He may have no proof at all, the reason he probably came out is because of the whole Weinstein scandal which is giving alot of other people the confidence to speak out. If he has no proof his only chance of outing his harraser is that the the harrasser has done this before and more people spoke out, otherwise it is just Sony's words against his which will lead to nothing.
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An important statement from Naughty Dog
- Thread starter Kenzodielocke
- Start date
He may have no proof at all, the reason he probably came out is because of the whole Weinstein scandal which is giving alot of other people the confidence to speak out. If he has no proof his only chance of outing his harraser is that the the harrasser has done this before and more people spoke out, otherwise it is just Sony's words against his which will lead to nothing.
Saucestin_Roast
Member
Did someone at HR fuck up?
Or ND could've just said nothing for the time being. Their statement comes across as extremely hallow and insensitive to the victim.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Of course theres no evidence. Its been destroyed.
If Sony were offering hush money, destroying evidence is a logical next step.
If Sony were offering hush money, destroying evidence is a logical next step.
Brotherhood93
Member
It's not clear whether David is insinuating Naughty Dog knew about the harassment but I think it's very clear he's suggesting Sony did. Whether the alleged severance package was due to the harassment or not they should be duty-bound to investigate claims of harassment.Here's my read on events:
What I'm yet to see is any concrete evidence that Sony and/or Naughty Dog knew about the harassment.
- David suffers months of harassment, does NOT tell management.
- David has a mental breakdown
Management decides to fire him. (At this point, the harassment is still unknown to management)
- Management makes the decision to fire him. At this point, David is getting fired no matter what.
- David tells management in the severance conversation about the harassment.
- Management offers David a severance package. Severence packages always come with a non-disparagement clause. David interprets this as "paying to silence me."
I can't hold it against those companies without seeing some sort of willful disregard. Can David elaborate on when he told management? How he told management?
DISSESHOWEDO
Banned
Words of wisdom which will be ignored!
Crimson_Gold
Member
You do realize how this works? That officially filed sexual harassment claims are documented? If it wasn't documented, then they have no evidence. If he was harassed, I hope Justice is served. But still this point this is not when you state something that isn't based on facts. This statement was made after receiving considerable legal advice.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
But theres already a history of shitty treatment at Naughty Dog sooooooo
ElephantShell
Banned
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
That was a ridiculously clean and legal statement. But the calling out of his name was just super shitty.
So let's jump to conclusions without anything remotely resembling evidence! I'm sorry, but at this point the only sane response is to want a whole lot more evidence before coming to any conclusions.
They're talking about the one specific allegation. They're also not saying that anyone is lying, they're just saying that they don't have records of a complaint.
How did they call him out? It's not like this allegation was handled privately
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Why would there be. When he DID say something they fired him.
I find the whole Sony thing really odd.
Naughty Dog has their own HR team, their own recruiting team, etc. Naughty Dog is an independent entity from Sony. When you're an employee at Naughty Dog, you rarely interface with Sony.
Why would Sony be involved at all?
It's similar to imply that harassment at Bungie should be reported to Activision, or harassment at Riot Games reported to Tencent.
It'd just be really weird for a parent company to involve itself in a subsidiary in this way.
Stop with your childish condescending attitude. Everyone knows how the system is supposed to work, when the entire point of someone coming forward is that the system is flawed and broken. A statement that completely reads as legal corporate speak less than a day after someone that's been a victim for almost two years comes across as low and that they just want to get away from this.
He was fired after he complaint, so that complaint would still have been filed unless someone destroyed evidence or didn't record it to begin with.
deltacanuckian
Member
What? Naughty Dog is owned by Sony, Bungie is not owned by Activision. Not seeing the comparison here.
Congratulations, you've just compromised any potential investigation.
AmayaPapaya
Banned
What's more likely, someone is sexually harassed at Sony's premier studio so they decide to force silence inorder to keep their reputation intact, or the guy lied about the whole thing?
Honestly, the former, by far. So hopefully someone finds something soon.
Honestly, the former, by far. So hopefully someone finds something soon.
That's just not how the corporate world works.
Parent companies don't deal with their subsidiary's HR problems.
That's what I don't get about this whole thing. Why is Sony relevant to an issue between Naughty Dog and an employee?
Dangansona
Member
I don't know how people read it like this.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
As I had said originally. Destroying evidence is a natural next step from offering hush money which gets rejected.
Unless you know the victim personally, how can you possibly know this?
GHG
Gold Member
I want to live in this fantasy world where it's like the TV shows and HR are frantically running around deleting files/shredding paper to destroy evidence in cases like this.
Some of my previous jobs would have been so much more exciting.
I don't think some of you realise the severity of the allegations you're making.
Do you understand what a severance payout is?
No....just, no.
So much wrong with this, I know you were trying to sound clever and all but damn.
The guy publicly posted the accusation on his public twitter account. Maybe chill out?
Rellik
Member
autoduelist
Member
Only if you come in with bias. If you read the statement at face value, written as a result of a direct accusation, it's a direct and to the point statement. Sure, it draws into question the accuser, but that will always be a problem any 'accuser' faces - you must defend yourself, and prove the allegation.
If they had said nothing, we'd just be getting those 'the silence is deafening' posts. We get a response, and it's also torn apart.
ND says they have no record of anything like this happening. That's easily explainable, and multiple possibilities have already been discussed here. Those calling it a $20k 'bribe' are simply unaware of how termination works in well paid positions in larger corporations [ie, it's standard].
Trogdor1123
Member
I hope there isn't myself and that it never happened at all but that's just me.
What? A name is needed for identification.
Lmao, that's not how any of this works.
Sad Affleck
Member
they offer you this money, you decline it, because you'd basically put a price tag on your dignity. you had a mental breakdown shortly before and just try to get well again.
you probably know you don't have much hard evidence against the harasser and say nothing like so many victims do.
then 17 months later a lot of people go public with their story in the wake of the Weinstein scandal and you feel this is the time for you too.
Crimson_Gold
Member
My statement is nothing more than me saying that people are asking the company to open itself to liability. The same thing would occur if a person was accused and came with a by the numbers statement. People want more, but don't look at what the consequences of such a statement. Hopefully the documentation exists to substantiate his claims. If the claims are found not to be true, then hopefully the individual gets the assistance he needs.
Brotherhood93
Member
I agree it seems strange but I must admit I don't have any knowledge on how the structure works between ND and Sony. Ballard's claims seemed clear that Sony were the ones dealing with it and deciding to fire him though. I'd assume even if it weren't true he'd be aware of what the procedure was so that part must be accurate.
And yet rarely so calculated and coordinated. I would not be surprised if this was brushed under the carpet, but some people are talking grand conspiracy. Letting the narrative run away with them.
GHG
Gold Member
I agree with you, but only because when it gets ugly real people's lives are being destroyed and you can see the genuine fear/panic on their faces. It's not just fantasy characters.