![\"tickled\"](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tickled1.png?resize=600%2C306\")
<\/p>\nFilmmakers React to Sudden Death of \u2018Tickled\u2019 Subject David D\u2019Amato<\/b><\/p>\n
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The filmmakers of the HBO documentary Tickled<\/em> responded over the weekend to the abrupt death of the movie\u2019s main subject, elusive producer-fetishist\u00a0David D\u2019Amato.<\/p>\n D\u2019Amato died suddenly on March 13<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indiewire reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n D\u2019Amato gained notoriety as the elusive subject of Farrier and Reeve\u2019s investigation into and the subsequent documentary on Jane O\u2019Brien Media, a company that produces \u201ccompetitive tickling\u201d fetish videos<\/a> featuring young, athletic male<\/a> participants. The duo alleges that\u00a0D\u2019Amato ran and funded the company, which allegedly intimidated the subjects of the\u00a0videos<\/a> if they did not comply with specific demands. D\u2019Amato denied that he was affiliated with the company, but a slew of documents revealed during the investigations appear to tie him directly to the business.<\/p>\n The Tickled<\/em> filmmakers released a statement<\/a>:<\/p>\n We are incredibly sad to learn that David P D\u2019Amato, the subject of Tickled, has passed away. We don\u2019t know any specific details about his death at this time.<\/p>\n David D\u2019Amato has been a part of our lives for around three years now \u2013 a very unusual three years \u2013 and despite the various lawsuits he brought against us, this news is something that brings us no joy, and has hit us pretty hard.<\/p>\n We mostly knew David through talking to those he had interacted with online over the last 20 years, and people that he had been close to.<\/p>\n We only met him twice; Once in Garden City, and another time when he turned up to a screening of the documentary in<\/p>\n Los Angeles. We met a man<\/a> who came out swinging, so to speak \u2013 threatening more lawsuits, while at the same time commenting that he enjoyed certain elements of the film. It seems to us that underneath it all, he did have a certain sense of humor.<\/p>\n It is also clear that he had certain troubles, and those are troubles that we hoped he would come to terms with at some point.<\/p>\n While making Tickled we always thought it was important to portray David D\u2019Amato not just as an online bully, but as a person. That is why the closing minutes of Tickled are so important to us \u2013 an insight into D\u2019Amato, the person. Ultimately we\u2019ll never know all the things that made David the man<\/a> he was. Like all of us, he was complex and complicated.<\/p>\n So we ask you to keep in mind that while David appears to have lived a fairly solitary life, he did have friends and family members. We ask that in comments online, and out there in the real world, you treat this information, and this man<\/a>\u2019s passing, with respect.<\/p>\n David Farrier & Dylan Reeve<\/p>\n Towleroad\u2019s Bobby Hankinson spoke with Farrier about the film earlier this year. Read that interview HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch D\u2019Amato confront the filmmakers at the film\u2019s premiere:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Top image: A scene from Tickled<\/em>.<\/p>\n The post Filmmakers React to Sudden Death of \u2018Tickled\u2019 Subject David D\u2019Amato<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\nRELATED:\u00a0\u2018Tickled\u2019 Filmmaker Discusses How His Twisted Doc Is Like Trump, Scientology and Gay-For-Pay Adult Films: INTERVIEW<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n
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