This week’s story is unbelievable and requested by many. There were allegations of threats, bullying, secret identities, theft, and hacking. There were also way too many magicians using the words “magic mafia” and “free speech”.
What began as another magic crediting debate quickly became a much larger story — and all of this drama over a Christmas cracker trick.
The goal is always to summarise what happened based on available information.
Suppose you can set aside the anger and ugliness. In that case, there’s a discussion to be had around:
- The ownership and crediting of magic tricks.
- How anonymity impacts behaviour in the industry.
As you read this story, keep in mind that the term “receipts” is also slang for “proof” or “evidence” and is often used to call out someone for lying or to show someone is being genuine.
*Chef’s Kiss*
Part 1: A RED Warning
You should know what happened ten years ago.
Craig Petty says he was the first YouTube magic product reviewer. That’s because he co-hosted The Wizard Product Review 13 years ago when it was shot in 480p and would get 10k views most weeks.
Petty describes his attitude on Wizard Product Review as a “bad cop”. He never held back his anger towards creators he felt were releasing unoriginal magic.
In 2013, he released a new trick called RED.
The community soon found the trick to be unoriginal. The presentation, props, and method were identical to another trick published by Bob King in 1994 called New Wave Prediction.
This fact was first brought to Petty’s attention via email by Michael Weber and Tim Trono. Though, Petty says he did not share this detail or name them publicly at the time.
Michael Weber is a mentalist, IP attorney, and consultant based in California. His credits include films like The Prestige, Forrest Gump, & Oceans 13. He is highly regarded by many, with several magicians tattooed with “WWWD”, which stands for “What Would Weber Do?” — a phrase he embraces in his Twitter profile picture.
Tim Trono is a magician also based in America and a longtime collaborator and friend of Weber. Together, the pair have released magic under brands like Real Secrets. Tim also works for Penguin (a large online magic brand) and previously worked for Murphy’s (the largest magic wholesaler).
Petty now says Weber and Trono orchestrated much of the RED ordeal. He is not the only person who believes Weber played some role in this. A user called New Guy recently posted in a magic forum:
Weber was an old friend of [Bob] King and paid Bob for the rights so he could go after Craig and set the record straight.
After the community discovered RED was identical to New Wave Prediction, it was revealed that Petty had named New Wave Prediction in a 2005 forum thread as his number 1 favourite gaffed deck.
This forum comment made it clear that Petty knew about the trick years before releasing his identical version. Not only did he know about it, but he also purchased, performed and referred to it as his favourite gaffed deck.
This revelation caused a considerable backlash.
The reaction was exacerbated by Petty's reputation for coming down hard on creators he believed stole magic. People were angry, publicly and privately. Many felt with 100% certainty that Craig had intentionally stolen the trick from Bob King.
Petty agreed that the tricks were identical but insisted he did not knowingly copy King’s trick. He continues to insist on this belief today.
