In a recent interview with the WeHo Times, Seymour Amster, the attorney for Ed Buck, the prominent Democratic donor at the center of a scandal involving the overdose death of Gemmel Moore in his West Hollywood apartment, said that his client was “grieving.”
When asked how Ed Buck was doing, Amster, whose recent claim to fame was defending South L.A. serial killer Lonnie “The Grim Sleeper” Franklin said, “What is lost in this whole thing, no matter how you want to twist this, Ed is grieving and I think it bothers him more than anything that he’s not allowed to grieve properly, but he is grieving. He’s fine.”
Gemmel Moore was found dead of a crystal meth overdose Buck’s home on July 27. His death was immediately classified as an accidental methamphetamine overdose by the coroner, but now the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s homicide bureau is taking a closer look after his personal journal was published and other young men have stepped forward recounting similar stories about a man who they say has a Tuskegee Experiment like fetish which includes shooting drugs into young Black men that he picks up off the street or via dating hookup websites.
Just prior to this latest interview, Mr. Amster appeared before the West Hollywood City Council Monday on behalf of his “grieving” client to demand an investigation into the one councilmember who had the common decency to acknowledge the death of Gemmel Moore and support the calls for a thorough investigation and immunity for other victims of Ed Buck who have stepped forward.
At an August 21 council meeting, Councilmember Lindsey Horvath asked the L.A. County district attorney’s office and the Sheriff’s Department to “take the necessary steps to make it possible for anyone with information pertinent to this case to safely come forward. I want all facts surrounding this case to be known.”
Councilwoman Horvath also holds another distinction and that is that unlike her current colleagues on the council, she hasn’t accepted any money from Ed Buck.
Amster demanded to know if Councilmember Horvath was involved in what he referred to as “instigating, promoting or financing the character attacks on Mr. Buck.” He told the City Council that his office sent in a request for an ethics investigation of Councilmember Horvath for failing to disclose that Buck had in the past opposed her candidacy.
He went onto accuse Horvath of using her public office to attack a “private citizen” much like President Trump after demanding that all of her communications be subpoenaed via a grand jury.
The takeaway from Monday’s grandstanding is that Ed Buck, in his grief, could find the wherewithal to send his attorney to attack and threaten Councilmember Horvath, but couldn’t find it in himself to send condolences to his “good friend” Gemmel Moore’s family after Moore died in his home. Not one Hallmark card. Not one offer of help to cover the cost of the funeral for his “good friend.” Not one phone call to the mother of his “good friend.”
Because remember, according to Amster, Gemmel Moore was a “good friend” of Buck’s and opened “his home to an individual who was troubled.”
But doesn’t it make you wonder how does Ed Buck, a fairly well off white man living in West Hollywood, seems to know all of these troubled vulnerable young Black gay men? When you peruse his Facebook page you don’t see photos of him with any of the troubled Black gay men he allegedly helps–you barely see pictures of him with any Black people for that matter. He’s not known for his involvement in helping youth or young adults but rather for contributing to political campaigns, banning the sale of fur and rescuing dogs he finds on the street–dogs that by all accounts he treats better than the men he picks up off the street.
Now let’s go back nine days and talk about what grieving doesn’t look like.
On September 11, according to a 25-year-old Black gay male using the pseudonym “Brian,” Ed Buck sent an Uber to South L.A. to pick him up and bring him back to his Laurel Avenue apartment in West Hollywood.
Brian says that he came in touch with Ed Buck recently on the website Adam4Adam where Buck has a new profile after his previous account was compromised when other young men stepped forward with screenshots of Buck’s ad under the name “bucked.”
Brian provided his “receipts” detailing his conversation with Buck prior to his arrival which included texts from Buck’s phone to his and the access code to get into the building. The same access code that each and every one of the other victims confirmed using. Brian explained that he didn’t know until the car pulled up to the apartment that he was going to Ed Buck’s home.
Brian said that he arrived around 12:30 a.m. via Uber on the morning of September 11 and left around 3 a.m. He said that he smoked crystal meth with Ed Buck and tried on tights and joggers for him. Brian brought his own drugs to Buck’s, although he says Buck was adamant that Brian use his drugs.
“He was very persistent,” Brian said.
Brian told me that Buck asked him if it was okay for Buck to call him the N-word.
“He kept asking if it was okay to call me that,” Brian said referring to the N-word. “But you already know I don’t take no form of disrespect from anyone for any amount of money. He knew he better not to play with me in regards to saying that.”
Brian says that he refused Buck’s pressure to use his drugs and began to feel uncomfortable and started making excuses for why he had to leave. He even texted someone to call him so that he could fake like he had somewhere else he had to be because Buck was so adamant that he stay–almost demanding. For his troubles Buck gave him $60 and let him leave. Brian says that Buck continued to try and get him to come back over but that he hasn’t.
But we’re supposed to believe that Ed Buck is grieving. That is not what grieving looks like by any stretch of the imagination and it’s not the picture of mourning that Buck’s attorney is trying to peddle.
Remember, Buck is the same man who had another young man headed up to his apartment as Gemmel Moore’s dead body was being taken out by the coroner.
I want that to sink in for a minute. Gemmel Moore died in Ed Buck’s home of a crystal meth overdose. Before his body could be removed from Buck’s apartment, he already had a young man with bags in hand headed up to his apartment who had to be turned away by sheriff’s deputies.
Amster repeatedly claims that his client Ed Buck hasn’t been accused of anything.
The reality is that other young Black gay men have stepped forward and made very serious allegations against Ed Buck including recounting similar stories about a man who they say has a Tuskegee Experiment like fetish which includes shooting drugs into young Black men that he picks up off the street or via dating hookup websites. Buck has been accused of being a sexual predator, kidnapping, forced drug use, injecting unconscious Black gay men with crystal meth, filing false police reports to cover his crimes, coercion and pimping and pandering by his victims. These victims are in the process of making statements to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives.
Demar’s Story
Blake’s Story
Brandon’s Story
Gemmel Moore himself wrote about Ed Buck in his personal journal.
In his journal, Moore wrote, “I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” a December entry reads. “Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth it was very painful, but after all the troubles, I became addicted to the pain and fetish/fantasy.”
“My life is at an alltime [sic] high right now & I mean that from all ways. I ended up back at Buck [sic] house again and got munipulated [sic] into slamming again. I even went to the point where I was forced to doing 4 within a 2day [sic] period. This man is crazy and its [sic] sad. Will I ever get help?”
His last entry, dated Dec. 3, 2016, reads: “If it didn’t hurt so bad, I’d kill myself, but I’ll let Ed Buck do it for now.
It’s clear that Ed Buck thinks that he is untouchable and that he can go on with business as usual. If “grieving properly” for Buck means being able to continue to exploit vulnerable young Black gay men–then no he shouldn’t be left to grieve in peace.
I will say that his attorney is absolutely right when he says that Buck hasn’t been charged with a crime. I’d just add the word “yet.”
I guess Buck will have to retire his current Adam4Adam ad and come up with yet another username as this one has been compromised as well.
#SorryNotSorry 😆
To read my complete series on Ed Buck, please click here.