A planned exhibit of Ed Piskor’s artwork from Hip Hop Family Tree has been “indefinitely postponed,” according to the Pittsburgh City Paper, following allegations of misconduct that were revealed this past weekend.
The exhibit was scheduled to begin in April at the 707 Penn Gallery in Pittsburgh and would have run through August.
“The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust learned yesterday of allegations of misconduct made by an individual against artist Ed Piskor, whose work was scheduled to be on exhibition at 707 Penn Gallery starting April 6, 2024,” a spokesperson for the Trust told Pittsburgh City Paper. “The Trust takes the allegations very seriously and has decided to postpone the exhibition indefinitely.”
Both Hip Hop Family Tree and Piskor’s Red Room were published by Fantagraphics. When Smash Pages reached out to the publisher, they shared this statement: “Fantagraphics has no future projects in the works with Ed Piskor.”
Piskor was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, including grooming an underage artist. Cartoonist Molly Dwyer shared screenshots of text conversations between herself and Piskor, who she said “slid in my dms when I was 17 years old.” Although her Instagram story is no longer available, screenshots of her story have been shared on social media.
According to the Beat, two other women came forward after the allegations went public to share their experiences with Piskor. While both women have deleted their posts, the Beat captured the text describing his alleged behavior.
Piskor has made no statement on the allegations, and he did not respond when I reached out to him for comment. A local news station in Pittsburgh reports they went to Piskor’s home to get a comment from him, but no one answered the door. They did speak to Piskor’s father, who said his son is “totally innocent” and “has never ever been in trouble in his 40 years of living.”
In addition to his comics work, Piskor is also the co-host of Cartoonist Kayfabe, where he and creator Jim Rugg discuss comic art and interview creators. Piskor’s Instagram page remains on online with comments now limited, but his Twitter.com account has been deleted. Similarly, the Twitter account for Cartoonist Kayfabe has also been deleted, but the YouTube channel remains online.
Update, March 30: Jim Rugg has released a statement on Instagram saying he has ended his professional relationship with Ed Piskor:
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