If you thought suing one website wasn't enough, what if I were to bring you a report of someone that is deciding to sue two websites? I bet that's starting to get your motor running, eh?
Courthouse News says that former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is suing G/O Media. Specifically, Kotick is singling out Kotaku and Gizmodo. In stories published by these outlets about Kotick's potential interest in purchasing TikTok, both outlets referenced a 2021 lawsuit against Activision Blizzard by the California Civil Rights Department (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) concerning allegations of sexual harassment of female employees.
That lawsuit by the California Civil Rights Department was settled in 2023 for $47 million.
Those articles by Kotaku and Gizmodo talking about Kotick's potential interest in buying TikTok were published in March-April of 2024. Kotick's issue with those reports stems from the fact that both reports talked about "the since-dismissed claims of widespread workplace misconduct without ever mentioning they had been dismissed."
The settlement, signed by both parties, stated that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of either systemic sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard or that the company’s senior executives “ignored, condoned or tolerated a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation or discrimination.” (...)
“Neither article had anything to do with Activision,” Kotick says in the complaint. “Both were about rumors that Kotick was interested in buying TikTok. Yet, Kotaku and Gizmodo went out of their way to include withdrawn, false allegations relating to workplace issues which G/O Media knew had been conclusively disproven by numerous investigations … purely for the malicious purposes of causing further harm to Kotick.”
According to Kotick in the complaint filed Tuesday, he and his representatives repeatedly wrote to G/O Media demanding corrections to the articles, including removal of a headline that originally called Kotick a “disgraced” CEO and a note that the California Civil Rights Department voluntarily withdrew its claims.
“Neither article had anything to do with Activision,” Kotick says in the complaint. “Both were about rumors that Kotick was interested in buying TikTok. Yet, Kotaku and Gizmodo went out of their way to include withdrawn, false allegations relating to workplace issues which G/O Media knew had been conclusively disproven by numerous investigations … purely for the malicious purposes of causing further harm to Kotick.”
According to Kotick in the complaint filed Tuesday, he and his representatives repeatedly wrote to G/O Media demanding corrections to the articles, including removal of a headline that originally called Kotick a “disgraced” CEO and a note that the California Civil Rights Department voluntarily withdrew its claims.
Kotick is seeking an undisclosed amount for damages as part of his lawsuit against G/O Media. That is assuming his lawsuit isn't also "fake."
