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Activision Blizzard is being sued by the state of California after a two year investigation into the company revealed tons of sexual harassment and discrimination against female employees of the company. Today, an internal email sent out last night from Blizzard president J. Allen Brack was made public. Brack, one of the people named in the lawsuit, tries to address the allegations levied against the company, calling them "extremely troubling."
Brack was, as far as we're currently aware, not one of the employees directly responsible for harassing employees. However, it is claimed that he knew about many instances of harassment and did not do enough to stop the behavior from happening. He failed to do his job and failed to protect his female employees from serial harassers within the company. Punishments from Brack amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist for some of those that he did "punish."
The email sent out by Brack gets truly bizarre though when he just casually namedrops Gloria Steinem. Steinem is best known for being a leader for the American feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The inclusion of Steinem's name in Brack's email just exudes "I can't be racist, I have black friends" energy.
Don't you worry though, it actually gets worse.
Another email was sent out to Blizzard employees from Activision Blizzard executive Fran Townsend. Prior to joining Activision in March 2021, Townsend was the Homeland Security Advisor to George W. Bush. She was also recommended by a Donald Trump ally to become his Director of National Intelligence or the Secretary of Homeland Security. Well, this is already off to a great start.
Townsend's email was quite a bit different from Brack's email. The content of the email reportedly "has some Blizzard employees fuming." Right out of the gate, Townsend doubles down on the claims that the details presented in the lawsuit are "distorted and untrue." She continues on to say that there are claims that are "factually incorrect, old, and out of context." She later calls the lawsuit "meritless and irresponsible." Keep in mind that the state of California conducted a two year investigation before filing the lawsuit.
Her email concludes by saying that Activision Blizzard is "a company that truly values equality and fairness."
Rest assured that leadership is committed to continuing to maintain a safe, fair, and inclusive workplace. We cannot let egregious actions of others, and a truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit, damage our culture of respect and equal opportunity for all employees."
(This is meant to be satire. I want Activision-Blizzard severely punished. I hated them ever since the commentators remained punished for absolutely no reason.)