“I got fired by Mike Carroll, my hero. So brutal, man. Rick Howard actually didn't show up.
“Scott Johnston left [Lakai] to work at adidas and we’d become boys when I was working there.
“He's like, ‘Dude, come up to Portland for the weekend. We'll skate and chill!’
“I was like, ‘Yeah, for sure.’ I got all my work done and told my bosses, ‘Yo guys, I'm going to Portland for the weekend.’
“I didn't really think about it and they're like, ‘Portland, you say?’ I get a text from Mike Carroll when I'm up there, ‘What are you doing in Portland?’
“I was like, ‘I'm visiting Scott.’
“He's like, ‘I need you to come home right now.’
“I was like, ‘Well, I'm definitely not doing that 'cause like you're not my dad. I'll be home Monday.’
“He's like, ‘Cool, 8 A.M. meeting Monday morning.’
“I was like, ‘Fuck. I know these guys think I'm trying to get a job because everyone keeps leaving' [Crailtap].
“So I show up Monday and I'm like, ‘Guys, I know what you're thinking, but I have no fucking job prospects. I went to visit Scott.’
“And he's like, ‘Well, we're gonna have to let you go.’
“And I was just like, ‘Alright then.’
“And he's like, ‘That's it, that's all you gotta say?’
“I'm like, ‘Dude, if you don't want me here, I don't wanna be here.’
“And he's like, ‘Well, now that you're not working here, are you sure you're not working anywhere else?’
“I'm just like, ‘Dude, I'm not working at like adidas or Nike, but thanks for everything’
“I went to shake his hand and he's a germaphobe so he's like, ‘Have you been like flying a lot? Are you kinda sick?’”
- Daniel Wheatley, The Bunt, December 2024
Paranoia, entitlement, condescending and most likely wrongful termination. This isn’t just a shit way to treat your staff, but any human being.
This incident occurred after Mike’s assault on online character of Marc Johnson. This was standard at Crailtap, and it is why dozens and dozens of people left en masse, turning Crailtap into the washed-up dumpster fire that it is now.
People don’t leave when they are happy and treated well. “Big Sportswear brands” didn’t “buy” all of them away. That’s horse shit.
Megan recently made a post directed at Lakai about “knowing when to quit.” Well damn, if that isn’t the most lacking-in-self-awareness statement of the year.
Mike, Rick and Megan left Rocco in 1993 to escape the very thing they became. Only they are much worse than Rocco ever was, and have been, for quite some time.
They made millions off the backs of skateboarders, their staff and riders, many of whom were ripped off and paid far less than they deserved, and have similar stories about royalties, etc.
I’ve been in the skate industry long enough to believe their stories.
And all the while, Crail did it meticulously crafting and marketing in image of “fun” and “family”.
What happened behind the scenes was very much the opposite.
In Mike’s 2016 Jenkem interview, he boasted about how Crail didn’t make riders sign contracts. But that works more in favor of an employer than riders. Riders who have given their life and body to an employer and barely have money health insurance, much less a lawyer when Crail ownership violates the law.
Read Daniel’s testimony a few times. Allow the levels of fucked-up-ness to sink in.
A loyal employee going to see his friend to skate and have fun. A trip he didn’t need to disclose to his boss because it was on a weekend, but he extended the courtesy anyway.
Only to be harassed on his days off by his employer, have his trip ruined, asked questions they had no right asking, making absurd demands then likely wrongfully terminating him when he came back.
That’s the real Crailtap. Have they done good things and contributed to skateboarding? Of course, but like so many other corporations, at what cost to people’s lives?
Daniel stated that he and Mike are still cool. And that’s his decision and that’s great. But the reason these stories are so rarely told, but need to be regardless of their reconciliation, is because the swine have hidden behind skateboarding’s “bro code” for way too long. Ethical employment, at minimum, is deserved by all. At best Crailtap was unethical in this situation, at worst, if this was as wrongful a termination as it seems, was illegal.
And just like we began telling the story of Zero in early 2024, and will continue to, Marc’s story about Crailtap and stories from many others will be shared …