Why do people hate Jay Sankey?

[Time_Lord]

Well, he occasionally has this weird thing where he just forgets how to do customer service - like, people receiving broken gimmicks being ignored or dismissed, responding with a fake name (I think Scott?), etc. Not as bad as Outlaw Effects but enough to earn a reputation. Also he tends to re-release the same thing over and over, or put out things that aren't really worked out for real world practicality.

Personally I have next to no opinion of him, other than he seems to have a very high opinion of himself. It seems pretty extreme to have a community geared towards hating him, to me. That's a lot of negativity for next to no reason.

I have had no problem with Jay at all his customer service has been wonderful to me. I bough a trick once and it was missing a piece and I let them know and instead of just sending me the piece they sent me an entire new trick
honestly his having a high opinion of himself is just part of his act

 

[Time_Lord]

Hmm Jay Sankey was one of the magicians that really inspired me when I first got started in magic, so I will always respect him as a really creative and brilliant magician. With that said I lost a lot of respect for him when I saw his performance in Penn and Teller. That was simply bad - like really really bad. And for me it got even worse when he half a year later tried to convince people (and it looks like he succeeded in that), that he actually did fool Penn and Teller, but for some crazy reason just did not want to tell them.

Here's his performance on Penn and Teller

I think him not telling them was kinda out of I respect you a lot
and what he says is legit the took out one of the tricks he actually does and his card ripping trick was honestly just two cards

 

[Maaz Hasan]

I think him not telling them was kinda out of I respect you a lot
and what he says is legit the took out one of the tricks he actually does and his card ripping trick was honestly just two cards

Here's my take - if it was out of respect for them, why would he go and upload a video on how he fooled them? And besides, if it was out of respect, he would have told them they were wrong. The reason Penn & Teller created that show was to get fooled, because that is one of the best feelings to a magician. If he honestly was "respecting" P & T, he would have told them if he fooled em, or he would have accepted he didn't. No one, under any circumstances, respects a person by lying to there face and publicizing the "reality" afterwards just to look better. Notice how pissed off Penn was after Jay released that video - and it wasn't because Jay "fooled" him. It was because Sankey had the arrogance to say he did behind P & T's backs. There is no way we could actually know what happened. But it clearly wasn't out of respect.

 

[Doug Henderson]

I have shared several emails back and forth with Jay and I watch every video he puts out on his channel. He has always been generous and kind to me. I personally love him and I always look forward to what he will share next.

I think anybody who "puts themselves out there" runs into people who will not like them for one reason or another. It's just human nature. Some personalities rub people the wrong way. Can't be avoided.

I think Jay is a genius. He's incredibly creative and I find him inspiring. I'm amazed by the volumes of effects he's created.

He kind of makes me feel like I'm lazy or something.

Now that I think about it, maybe I do hate Jay Sankey.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

I have shared several emails back and forth with Jay and I watch every video he puts out on his channel. He has always been generous and kind to me. I personally love him and I always look forward to what he will share next.

I think anybody who "puts themselves out there" runs into people who will not like them for one reason or another. It's just human nature. Some personalities rub people the wrong way. Can't be avoided.

I think Jay is a genius. He's incredibly creative and I find him inspiring. I'm amazed by the volumes of effects he's created.

He kind of makes me feel like I'm lazy or something.

Now that I think about it, maybe I do hate Jay Sankey.

That's what I don't understand. He's nice most of the time, but he just randomly needs to make himself look better than someone else at random times.

 

[CWhite]

That's what I don't understand. He's nice most of the time, but he just randomly needs to make himself look better than someone else at random times.

Most people do that though... a lot of people on here do that... Hell I do it.
Not making excuses for the guy.. just saying...

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Most people do that though... a lot of people on here do that... Hell I do it.
Not making excuses for the guy.. just saying...

To the extent that you call guys thieves? To the extent that you come off like you think you own the world? To the extent that you (most probably) fake an explanation for why you lost in a little game just to make yourself look better? I get that some people want to appear better than others, but what he did was just wrong. And I don't think anyone does it as often as Jay. Now, don't get me wrong, I really like Jay as a magician and as a character. But I don't think he does everything.. fairly? Rightously? I don't think there's a word that can explain what I mean, but if there is let me know.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

To correct one thing - Madison has often said that he is not a magician, and has done so for some time. He is a visual and deception artist. I'm not really awake enough to address the other posts, though.

 

[Doug Henderson]

Visual and deception artist... that fits me better, too.

 

[Doug Henderson]

Visual and deception artist... that fits me better, too.

I just realized my last post might seem intentionally provocative in the context of this thread. That's not my intention.

I do not perform magic professionally, but I do employ the principles of magic in my special effects and visual arts work. I am a life-long student of magic and illusion. I'm new here. Please forgive me as I try to find my place here.

I will "lurk" more and reply less.

Btw- thank you, Theory 11, for this wonderful community experience.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

I just realized my last post might seem intentionally provocative in the context of this thread. That's not my intention.

I do not perform magic professionally, but I do employ the principles of magic in my special effects and visual arts work. I am a life-long student of magic and illusion. I'm new here. Please forgive me as I try to find my place here.

I will "lurk" more and reply less.

Btw- thank you, Theory 11, for this wonderful community experience.

No problem, and welcome!

 

[Maaz Hasan]

To correct one thing - Madison has often said that he is not a magician, and has done so for some time. He is a visual and deception artist. I'm not really awake enough to address the other posts, though.

Fair enough, but he wouldn't say that he's not part of the magic industry.

