Ian Lockwood: The Dark Money Funding One of The Fringe's Best Shows
REVEALED!
〰️
REVEALED! 〰️
Image: JT Anderson
Edinburgh Fringe 2024 is here! And so is our annual features series. This year, it’s all about REVELATIONS: the gossip, the mysteries, the spies and the moles. Because everyone knows you can’t keep a secret at Edinburgh Fringe…
Ian Lockwood is bringing The Farewell Tour to Edinburgh Fringe, but that’s not all that’s going on. Something fishy is happening and our in-house, super serious investigative reporter is on the case…
By Ewan Lockhart, LMAOnaise Investigative Reporter*
Edinburgh Fringe – it’s one of the last places to see art for art’s sake. Each year, thousands of independent artists travel from around the world to share their work with audiences, in ten-seat bars and 2000-seat theatres. Sadly, our investigative journalism has found that even the Fringe isn’t immune to influence by large, morally dubious corporations.
The Farewell Tour: A Show With A Dark Secret
By now you’ve probably heard about one of the Fringe’s most anticipated shows from a newcomer, Ian Lockwood: The Farewell Tour. It’s described as a “musical comedy extravaganza [that] will deliver a true spectacle that is also hilarious and moving,” that is “packed with catchy tunes, stunning visual projections, gravity defying choreography and pre-recorded interviews” “that address the pain that led Ian Lockwood to a detached life of stardom and the fear of abandonment masked by a confident pop-star-facade.” It’s easy to see why this captivating show from a buzzy newcomer has audiences excited.
But is that excitement organic or manufactured? There are certainly suspicious associations.
There are two beneficiaries for the show publicly listed: one is Underbelly, Ltd., and the other is not Lockwood himself, but rather, an LLC called “Gay Guy Productions.” The trail leads through a long line of ghost corps; first through “Homo, Inc.”, then “Fairy Technologies”, “Tiny Dancer Co.”, and finally to a company called “Twink Labs” with 4 major investors:
Boeing, Nestlé, British Petroleum, and BlackRock.
Twink Labs is a completely blank slate, except for a few tax records, which show a handful of massive donations to anti-gay groups.
Looking into the history of “Ian Lockwood”, things become even more mysterious: There’s absolutely no trace of him before the release of his first EP in 2020.
A Voice from the Shadows
It’s the end of another long day at the LMAOnaise offices, and I just want to relax. I place my key in the doorknob of my flat. Or rather, I try, but to my horror, the door swings open without resistance. I take a cautious step in and see that someone was here. Someone other than me or my Pomeranian, Charbles. Thank god I brought him to the office with me.
Everything in my home has been rifled through, but nothing is gone. Instead, there’s a note on my Boca Do Lobo coffee table: “They were in here. – RB.”
Rattled, I down a bottle of Pimm’s and take Charbles to a nearby hotel.
Who is Richard Bong?
Searching every possible combination I could think of leads me to a suspicious LinkedIn page. A page for one “Richard Bong.” But “Richard Bong” looks exactly like Lockwood – or maybe Lockwood should be the name in quotes. Is 31-year-old Lockwood actually 24-year-old Bong, a junior marketing executive at Boeing? Bong is married and lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children. Or at least, he did until 2020, at which point he seems to drop off the face of the earth. But the resemblance is uncanny.
But why? Why would this young, handsome man who had it all become a gay popstar for Boeing?
My flat becomes a mess of photographs and red string. My ex-wife keeps asking to pick up her epipen from my place, but I don’t return her calls. I’m in too deep.
A pattern emerges.
On 24 October 2024, The SEC Charges BlackRock with Failing to Properly Disclose Investments by Publicly Traded Fund it Advised. On 31 October 2023, Troye Sivan releases One of Your Girls.
On 28 June, 2021, Nestlé is named in a child slavery lawsuit by eight former workers from Mali. On 26 March 2021, Lil Nas X releases Montero (Call Me By Your Name).
On 20 April 2010, BP spills oil into the Gulf of Mexico. On 11 May, Adam Lambert releases If I Had You. It debuts and #30. No Adam Lambert song has charted since.
And finally, in March of 2024, an investigation of the airplane manufacturer Boeing finds "multiple instances where the companies failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements".
March 2024. The same month that Ian Lockwood: The Farewell Tour is announced.
It’s clear, at last: the largest global corporations are diverting attention from their scandals by promoting, and sometimes even manufacturing, gay pop stars, and Lockwood is the latest, sent by Boeing to distract from the waning safety standards of their airplanes.
Someone is knocking on my hotel door as I put the finishing touches on this piece. Charbles is barking his head off. Please, if I disappea
Ian Lockwood: The Farewell Tour is at Underbelly (Wee Coo) from July 31-Aug 26th (except 12th), 10:20pm. Tickets here
Read more about Edinburgh Fringe 2024:
