Dogpatch Press

James Lovell Thompson, AKA Keanu the Red Panda, was formerly known for representing the Anthro Southeast furry convention before a series of disgraces. In March 2020, Keanu spread bogus health info about the Covid-19 pandemic. He was accused of doing it with claims of a PhD. degree he doesn’t have.

Degree fraud (pretending to have credentials and authority) is often seen with professional cheating, lying on resumes, gaining licenses without merit, medical quack scams, identity theft, and other crime. It’s like stolen valor for academics. It damages trust and safety for victims, organizations and communities.

In response to the accusation, Keanu dropped out of social media activity for months, only to re-emerge with an elaborate defense. Keanu put out a video that repeats his PhD. claim while he shows off a diploma that is not genuine. Proof is in this Google doc, newly shared after months of seeking evidence.

Keanu Red Panda’s “Microbiology PhD.” — 8 reasons the diploma is fake. (Backup copy).

This is a record correction story that’s already known to many witnesses in the background, including powerful voices in the furry fandom. Along with their input, witnesses from outside the fandom reached out on their own to dispute Keanu’s story of earning a PhD. (He also claimed to be on a school board of directors or trustees, which no school has supported.) Employees were consulted at schools that he named. There is confidentiality for many sources, but the most powerful case against Keanu comes from his own response.

Keanu’s defense video decorates the fake diploma with a lot of emotional storytelling and counter-accusations. That’s a lot of effort to fool the public and grab sympathy. However, buying a fake diploma takes no effort at all.

Anyone who wants to do degree fraud can use a place like this.

Using a fursona name is a good courtesy for reporting furry news. So is keeping confidentiality for sources. However, when a fursona gets used to hide cheating, including with identity itself, then good reporting can’t assist the misuse of privacy. If furries want to be trusted as harmless role-players with nothing to hide, then anyone who enjoys using a fursona can ask James Lovell Thompson to correct the deceptive claims he made as Keanu.

Again, check the Google doc for the details of the fraud committed by James Lovell Thompson.

While showing a fake diploma, Keanu has blocked or attacked people who tried to get responses. Outreach by Dogpatch Press went unanswered. He should make an updated statement about his repeated efforts to get away with deception. Until he does, can anyone trust ANYTHING he says?

UPDATE: While previous outreach to Keanu got no response here, he has falsely claimed to have a lawyer sending messages to others. Keanu is welcome to contact here, but unless you see an update about it, it hasn’t happened.

UPDATE 1/19/25:

Over 4 years after blowing off outreach for questions, James Lovell Thompson finally broke silence and contacted Dogpatch Press for the first time, to threaten legal action for – allegedly – “maliciously spreading inaccurate and unfounded information that is damaging to their personal and professional character”. He requested censoring this story because his record keeps following him inside and outside the furry community.

Thompson was told in no uncertain terms to fuck off. Dogpatch Press stands by reporting at any cost and has a proven record of fighting and winning against frivolous legal threats. Serving public interest requires records set in stone.

Thompson responded by dropping threats and changing to self-pity: “I just had to put that part in to make it formal. I really not going to do anything… Been trying to come back from it and someone find this article of me and reminded me of my past I have been trying to make amends… I only asked out of kindness and will be reminded of this article today. When trying to make some new friends but alas.” This was followed by guilt-tripping and baiting that was replied with advice to get counseling rather than try to hide things.

When reminded that he blew off outreach and had failed to defend his story for 4 years, and he could retract fraud claims, Thompson gave denial and insults.

So much for making amends.

If there is anything inaccurate in this story then he can take it to court. The Dogpatch Press content policy is in place to protect the record.

TIP RECEIVED AFTER UPDATE:

“Hey guys. The Keanu the Red Panda guy you wrote an update on was referring to me – I googled his fursuit and found your article about him and kicked him out of my World of Warcraft guild. I have no desire to be associated with grifters, and he clearly has no remorse for it — he attempted to lie and say that this was “a friend” of his after the fact. I’m not a furry myself, but you guys are doing good work here. Thank you for the information!

Honestly wish I kept a copy of my chatlogs. He attempted to slander the guild on the forums, but after calling him out his posts disappeared.

Your emails with him are basically how my last interaction went with him as well, guy has absolutely no teeth, all bark and no bite.

If you know any WoW furries, toss his character their way. If it helps someone stay clear of this guy, I’m all for it.”

https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/character/us/nazgrel/somuchipa/

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