It has come to our attention that one of the subjects of our March 7 cover story was photographed wearing the T-shirt of a white-power band. This was unintended, and City Paper wants to take the time to explain what happened.
Our cover story, by freelance writer/photographer Kat Rutt, introduced us to 16 women, who were diversifying the region’s tattoo scene. However, shortly after the story was posted on Facebook, we began getting messages that one of the artists, Lettia Suchevich, was wearing the T-shirt of a white-power metal band called Aggravated Assault.
I’ll admit it: We didn’t catch it. In all my time in the business, I’ve never fact-checked the words on a T-shirt. You can be guaranteed that we will from this day forward. However, our internal investigation has also uncovered other issues.
We talked to Rutt this morning and she, like us, says she did not know that Aggravated Assault was a white-power band. She also told me that there was no indication that Suchevich was racist or part of the white-power movement. We later discovered that Rutt had removed a swastika tattoo from one of the pictures that she sent to us. She has admitted to doing so. Below is Rutt’s statement in its entirety:
“My article, “Women Ink”, published by Pittsburgh City Paper, is about women in the tattoo business. I did not talk to any of the subjects about their personal politics. The story is about women’s success in a historically male-dominated industry. After processing the photos I took of Lettia Suchevich, I noticed a symbol in one of the photos that looked like a swastika. I made the decision to airbrush this symbol out of one photo where the symbol was particularly prominent because I believed if published it could be unnecessarily triggering or inflammatory, which would detract from the purpose of this article. The airbrushed photo was not published in any version of the story. I stand behind this article 100 percent, went to great lengths to put it out in the world, and am forever grateful to all the women who shared their stories with me.”
City Paper was unaware that any photos had been altered. Altering photos without editorial permission (and news photos are never altered) is strictly against CP policy. Also, we believe her decision to remove the swastika in one photo, per her own admission, indicates she knew it was problematic, and thus she should have alerted CP”s editors. Rutt was not made aware of our policy about not altering photos upon her assignment. However, This goes beyond covering up a blemish or other forms of airbrushing that photographers do. By covering up the swastika, although it was inadvertent, an important, contextual fact was omitted. If we had been aware of this development we would not have run the piece as presented.
During our investigation, we closely examined the photos we did run and discovered a small swastika tattoo was visible in the photograph of Suchevich.
I can honestly say that I don’t believe that Rutt’s actions were meant to be malicious. I also know how important that this story was to her. However, ignoring someone’s racial ideologies to celebrate their achievement as a female small-business owner is not a trade-off that should have been made. Rutt stands by her story in full, but we do not. Please know that the opinions in any posts you read from Rutt are her own, and not the opinions of this publication. Because of Rutt’s decisions in preparing this story, we have decided not to publish her work in the future. However, we believe that 14 of the women profiled in this piece deserve to have their stories told, and therefore, we will be restoring an edited version of the story to our website tomorrow.
Rutt called Suchevich this morning, and her comments, posted below, lead us to believe that she knew that she was acting to intentionally tarnish the piece. Suchevich said:
“First of all, Aggravated Assault is my husband, Warren’s band. He is the nicest guy I know. I figured I was probably gonna piss a few people off. I don’t mind. Personally, however, I hate what modern tattooing has become. It’s just a business like everything else. I was taught by skinheads and I’m not ashamed of that. Prior to that, tattoo shops were mostly owned by bikers who would never sell out because they were worried about the image of their business. I don’t respect anyone who would do that.”
So, here’s the thing: We are not in the business of censoring anybody. But this paper decided long ago that there are certain “opinions” that we will refuse to give validation to, and white supremacy and racism are obviously at the top of the list. However, this is not a story about tattoo artists who support white-power groups. This is a story about powerful, trailblazing women who are making a splash in the tattoo world. Suchevich’s inclusion in this piece was an insult to these women.
Additionally, other readers also made similar claims about another of the profiled artists, Amber Lambert. CP originally planned to leave Lambert’s shop, Blood Eagle Tattoo in the story, however, photos were found of Lambert’s husband, Erin, wearing several tattoos affiliated with the white power movement. That information had already been corrected in a second statement.
I’m extremely disappointed and embarrassed that this happened, and I take full responsibility for it because ultimately, I am responsible for the paper’s content. I apologize to the readers who were rightfully offended, and I also thank them for bringing this to my attention. I also apologize to the fantastic women profiled in this piece. You didn’t deserve to have this moment ruined by (Suchevich’s) selfish decision.
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This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2018.
Well said. Thank you for taking responsibility, informing your readers of the truth, and making the necessary adjustments. I applaud your stand on the issue and the author, and look forward to reading the amended version.
You should resign immediately.
