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Employee Response to Bobby Kotick's Statement
The Verge has posted an employee response to Bobby Kotick's letter.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
On the evening before our employee walkout, Activision Blizzard leadership released a statement apologizing for their harmful responses to last week’s DFEH lawsuit. While we are pleased to see that our collective voices — including an open letter with thousands of signatures from current employees — have convinced leadership to change the tone of their communications, this response fails to address critical elements at the heart of employee concerns.Activision Blizzard’s response did not address the following:
- The end of forced arbitration for all employees.
- Worker participation in oversight of hiring and promotion policies.
- The need for greater pay transparency to ensure equality.
- Employee selection of a third party to audit HR and other company processes.
Today’s walkout will demonstrate that this is not a one-time event that our leaders can ignore. We will not return to silence; we will not be placated by the same processes that led us to this point.
This is the beginning of an enduring movement in favor of better labor conditions for all employees, especially women, in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups.
We expect a prompt response and a commitment to action from leadership on the points enumerated above, and look forward to maintaining a constructive dialogue on how to build a better Activision Blizzard for all employees.
Today, we stand up for change. Tomorrow and beyond, we will be the change.
Additional Information on Cosby Suite
Kotaku published some additional information about the Cosby Suite. It also confirms that Afrasiabi was terminated for his misconduct in 2020.
Reddit users have also posted about related tweets that aren't in the article.
An employee brought these 2013 events to our attention in June 2020," a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard told Kotaku when asked about the “Cosby Suite” images and allegations against Afrasiabi. “We immediately conducted our own investigation and took corrective action. At the time of the report, we had already conducted a separate investigation of Alex Afrasiabi and terminated him for his misconduct in his treatment of other employees.
Ghostcrawler's Reply to the Cosby Suite
Ghostcrawler issued a statement about the Cosby Suite.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Re: the group chat. Dave was talking about his own wife and a friend. It was a joke, not intended for a broad audience. But the chat is gross and I completely understand how it looks. I should have said something. (Source)I am seriously questioning your leadership ability if you think "it was a joke" is the right thing to say here. Jokes like that are never harmless. They normalize the behavior that led to more abuse towards women.
I understand that and can't excuse it. I'll own the tasteless group chat that I was in. I wanted to correct the narrative about the Cosby room or that women were creepily being recruited for it. (Source)
"created a lot of discussion that risks overshadowing the work you're doing" seems to be your go to response. Something comes out that portrays you in a negative light, and so it's a "distraction" from the real issue...
There are hundreds of people working at Riot who had nothing to do with this and it's unfair to them that they are having to deal with something that happened at a former employer. (Source)
Do you think people actually buy this or are you just doing it to make yourself feel better now
Do you think it makes more sense that I would tweet about it to however many followers I had at the time if I thought there was something inappropriate and hope nobody noticed? (Source)
I looked up to you for many years as a designer & leader, as many have, and this response lets everyone down. you weren't 18. you were in charge of hundreds, thousands of people, and did nothing. you didn't trip and fall into this photo frame. take the L. the rest of us sure are.
At Blizzard? I was in charge of the systems design team - maybe 30 people. I would have loved a director or VP title but they never gave me one. If you know me like you say you do, ask yourself: does this seem like Greg?
Does it sound like the Greg I’ve had personal conversations with? Maybe not. But I also didn’t think you’d have been silent on that panel, or silent around Afrasiabi, or any of the other guys, open-secret or otherwise, many have known you to be close to.
I am not out to end your career or anything. I don’t have that power. But I do have the ability to tell you how this response and your part in all this deeply affects so many of us, and how it doesn’t feel like it addresses the real issues and harm at play.
Because I’ll tell you what it does sound like. Greg Street, the chill, wise, reserved dude who’s very accepting of people - even when he shouldn’t be - not realizing his role, the power of his voice, the weight of his implied approval? That does sound like you & thats not unique.
Yeah I wish I had said something on the panel or in the chat. I regret that. I can't take it back. It was 10 years ago, and I was junior to a bunch of those dudes. I have more confidence and fewer Fs to give now. There's a reason you don't hear stories like this about me at Riot. (Source)
What I don't understand is why you can't even say "yep, I should have seen that and didn't. my tragic bad, but I do try to be better these days."
I have tried to say that over and over. I didn’t see it. I should have. I am sorry. (Source)
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