. Buzzfeed wrote about the case in November of 2018. And it led to some legal shit going down.
So Dylan eventually spoke to Buzzfeed writers in an email, giving them a few details and his own account which he eventually adopted into an FAQ he posted on an online memorial that he created for Tank.. But this was after Dylan and the paw patrol called the police on one of the Buzzfeed writers when he tried to reach them at their home in Seattle and had him arrested and then filed a restrainign order against him. A week later, Dylan responded to emailed questions.
He noted that he was “sad about all the speculation”. He referred to all of the online postings about Tanks death and his role in Tank’s life as “Some misinterpreted facts, conspiracy theories, and not nearly enough celebrating the wonderful man that he was,” he said. “Continued speculation has not allowed me to remain silent.” he said.
He did note that he was aware of how shady he looked, saying “If I read the things being said about me online and didn’t know the truth, I would think I was guilty of something too.”
As for the list of rules and responsibilities that Jack had posted online that included body goals and his requirement to submit to body modifications “including piercings, tattoos, scrotal saline inflation as well as body growth supplements including steroids and HGH - in accordance to the wishes of the Master.” Dylan told Buzzfeed that it was just “a piece of erotic fiction written by Tank, featuring some of his submissive fantasies.”
In an interview with a BDSM blog prior to his death, Tank noted that his contract with Master Dylan gave his master control over his finances, his time, his phone and whom he socialized with, When asked about this, Dylan claimed that their finances were separate.
Dylan also denied forcing Tank to get injections. “This was his fetish,” he said. “I did not make him inject silicone. On the contrary, I helped him get some removed.”
Buzzfeed also asked him about the newsletter post he published shortly after Jack’s death in which he again pretended Jack hadn’t died.
“I regret this,” he told them, explaining he was dismayed that rumors of Tank’s death had begun circulating so quickly. “In my grief, I was furious and denied anything was wrong while aimlessly trying to find out the source,” he said. “It was a mistake and I apologize to those I misled.” “Tank was very loved and I understand the urge to blame someone for his death.
Now let’s head back to Australia. Tank’s mom Linda Chapman only heard about her son’s death some time after he died. She knew Tank was in some form of relationship with Dylan, they had even visited at Christmas one year and she initially liked Dylan. But then she found out how her son died. And learned about silicone scrotum injections.
I’m not sure exactly how it came about but an Australian news program called The Project did a whole episode on Dylan and Jack, which you can watch on YouTube. It’s super sad and very cringey in part. The climax of the episode is the tv crew ambushing Dylan at Linda’s house when he arrives to drop off Tank’s ashes. We watched this footage. Talk about uncomfortable.
Linda flat out says i blame you for my son’s death and she demands to know who shot her son’s gentals up with silicon to which he said."I have never done that for him. I forbid him from doing silicone." Dylan tells her.
Unfortunately a friend of Tank’’s had a receipt in the form of more Facebook messaging. Seriously how did we solve crimes before socuial media. In a message dated March 18, 2017, during his breakup with Master Dylan, Tank mentions that Dylan "invoiced me the value of the gifts he had given me in our relationship... it wasn't for everything, probably about $4,000... including the silicone."
And then there was the Tumblr post in which Tank wrote "How will you know when you have added enough bulk to your balls and dick?" Tank answered his own question by writing that: "Master will decide when enough is enough. I trust his judgment and I think we're on the same page.
And Tank’s mom came away from her encounter with Dylan feeling that he was “a narcissistic bastard” and a “disgusting pile of shit.”
So where did it all end up. Well…..Linda sued Dylan and four of the pups for contributing to Tank’s death in October of 2019, according to the Daily Beast filing a lawsuit in King County, Washington, , alleging wrongful death, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy. The Chapmans sought punitive damages and planned to contest provisions of Tank’s will.
Dylan himself sued the The Project for defamation of character and WON by the way. According to an Australian news website, in his statement of claim, Dylan said the tv show “over-sensationalised” the report, defamed him in seven ways, and caused him to lose his position at Google.The show had to put up a retraction online that said there was no evidence he had caused his pup’s death.
So there ya have it. I got an update on Dylan from a friend on Friday who told me that Dylan still uses socia media platforms and claims that he’s seen recent pics of him that depict him having grown his hair long and apparently might have had some sort of cosmetic procedure done to his face. At any rate, this friend of our noted to me that he definitely looked different. I mean once you’ve been roasted online and on Austrlaian national television like that, maybe it is a good idea to go for another facial option to hide your identity.
I’m kinda torn. Mark what do you think? Did he force Jack into it? Was he abusive? Is it all just internet gossip? There are still people in that particular community online warring over whose fault Tank’s death was. His own? Dylan’s?
As one commenter on an anti-Dylan blog said, “We all watched them play with the size of their balls for years and didn’t say anything, so we’re probably all complicit to some level and we should all be ashamed.”
That’s the Noodles and Beef story! I’d like to thank Mark for joining me this evening.
Wasn’t Mark great? He’s one of those friends that I refer to as a mayor, a beloved someone who knows everybody and everybody knows him, ya know? Also, it irritated me that he sounded all voice for podcast and he came with facts, and he’s a lot more articulate than I am, so look for Mark to take over Wicked Gay in Season 5. I kid! But let me know if you enjoyed hearing another voice on here. If so, I’ll try and do it again in the future.
So this concludes Wicked Gay’s fourth season. I think I’m going to do some new stuff in Season 5. Maybe broaden Wicked Gay’s horizon, maybe offer some more content, you know - build the Wicked Gay empire into a podcast juggernaut. We’ll see.
If you’ve got a critique, a comment or a suggestion for Wicked Gay’s future, please do not hesitate to drop me a line at Wicked Gay pod at gmail.com. I I recently heard from listener Chad in Nawlins Louisiana. He’s part of a gay krewe (that’s krewe) and makes huge Mardi Gras costumes and I kept him productive one time. Thanks for writing in Chad. I love hearing from you guys.
You can also follow Wicked Gay on those hellspawn social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and heavens no, I’m on TikTok now. Follow me on there and you get to see what I look like. You’re gonna get there, see me, and be like - why did I do this? Look, I’m middle-aged and a ring light isn’t a miracle worker, bitch.
If I could also kindly ask, please click like or a star, or even more importantly, rate and review Wicked Gay on whatever podcast platform you use. It’s a big help.
Wicked Gay’s theme song is by Gino and the Goons, you can find them on Spotify and Facebook. Additional music by JB and this AI app AIVA, you know AI, the thing that’s taking my job soon. Cover art by Paul Chapman and sound by my lovely and talented husband.
And again, as always, I love you and thank you for listening and be kind to others and, most importantly, yourself.
You’ve been listening to Wicked Gay, a true-crime podcast about gay people doing awful things.