 

[Mind_Over_Magic]

Thought I would chime in because I found all the responses great so far. It is funny, because I have literally asked myself why it is that I can't stand to watch that man for more than 1-2 seconds without losing my mind. I learned a lot from these posts, but before this discussion, I felt he was a very talented magician and truly wanted to be able to watch his material to learn from him, but literally could NOT bring myself to suffer through a single video of his.

Part of it is he comes across like Richard Simmons (the "Sweatin to the Oldies", obnoxious guru to the morbidly obese if ya'll recall) with an ego. Now that I have read and watched and looked into all the issues raised here, I have good reason not to like him. Be that as it may, he just does not have a personality, look, or message that would ever make me want to spend my time listening to him speak and try to be funny like some washed up dumpster bar comedian that never got a real gig.

The dude is just annoying. That's my two cents. lol.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Matthew

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Thought I would chime in because I found all the responses great so far. It is funny, because I have literally asked myself why it is that I can't stand to watch that man for more than 1-2 seconds without losing my mind. I learned a lot from these posts, but before this discussion, I felt he was a very talented magician and truly wanted to be able to watch his material to learn from him, but literally could NOT bring myself to suffer through a single video of his.

Part of it is he comes across like Richard Simmons (the "Sweatin to the Oldies", obnoxious guru to the morbidly obese if ya'll recall) with an ego. Now that I have read and watched and looked into all the issues raised here, I have good reason not to like him. Be that as it may, he just does not have a personality, look, or message that would ever make me want to spend my time listening to him speak and try to be funny like some washed up dumpster bar comedian that never got a real gig.

The dude is just annoying. That's my two cents. lol.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Matthew

That's actually interesting, because Jay was a comedian before he did magic professionally (though he did some in college). I kinda feel the same way. I feel like I have to skip through a lot of his stuff - including performance videos of tricks he has released - just because it looked annoying. He himself doesn't seem too annoying, but his style is just... meh. IMO

 

[JonathanSim]

Here's my take - if it was out of respect for them, why would he go and upload a video on how he fooled them? And besides, if it was out of respect, he would have told them they were wrong. The reason Penn & Teller created that show was to get fooled, because that is one of the best feelings to a magician. If he honestly was "respecting" P & T, he would have told them if he fooled em, or he would have accepted he didn't. No one, under any circumstances, respects a person by lying to there face and publicizing the "reality" afterwards just to look better. Notice how pissed off Penn was after Jay released that video - and it wasn't because Jay "fooled" him. It was because Sankey had the arrogance to say he did behind P & T's backs. There is no way we could actually know what happened. But it clearly wasn't out of respect.

Wait, how do you know Penn was mad after Jay released the video?

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Wait, how do you know Penn was mad after Jay released the video?

He has a Podcast with another Magician (I can't ever access it for whatever reason) and one "episode" had this as its talking point.

 

[Time_Lord]

Here's my take - if it was out of respect for them, why would he go and upload a video on how he fooled them? And besides, if it was out of respect, he would have told them they were wrong. The reason Penn & Teller created that show was to get fooled, because that is one of the best feelings to a magician. If he honestly was "respecting" P & T, he would have told them if he fooled em, or he would have accepted he didn't. No one, under any circumstances, respects a person by lying to there face and publicizing the "reality" afterwards just to look better. Notice how pissed off Penn was after Jay released that video - and it wasn't because Jay "fooled" him. It was because Sankey had the arrogance to say he did behind P & T's backs. There is no way we could actually know what happened. But it clearly wasn't out of respect.

Good Point
That I guess I can see. But he also had to be kinda upset at P&t and their producers and what not the did take out part of his act. and I don't admonish Jay for what he did/does wrong but if you're going to hate than you should take everything into account

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Good Point
That I guess I can see. But he also had to be kinda upset at P&t and their producers and what not the did take out part of his act. and I don't admonish Jay for what he did/does wrong but if you're going to hate than you should take everything into account

1st off, I'm not hating on him, if you read my previous posts.

2nd-ly, The show has a time restriction. They can't show you a full 20 minute act along with 3 other 10 minute acts, a 5 minute act, and 3 advertisement breaks in a 1 hour show. What they took out did not take away from the act at all.

 

[James Wise Magic]

I don't really follow sankey or have much experience with some of his customer service. All I can say is that I'm just not a fan of his style of performance. Most of his jokes aren't funny but kind of awkward, I feel like he's trying too hard to be funny, which makes it that much more cringy when his jokes aren't landing.

The magic I have seen him perform, for the most part, seems to be pretty cool. Still not really my style but he's fooled me several times. I wouldn't go as far to say I hate the guy and the large communities that exist just to hate on him is just silly. Don't like him? Don't follow him. It's as simple as that. It's working for me. haha.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

I don't really follow sankey or have much experience with some of his customer service. All I can say is that I'm just not a fan of his style of performance. Most of his jokes aren't funny but kind of awkward, I feel like he's trying too hard to be funny, which makes it that much more cringy when his jokes aren't landing.

The magic I have seen him perform, for the most part, seems to be pretty cool. Still not really my style but he's fooled me several times. I wouldn't go as far to say I hate the guy and the large communities that exist just to hate on him is just silly. Don't like him? Don't follow him. It's as simple as that. It's working for me. haha.

Ha fair enough. I like the guy as a person, just not his performance style. I'm just confused as to how on Earth people want to stab the guy to death! His jokes aren't murder worthy, I mean I've laughed at some.