For anyone interested, I wanted to take a moment to explain the situation withthe Slap forum going down and Andrew Murrell's accusations that I threatened legal action against High Speed Productions, therefore causing the temporary shut down.
All of the information about Andrew Murrell below, with the of the Instagram direct message shown between Andrew and another user, can be found publicly online.
Ethics Matter. Integrity Matters. Accountability Matters. Truth Matters. Words matter ...
Originally from the Atlanta, GA area, Andrew Murrell is a Brooklyn, New York-based copywriter and journalist / author / writer within the skateboarding industry. He is a long-time skateboarder and has written for publications like Closer Skateboarding, Vice, Village Psychic, A Simple Magic, Jenkem, Quartersnacks, Theories of Atlantic, Mic and Parade World and has worked for agencies such as Capgemini and Impacct Brooklyn.
His website is https://andrewtmurrell.com/ and Murrell is also the founder and curator of the Instagram account @OverthinkingSkateVideos.
On March 17, 2025. The popular skateboarding forum known as SLAP, owned by parent company High Speed Productions, was temporarily shut down for maintenance and posted a notification on their home page stating "Working on it".
On that same day, however, after seeing the notice on Slap's site, Andrew Murrell posted an unsolicited and completely libelous tweet about me, Robert Brink, via his account @fullmelvnjacket stating:
“story I’m hearing is Rob Brink threatened to sue High Speed so now it's gone”
This statement about Robert Brink (myself) threatening to sue High Speed Productions is absolutely, 100% false. And the owners of High Speed Productions can testify to that fact if need be. No one (including Andrew or whoever he “heard” it from) would have that information to share with Andrew because a threat to sue High Speed Productions never happened.
Also the Slap forum was never "gone", per Andrew's claims. As clearly stated on Slap, by the owners of Slap, they were simply working on the site.
Shortly after his first tweet, Andrew posted a follow-up tweet stating:
“we're losing online discussion platforms at an alarming pace to billionaires and algorithmic slop, it takes a REAL fucking dickhead to intentionally wipe one out because you couldn't handle the consequences of your own actions”
I'm not sure what I, Rob Brink, have to do with Andrew's claim that "we're losing online discussion forums at an alarming pace" or billionaires in general, but how could Andrew possibly obtain the information that I “intentionally wiped out” the Slap forum website when the site itself posted a notice that it was being worked on?
The forum clearly stated on the home page that it was down for maintenance with the words "Working on it" and a maintenance graphic, yet Andrew still decided to publish a a complete lie and publicly blame me for "intentionally wiping it out".
When was Slap ever "wiped out"? Never.
Websites having outages or going into maintenance mode is something we, as internet users, have experienced for nearly three decades.
Why would Mr. Murrell ignore the most reliable source of information out there regarding the Slap forum (slapmagazine.com itself) and instead choose to intentionally post lies about me instead? Even stating the the Slap forum was "wiped out" is a lie.
What "actions" that "I couldn't handle the consequences of" is Andrew referring to exactly? Again, this "threat" and "intent" he mentions are things that never happened. Yet Andrew confidently stated it all of this misinformation as fact.
So why would a professional writer and journalist take hearsay and the unreliable, unverified word of someone without proper research or contacting me first to confirm before posting it as fact for the world to see on social media?
It is worth noting that Andrew Murrell's Bluesky handle is "@knowngaslighter" and his past, now-banned Slap handle is "Heckler". Make of those names and posts from those accounts what you will.
One in particular that stands out is his "#freegator" post. If you are unfamiliar with Mark "Gator" Rogowski, he was charged with the 1991 rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend Jessica Bergsten and is still in prison today.
Below are screen shots of voluntarily Andrew identifying himself under his username "Heckler" on the "Who's Who" thread of the Slap forum and his post about Gator.
Andrew's posts, be it on Slap or Twitter, are ripe with negativity and vitriolic criticism. It wouldn't take much for one to perceive them (or Andrew) as "angry" or "hateful".
I believe Andrew Murrell, for whatever reason, wanted to harm me and my reputation and career and that put me on the receiving end of his venom on this particular day. I don't see why else this would have occurred. Andrew knowingly posted unconfirmed and false information to assault my (Robert Brink’s) reputation and character in front of the entire skateboarding industry and community multiple times for reasons unknown and followed up with even more malicious statements in conversation with an Instagram user who confronted him on Robert's behalf. More on that below.
Andrew, as a professional copywriter and journalist should certainly know, understand and adhere to the laws of libel and knows not to post false information without fact checking and reliable sources. He should know that this is illegal and can cause significant harm to the victim for many years, if not longer.
Any lawyer or professional writer or editor will likely tell you that the words “I heard” are not an exemption or safeguard from libel or defamation, despite Mr. Murrell believing it is.
