 I'm Anthony Johnson, this is a video and written response to a video recently published by Richard Cooper. To fans and patrons of 21 Studios, on January 31, 2019, we published a promotional video trailer for an upcoming 21 convention live event in Orlando, Florida. The video has since gone viral and received nearly 100,000 views across all platforms. The response from our speaker team and fans was extremely positive, including speakers featured in the video itself. Some of the speakers from the trailer, Richard Cooper, even agreed to cross-publish this video to his platforms and further expand its reach. In spite of Richard speaking twice prior, successfully, and with his strong endorsement, he expressed brand new safety concerns for the event that quickly deteriorated into dictates and demands. This became problematic for the following reasons. 1. After repeated questioning and writing and orally to the witness of Rola Tomasi and team members at 21 Studios, Richard failed to provide evidence of a single, violent, or otherwise credible threat to his safety at any event, time, or place. This would be a serious matter that would need to be reported immediately to YouTube, Google, and law enforcement. To my knowledge and repeated inquiry, no such action has been taken and no such comments exist. In spite of this lack of evidence, I heard his concerns and responded with the following security investments and measures on behalf of 21 Studios. This is a partial list and some measures must remain private for security purposes. A. Increase our professional, licensed and armed security team from two to six guards. B. Further increase the guards from six to eight. C. Hiring an armed, personal bodyguard for Richard throughout the entire event. D. Offering Richard a level 3A body armor throughout the entire event. Also available in 2018 and 2019 for all speakers seen right here. E. Any attendee or speaker carrying a concealed weapon must present a valid concealed weapons license to demonstrate lawful possession of the weapon. F. Hiring a uniformed Orange County Sheriff's Deputy to be present for the entire event. G. The on-site security director for the Orlando venue I have selected for this event is retired United States Secret Service. H. Our event venues are kept hidden and released to pay ticket holders only. This is standard for all 21 convention events. 3. The security professionals we work with agree that these measures vastly exceed our actual threat level, which as stated it has included no evidence of violent or otherwise credible threats. We are extremely far ahead of any potential problems. 4. Richard dismissed and declined all of these measures and with zero security qualifications to my knowledge then and now made his own recommendations into non-negotiable demands. At no point were security specific recommendations from Richard considered because he is not a professional in this domain and holds no qualifications for making them. 5. These demands explicitly violated recommendations from actual security professionals and made clear that submitting to these demands would make the event less safe for all participants. 6. These demands which included mandating all attendees be personally unarmed and defenseless represent a major change to the way 21 convention events have operated since 2010. They also violate core guiding principles of the company that I have an unshakable conviction for including personal freedom, personal responsibility and self-defense. Principles I have been explicitly advocated for on our platforms numerous times by our speakers. Check the video description for links to these videos. 7. Under no circumstances am I willing to make our events, attendees, speakers and staff less safe, defy recommendations from actual security professionals and abandon core principles that guide the company. We walk our talk at every step. We are a professional organization that takes safety and security very seriously for every individual at our events. I take self-defense so seriously that I lawfully conceal carry a firearm, this one right here. At our events to protect myself, my friends, family, speakers and customers should a highly unlikely situation require it. Richard Cooper is not special, but has been offered excessive additional measures given his stated concerns. Our focus in this context is 100% on building a safe and secure event for all. Other personal emotions on the matter are of zero importance. We value safety over feelings. To the closest point, I have been building 21 convention events since July of 2006 and over 12 years, 15 conventions, 1,000 attendees and 140 speakers across four countries. We have never had a single incidence of violence, not so much as a fistfight. Our safety, security and privacy record for our events is literally flawless, including the two Richard spoke at and endorsed, fully aware of principles guiding the company then and now. Regarding the video trailer and patriarch edition of the 21 convention, we have complied with all reasonable requests in a timely manner, including removing him from the event speaker list. I have judged Richard's request to remove the promotional video trailer from the web that included him, among many of the speakers, as unreasonable, and instead have made proper updates to inform viewers of the sudden and surprising self-remover from speaking at the event. The video is property of 21 studios. It was paid for and filmed 100% by 21 studios. We had every reason to believe Richard would follow through on his word to speak at the event as he has before multiple times. He has put extensive effort into being in the trailer just days before publication, much to his approval on completion. The video is released in good faith and its continued existence on the web was never contingent upon a surprising reversal of decisions. The trailer is beautiful, badass, and made history in the hemisphere. It will never be removed from the web under any circumstances. I stand by our work completely and hope you continue to enjoy the video as many times as you wish. In summary, we are sending a cease and desist notice to Richard Cooper immediately for his baseless disparaging comments about the safety and reputation of our events that are completely unfounded, have no basis in evidence or fact, defy recommendations from actual security professionals and flagrantly undermine core values of 21 studios in a 21 convention. Richard's public comments are more than disparaging to me. Our team and events, they are insulting to our attendees and speakers who use their own judgment and trust us 15 times over to run a safe, secure, professional event for men every time. I am the sole founder of 21 studios and I'm proud to say the 21 convention is both the safest and greatest event in the entire history of the hemisphere. Richard Cooper no longer has any affiliation with 21 studios and I hereby withdraw any and all endorsements of him ever made and all pending speaking invitations to him have been permanently revoked. I'm Anthony dream Johnson. I approve this message and make zero apology for my decisions in this matter. I'll see you soon at the 21 convention. Take us in information or in the box below as well as a link to the transcript for this video. Have a safe day.