Dig deeper. You may find some of those women to be angry, feminists who hate men. Maybe some are religious, conservative, anti-abortion supporters who may or may not support bombing innocent people at abortion clinics. Perhaps theyre gun owners that support the 2nd amendment but have no interest in shooting up schools. Atheist, Agnostic, or Satanic mothers that never sacrificed a newborn baby to the devil. Maybe some even smacked their kids or had a few drinks or even smoked a joint or two. Does that mean their alcoholic, drug addict child abusers? What does it matter anyway? Ms. Suchevich is still a female tattooist and business owner. She couldnt possibly have changed that by just merely getting dressed in the morning and putting on the wrong shirt? Im currently wearing a Goatwhore shirt that saysFUCKED BY SATAN on it. Ive never met the devil nor have I ever had sex with him. I guess Id never make it into your paper either because you wouldnt like my packaging. Its sad that you judge her at face value and just simply erase her from the article merely because she MAY or MAY NOT have different views than you. Isnt the cornerstone of news reporting based on freedom of speech? Why would you hinder that freedom because a few people got offended? People get offended by EVERYTHING!! It cant be for the fear of people not buying your paper. Its FREE! Are you saying that now your paper will only publish articles and cover people that you Feel are deserving based on your perceived shared moral values? That sounds like some bullshit to me.
Just in case anyone is wondering if the cp is overreacting/being “PC”, here are some lyrics from the band on Ms. Suchevich’s t-shirt, her husband’s band. You could also just Google the name and look at the song titles that come up.
http://lyrics1488.hol.es/aggravated-assault/aggravated-assault-it-could-happen-to-you/
Also the swastika tattoo may be a small clue as to whether she holds the same beliefs as her husband.
To those of you who are claiming this is a violation of free speech… do we really need to make it any more clear to you that representing genocide and killing black folks (or any folks who arent white) is HATE SPEECH and is a call for violence and seriously not okay? If you defend Nazis you will be seen as being a Nazi. Period. Its real easy to hide behind your pseudonym on an anonymous comment, oh brave idiots.
The byline reads that this story was ruined by one person’s selfish decision, implying Rutt, but at the end the editor claims to take full responsibility. Well, which is it?
In regards to Amber Lambert and Blood Eagle Tattoo – The allegations of racism are due to the fact that her husband Erin has the SS symbol on his face (Sig Runes). Amber and Erin do claim that they are only in celebration of Nordic Runes, and that may be how they feel (or it may be how they feel now). It may be worth noting that Lettia Suchevich counts him as one of her teachers.
This is not to judge the sincerity of their response, just to shed light on why the allegations exist.
“We are not in the business of censoring anybody. But this paper decided long ago that there are certain “opinions” that we will refuse to give validation to, and white supremacy and racism are obviously at the top of the list.”
This is a text book example of censorship. I hate Nazis and don’t really care for their opinions but censoring their opinions is the wrong thing to do.
Let everyone in Pittsburgh know this chick is racist. Expose and out her. Publish her in boots and braces. Let the whole world know. Don’t censor her.
If the story is about powerful, trailblazing women”, then what does it matter whether or not one of these powerful, trailblazing women is a POS Nazi?
L B, if you do not like the Constitution, the rights it guarantees or the way of life it promotes, feel free to leave our wonderful country at any time.
C C, have you ever heard of ad revenue? Are you aware at all that this publication isn’t free to put out? Just free for you to read?
Being a racist isn’t “personal politics.” It’s literally wanting to destroy entire races of humans. Kat Rutt should be ashamed of herself for protecting her corny ass Nazi pals. Everyone is Pittsburgh is embarrassed for her.
Meatwood, that’s literally NOT what racist means.
Racist – a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
Everyone in Pittsburgh is embarressed? I’m calling BS. Pittsburgh is fulled to the brim with racists. Rutt and this Neo-Nazi Tattoo chick fit in just fine with the terrible accepted racism that people in Pittsburgh believe is tolerable.
Delete your account.
can you please update this story to correct the incorrect statement about blood eagle, who are in fact nazi affiliated? it seems like this statement is being shared much more widely than the newer statement acknowledging erin lambert’s collection of white power tattoos.
Rutts decision was so unprofessional. If a possibly racist Nazi tattooer is problematic, dont put her in the article. But never alter a photograph. Ever.
Flamenco, I have made that correction.
I thought arts and music was all about being creative. Hear is a crazy thought if you don’t like an artist choose another if you don’t like a band listen to another no one is forcing you too.This is the USA be happy you have choices and are not forced like Communist run governments are.Althou every time something like this happened your basically asking for rights to be lost. Sounds a lot like hypocrisy. Let me guess had no one noticed a shirt or called into complain everything would have just be fine. Isn’t this supposed to be Iron City? Be happy to have freedom cause one day you might not. Your fooling yourself if you don’t think so. Trust me It could happen to you.