The agreement in black and white did not say to hold the cup. He violated the agreement. There was no reason to hold the cup. Who in the world would choose to hold a fragile diner coffee cup in 1 hand while balancing a phone in the other hand when it would have been soooo much simpler to just place the cup next to the trophy as per the agreement?
And regarding the magazine…why not put a post it note over his face in the article and take the photo? And why wouldn’t he have the article framed like most would? Or a scan of the article? The other photos look normal. But those photos were not requested. It’s just a classic case of including some normal photos along with the fake photo to throw off suspicion of forgery and tampering.
Royalty / Naturalwonder83 (gimmicks personified)
The magazine comment was facetious, and the most remarkable thing here isn’t the remark itself, but the sheer, astonishing effort you both (personalities) expended to misread it. Let me guess, you both get your fingers caught in those Chinese puzzle things too.
Facetiousness is one of the simplest rhetorical tools in existence. It doesn’t require a degree in literary theory or a decoder ring to detect (which I assume your Mother keeps buying when you don't shit your pants after "school"). Treating it as a serious argument is not subtle analysis; it’s performing a spectacularly literal-minded reading exercise that somehow still manages to be confident. Amazing how no one else took his comment as literal
You both bit harder on the humor than you do a pillow and the comment was dissected as though it were doctrine. You took a perfectly playful remark and dragged into an absurdly lengthy thread that it wasn't intended. On the other hand, maybe it he did it too bate those with severely low comprehension skills (in that case, it worked). This is overthinking at its most ridiculous (as is the MO of Royalty/NaturalWonder83).
As far as the 'place an upside down coffee cup' request. In the literal sense, PS did it. Not once did the request / demand for GB's resident hand fetish expert say it has to be there without a hand. Then again, little hand-boy would have turned it into another invalidation because no hand was present in the picture and therefore the pic is invalid (or not jerk-off material). Legally speaking, the pic shows the cup upside down. One could even argue that PS is in the act of placing the cup. Requests like "place a cup somewhere in this photo" could be made and this one fulfills the request.
I am formally asking the Committee to include NaturalRoyalty83 to the band punishment for the sheer stupidity displayed.