To expose or not expose? Justin Flom rankles some in magic community

“I love magic exposure. I think it’s good, right, moral and the future of magic.”

If those aren’t exactly fighting words among magicians, they’re certainly enough to ruffle plenty of capes.

Justin Flom is appearing on the “The Magic Word” podcast hosted by Scott Wells, a longtime professional magician who was recently honored with a special fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts for his contributions to the field.

The episode, titled “Justified?” centers around the hot topic of magicians revealing trade secrets.

How heated is this issue? Wells tells us that he lost some magician friends simply by having Flom on his podcast to discuss his point of view.

“They felt again that I’m giving a platform to people who are against their belief system,” Wells says.

Flom is not alone when it comes to making these kinds of waves in the magic community of late: Fellow Vegas-based magician Murray Sawchuck recently resigned from the Magic Castle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians after drawing the ire of both this year by creating content exposing magic tricks.

This is nothing new: Magic icons such as Harry Houdini, Val Valentino (aka “The Masked Magician”) and Penn & Teller, to name a few, have all shown how certain tricks are done.

While Wells maintains a journalist-like objectivity while speaking with Flom on this debate, he makes it clear in an interview that he, too, opposes the practice of exposing trade secrets.

“What I don’t like is that some of the tricks are not theirs,” Wells explains. “If you were to invent a trick and you say, ‘Here’s how it’s done,’ that’s fine. But if this is someone else’s, then they shouldn’t necessarily be exposing someone else’s trick.

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