From this source tweet that Andrew made on March 7, 2025, a Reddit thread was then created to serve as a backup for the Slap forum so the members could communicate and stay up to date on what was happening. Atop of the Reddit thread was an embedded screen shot of Andrew Murrell's defamatory tweets about me.
In other words, the lies about me were the first thing any visitor to the Reddit thread would see:
It was at this time that Andrew’s false information about Slap’s disappearance was read by thousands of people and I, Robert Brink, began receiving hundreds of harassing comments, direct messages, physical threats of violence and more.
People still contact me and believe I was responsible for Slap going "down" even though the forum was restored in 4 days.
I tried to reach out to Andrew in good faith, multiple times, via his social media accounts to ask him to remove the tweet and to set the record straight and discuss the matter, but he blocked me after seeing my messages, without any reply.
A follower of myself, Robert Brink, on Instagram contacted Andrew about the matter and Andrew’s response was the following:
“‘he’s [Brink] not well"
"brink has spent the past year terrorizing everyone on that message board"
"and i said ‘i heard,’ not that that's what happened"
"in part because i heard from him because he fucking posted it"
In this conversation, Andrew continues to completely fabricate things that never happened. I did not “terrorize” anyone (much less "everyone") "for the past year" on the Slap message board.
Further, I was never in contact with Andrew Murrell for Andrew to “hear it from” me because:
#1, the incident Murrell claimed about me threatening to sue High Speed never occurred.
#2, I have never been in direct contact with Mr. Murrell in my life(Murrell even ignored me when I did try to contact him).
#3, I never posted that I "threatened to sue High Speed Productions" or anything of that nature.
So how exactly did Mr. Murrell "hear" anything from me? He didn't because that's impossible.
Additionally, a statement evaluating Robert Brink’s mental or emotional health in the form of “he’s not well” coming from a published journalist to a complete stranger seems extremely unprofessional and slanderous in itself. Again, Andrew and I have never met and never interacted in person or online.
How would he make this determination? Is Andrew a psychologist or psychiatrist? Based on the resume and portfolio I saw, I don't think he is.
So where did Andrew Murrell get all this information and why is he spreading it to strangers online?
He made up and published lies and drew his own biased conclusions about the Slap forum and Robert Brink based on hearsay—forming his own opinions and then presented them publicly, in writing, as fact. I believe this false information was published by Andrew to intentionally and personally harm me, Robert Brink, although I have no clue why he would want to do so, as we have never personally interacted and I have never spoken of him, nor did I even know his name prior to his tweet about me. I knew of, and enjoyed, the @overthinkingskatevideos account for many years, but I didn't know who ran it until March 17, 2025.
Perhaps he has a personal vendetta against me, however, to reiterate, I did attempt to contact him personally to work things out in private after his March 17, 2025 tweet but my attempts were ignored.
One step further, a final statement from Murrell in his conversation with the aforementioned Instagram user states:
“whatever shit is in brink's inbox is because of his own actions”
This statement is a clear indication that Andrew Murrell knew what he posted caused harm to me, Robert Brink, and that he simply doesn’t care. In fact, he appears remorseless, perhaps even glad it happened.
In other words, Murrell's original libelous tweets, Murrell's ignoring of my attempts to discuss the matter and the harassment I received as the result of his tweet and more are somehow “Robert Brink’s fault.”
There was nothing in my "inbox" until after Andrew published his defamatory tweets, which were then republished on Reddit. So what could possibly have been the result of my own actions? For some reason, Andrew seems to feel I "deserve" what happened to me after his libelous tweet spread across the internet.
How any of this could possibly be true, given the sequence of events and Andrew basing his entire narrative on a “threat to sue High Speed” that never happened?
Andrew's logic and reasoning are biased, nonsensical and perplexing. Andrew's statements about me are all lies.
To this day, despite my multiple attempts, Andrew has not reached out to me to discuss. He has blocked me on his social media accounts so I cannot confirm if the tweet still exists, however he has also never apologized or posted a written retraction across his social accounts to help set the record straight, which is all I am asking for.
This is extremely irresponsible behavior from a writer. A writer like this puts any agency or publication they work for at a serious risk. They are a liability to any client they work with.
As a journalist of 25 years, well-trained in the rules of defamation. I find this to be despicable, unethical behavior that is completely lacking in integrity. I feel it is my responsibility (as with all journalists) to report the truth, keep people informed and educate them on the ethics and legalities of journalism, especially within the industry I love and have devoted my entire career to, skateboarding.
Andrew Murrell: Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America Troop 1776, Marietta, Georgia
Andrew Murrell maliciously and unapologetically committed libel multiple times over the course of a week, doubled down and blamed me for the harassment I received and then refused to discuss, retract or apologize for his statements despite being completely wrong.
Words matter ...
- Robert Brink