The Versions They Invented Were Never Me.

They didn’t just target me. They replaced me.

They constructed a version of Calvin Hardie that fit their narrative, packaged it in fragments, and passed it around until people stopped asking whether it was real. They didn’t speak about who I am. They spoke about the version they invented — and they made sure it spread.

It was easier to create a character than to confront the complexity of the truth. So they simplified me. Flattened me. Removed context and replaced it with speculation. Every time someone repeated it, it became less about fact and more about familiarity. They weren’t defending truth. They were defending the version that felt easiest to judge.

This is what happens when social media becomes a courtroom and silence becomes a guilty plea. The real person — Calvin-Lee Hardie — was pushed to the background. In my place, they created a myth that could be condemned without evidence.

And even now, after that video was removed and the damage made clear, that version still lingers.

It shows up when someone hears my name and squints like they’re trying to remember where they heard it.

It shows up in job opportunities that quietly disappear.

It shows up in messages that never get answered, and questions that never get asked.

Because that false version of me still exists in people’s minds.

Because no one ever publicly corrected it.

This is the cost of defamation — not just what’s said, but what stays behind when it’s retracted.

They didn’t kill my name.

They corrupted it.

And they expected me to live with that.

But I’m not here to defend the version they made up.

I’m here to replace it with the truth.

That’s what this series is for.

Playback is not about begging for belief. It’s about creating permanent records that can be found long after the false narratives fade. Because when people search Calvin Hardie Inverness, I want them to see what really happened — not what was edited for a reaction.

I want them to see every word I was denied. Every post that went unheard. Every consequence I lived through while others scrolled past the damage like it was content.

I want them to see me — not the version they invented.

You can’t erase what was posted. But you can outlive it.

And you can out-document it.

And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

— Calvin-Lee Hardie

Inverness