Activision Blizzard Lawsuit & Horrifying Scandal
Sexual Harassment, discrimination, racism & retaliation...
The Allegations
A Lawsuit was filed against Activision Blizzard for sexual harassment and a horrifying “frat house” company culture that goes far beyond some feminist woke e-girl complaints about the wage gap and the patriarchy. This Lawsuit alleges real and disgusting discrimination and sexual harassment with some employees literally experiencing PTSD. The sexual harassment was not just experienced by women but by men as well.
This is fascinating when you consider the companies “social justice” public stance, which appears to be in direct contradiction to its own company culture and workplace environment. Perhaps certain large companies adopt a woke persona to try to distract people from what they themselves are doing. It’s an interesting phenomena but I think it can really be understood as self-serving behavior designed to give the appearance of social responsibility.
Bloomberg Law has written an article1 discussing the allegations from the lawsuit and their implications:
Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” culture in which female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
A two-year investigation by the state agency found that the company discriminated against female employees in terms and conditions of employment, including compensation, assignment, promotion, and termination. Company leadership consistently failed to take steps to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, the agency said.
According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, female employees make up around 20% of the Activision workforce, and are subjected to a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” including “cube crawls,” in which male employees “drink copious amounts of alcohol as they crawl their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees.”
The agency alleges male employees play video games during the workday while delegating responsibilities to female employees, engage in sexual banter, and joke openly about rape, among other things.
Female employees allege being held back from promotions because of the possibility they might become pregnant, being criticized for leaving to pick their children up from daycare, and being kicked out of lactation rooms so male colleagues could use the room for meetings, the complaint says.
Now, this is not just some allegations being thrown around here. A two year investigation was undertaken by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. These allegations are serious and they seem to portray a disgusting work environment. I have gone through some of the allegations in the Lawsuit and I have extracted some of the more egregious accusations. Trigger Warning, some of the allegations include talk of rape and suicide:
Here we learn that Activision Blizzard, despite it’s public proclamations about “social justice” and treating women well actually only employed about 20% of women in their workforce. Moreover there was virtually NO females in leadership roles within the company. The few women who were able to make it into higher positions faced lower salaries and total compensation than their male counterparts.
This alleges more blatant violations of Equal Employment Opportunity laws and discrimination based on gender.
I am not that concerned with “locker room banter”, however the “cube crawls” are disgusting and it shows the lack of respect afforded to female employees, who are seen as property to play with. The women aren’t seen as human beings and are not treated with dignity and respect despite seemingly doing all the work while the men get wasted. Unwanted touching is NEVER acceptable nor is “joking” about sexual assault and rape. This appears to be a culture fostered from the top down, as the allegations claim high level executives engaged in this inappropriate sexual harassment without facing any consequences.
Numerous complaints were lodged with the company Human Resources personnel and executives including all the way up to the President of Blizzard, J. Allen Brack. These complaints were ignored the Lawsuit alleges and as a result female employees were subjected to retaliation.
This is less egregious as far as the allegations go, but it’s still important to understanding the company culture towards women and how they were treated versus their male counterparts.
Activision Blizzard has claimed that these allegations are untrue and have been misrepresented, and to be fair these are allegations and they deserve their day in Court. However, what I will say is these allegations are not just confined to this lawsuit and there are former employees who have come forward to basically confirm this is an accurate description of company culture.
Another allegation of male employees being promoted over qualified females and then playing video games while delegating their duties to female employees.
As a mother, these allegations are particularly disturbing. Activision Blizzard does not seem to be a pro-family organization at all, and this behavior is disgusting. What is the point in having a “lactation room” if the men are just going to use it for meetings?
African Americans were discriminated against and micromanaged which is extremely insulting and borderline racist. The supervisor complaining about her “slouching” in meetings seems just bizarre.
The Lawsuit alleges these discriminatory business practices continue right up to today.
Having male employees coming up to you while you are working and comment to each other about your breasts is insane. Groping is never acceptable and having male supervisors discuss buying prostitutes is also unacceptable.
I want to preface this with saying first that I played WOW as a teenager, I also was a huge fan of Diablo. I am still able to recognize that this behavior is completely inappropriate. Having to have other employees literally intervene to get this guy off women is insane. The upper management clearly knew about his behavior and tolerated it.
This is probably the most heartbreaking and sickening allegation contained within the entire Lawsuit. How does something like this happen without the company leadership being aware? This obviously comes from the company culture where employees felt safe acting like this, and treating female employees in this way. I worked in law, and for a firm that handled employment litigation including sexual harassment claims. I can tell you this is pretty disturbing.
Getting women drunk or high, “inebriated” and then taking advantage of them while they are vulnerable is predatory behavior. The allegations in this Lawsuit appear to portray a climate of predatory behavior flowing from the top down that made it seem acceptable for everyone to engage in.
Responses to the Lawsuit
Some Blizzard employees have responded to the Lawsuit’s allegations by standing in solidarity with the victims:
Some of the employees have organized a strike outside the Blizzard campus to protest the company’s seemingly cold response to the allegations.
The employees claim the statements by management damage their ongoing quest for equality in the industry, and it should be noted this appears to be an industry wide issue.
It should be noted that Fran Townsend was part of the US government torture program from the global war on terror2 with one publication calling her a torture “advocate”3.
One person claimed they were cancelling their subscription after reading the allegations in the Lawsuit.
Another important reference point is the Activision CEO being named in Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book.
The above tweet is the first of a major thread that shows how both sides of the political isle are connected to this scandal. Apparently there is a connection here to Blizzard and the Trump hotels. What happened there?
One former Blizzard employee wrote about her experience there on Twitter with some shocking statements:
This is really sad and according to her Blizzard employs predators in “every sense” and that employees had been saying that internally for years.
One former employee wrote on Reddit about how she was harassed daily while pregnant! She claims she still can’t drive past the Austin building without feeling physically ill.
Zepla HQ on YouTube has done a very good and fair video about the Lawsuit and the allegations and she has personal experience in the industry.
Another channel has also provided some background on the Lawsuit and allegations with supporting comments from insiders he knows in the company.
In conclusion
Activision Blizzard deserves their day in Court just like anyone else. These allegations are incredibly disturbing though and there are plenty of corroborating stories if you simply look for them. There are former employees that have spoken out publicly about their experiences at Blizzard that paint a similar picture about the company. Anytime you have a large, successful and highly profitable company you are going to have occasional issues. These allegations go far beyond just a few complaints here and there or a couple of bad apples at the company. They seem to represent a systemic culture of predation and discrimination. Hopefully this is something that can change not just the company but the entire industry for the better.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture
https://archive.thinkprogress.org/townsend-admits-cia-documents-dont-back-up-cheney-s-claims-about-torture-e62fff1fc9b4/
https://screenrant.com/activision-blizzard-frances-townsend-george-bush-torture-executive/