Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says reports he knew of sexual misconduct for years are \u201cmisleading\u201d Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, allegedly knew \u201cfor years\u201d about the sexual misconduct that led to the company being sued by the State of California. An article from Wall Street Journal alleges that Activision Blizzard\u2019s CEO, Bobby Kotick, was aware of the sexual misconduct happening throughout the company, a claim that Kotick himself has refuted in a new statement. In his statement, Kotick says the article \u201cpaints an inaccurate and misleading view of our company, of me personally, and my leadership\u201d, while the Activision Blizzard board has released a statement saying it is confident that Kotick \u201cappropriately addressed workplace issues brought to his attention.\u201d The gaming behemoths were sued by the State of California in June 2021, for fostering a \u201cpervasive frat-boy culture\u201d within the workplace. Following this, officials claimed that the company had shredded documents pertaining to the lawsuit. Kotick has since been under scrutiny despite accepting a million-dollar pay cut in response to the ongoing issues, but WSJ reports that he knew about the issues and did nothing. Activision Blizzard CEO under fire Kotick allegedly claimed to company officials that \u201che wasn\u2019t aware of many of the allegations of misconduct\u201d and that he is \u201cvery committed to making sure we have the most welcoming, most inclusive workplace in the industry.\u201d Former Blizzard Co-Leader, Jen Oneal, has called this into question, however, in an email reportedly sent to Activision\u2019s legal team and shared with the Wall Street Journal. She claims that she was the victim of sexual abuse at the company, writing that \u201cI have been tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against.\u201d She goes on to allege that she went to \u201ca party for an Activision development studio she attended with Mr. Kotick around 2007 in which scantily clad women danced on stripper poles. At the same party, a DJ encouraged female attendees to drink more so the men would have a better time, according to another person who was present.\u201d Also according to the Wall Street Journal, at a different event, another employee allegedly accused co-head of Activision\u2019s Treyarch studio, Dan Bunting, of sexually harassing her. Activision Blizzard reportedly decided \u201cnot to terminate Mr. Bunting, but instead to impose other disciplinary measures.\u201d He then apparently left the company following WSJ enquires. Update \u2013 Friday, December 24: Representation for Mr. Bunting has told Dexerto that \u201cno such allegation\u201d was ever made, and that \u201chis departure resulted from unlawful actions by the company.\u201d Kotick has apparently denied these events, noting that \u201cif there are experiences people have in the workplace that make them uncomfortable, we\u2019re much more adept at being able to respond to those.\u201d Despite this, the CEO continues to come under fire for supposedly ignoring complaints. In 2020 a group of 30 female employees reportedly filed a report regarding harassment in the workplace, that Kotick was apparently aware of. His own behavior has also been called into question following an incident that allegedly occurred on his private jet in 2007. In the WSJ report, a flight attendant claims she was fired after being sexually assaulted by the aircraft\u2019s pilot. Kotick apparently told the woman and her attorneys that \u201cI\u2019m going to destroy you\u201d when she decided to sue, and the issue was settled in 2008 with a $200,000 settlement. Kotick responds to WSJ allegations In a November 16 blog post, Activision Blizzard have shared the transcript of a video message from Kotick to the company\u2019s staff. Noting that \u201cthere\u2019s an article today [November 16] that paints an inaccurate and misleading view of our company, of me personally, and my leadership,\u201d he goes on to state that \u201canyone who doubts my conviction to be the most welcoming, inclusive workplace doesn\u2019t really appreciate how important this is to me.\u201d \u201cAs I have made clear, we are moving forward with a new zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior \u2014 and zero means zero. Any reprehensible conduct is simply unacceptable\u2026 Over the last few years, our industry has had an uncomfortable spotlight that\u2019s been illuminating opportunities for us to change. And we must all, including me, embrace this need for change, so we can bring our very best selves to the very best place to work.\u201d Activision board backs Kotick after allegations The Activision Blizzard Board of Directors released a statement hours after Kotick responded to allegations that arose from the investigative report. \u201cThe Activision Blizzard Board remains committed to the goal of making Activision Blizzard the most welcoming and inclusive company in the industry,\u201d they said. \u201cUnder Bobby Kotick\u2019s leadership, the Company is already implementing industry-leading changes including a zero-tolerance harassment policy, a dedication to achieving significant increases to the percentages of women and non-binary people in our workforce, and significant internal and external investments to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent. The Board remains confident that Bobby Kotick appropriately addressed workplace issues brought to his attention. \u201cThe goals we have set for ourselves are both critical and ambitious. The Board remains confident in Bobby Kotick\u2019s leadership, commitment and ability to achieve these goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says reports he knew of sexual misconduct for years are \u201cmisleading\u201d Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, allegedly knew \u201cfor years\u201d about the sexual misconduct that led to the company being sued by the State of California. An article from Wall Street Journal alleges that Activision Blizzard\u2019s CEO, Bobby Kotick, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}