Update on 18/03/2021: I’ve had to make a few changes to this post as some of the information was inaccurate. Firstly, Derrick May is not 6ft 3in as previously claimed. And secondly, the photograph with the woman having her face held by May has been removed – it has since become apparent that she had no issues with this behaviour. Apologies for these errors.

Last Thursday, I posted a story about Derrick May not being the sort of person who was good at keeping a promise. Detractors on social media techno groups – often frequented by many of the big names in the scene – claimed this showed I was “desperate” and “scraping the barrel”.

Obviously, I disagree. I think it’s just yet another episode of May showing that he is unworthy and cannot be trusted. And believe me, I have a few more posts written up based on things he’s said in the past while being interviewed. All part of a pattern!

Speaking of patterns, another one has been noticed whilst looking into him. He seems to like invading people’s personal space. Maybe it’s because we’re living through an era of social distancing that I’ve noticed this more quickly, but he does it in interviews and, it seems, with women in audiences too.

As an aside, whenever you search the term “face grabbing” in Google, you’re presented with several articles that are about domestic violence. This sentence is presented without further comment…

So why do some people get so incredibly close? Psychology Today helpfully elaborates.

“Tall people use the perception of their larger size to feel that they dominate over people who are smaller and shorter than they are. They’ll invade your space, this finding suggests, because they feel they deserve to take up more room than you do.”

Whilst I haven’t been able to establish exactly how tall May is, it seems entirely plausible to me that he believes he can use his stature – or even possible lack of it – to impress, or in some cases, intimidate.

And it’s not just women who he uses this tactic with. Look at this photo where he employs the same problematic manoeuvre – only this time with a man.

Incidentally, as a final thought, what is Carl Craig doing in the background in this picture? Was he aware of what was happening here? And just why is he so defensive when it comes to Derrick May?