Over 2,000 Activision Blizzard Employees Sign Letter Demanding Board Rectification: “We Will Not Be Silenced” (Updated)
Over 2,000 Activision Blizzard Employees Sign Letter Demanding Board Rectification: “We Will Not Be Silenced” (Updated)
Update 5:00 p.m .: the CNN medium has reported that more than 2,000 company employees have already signed the letter published by the workers. Of the 9,500 workers that Activision Blizzard has on the staff, about 20% have joined the statement. We reflect this new data in the headline and the text.
The lawsuit against Activision Blizzard has started a wave of consequences. The accusations of workplace and sexual harassment made against the company have resulted in former company officials having frontally rejected what happened and apologized for not having acted on time.
Now, a group of more than 2,000 Activision Blizzard workers have shared a letter signed by all of them, demanding that the company “acknowledge the seriousness of these allegations and show compassion for the victims of harassment.”
Specifically, it is intended that the direction of the brand backs down in its initial response to the lawsuit, since that first response ” damaged our continuous search for equality within and outside our industry .” The letter goes on to point out that those words “cast doubt on the ability of our organizations to hold abusers accountable for their actions.”
“We will not be silenced, we will not stand by and we will not give up until the company we love is a workplace that we can all be proud to be a part of again. We will be the change,” the statement concluded. Here’s the full text, shared by Polygon :
To the leaders of Activision Blizzard,
We, the undersigned, agree that the statements of Activision Blizzard, Inc. and its legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent internal statement of Frances Townsend, are abhorrent and insulting to all that we believe that our company should defend. To put it clearly and unequivocally, our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.
We believe that these statements have damaged our ongoing pursuit of equality within and outside of our industry. Categorizing the claims that have been made as “distorted and, in many cases, false” creates an atmosphere of a company that does not believe in the victims. It also casts doubt on the ability of our organizations to hold abusers accountable for their actions and foster a safe environment for victims to come forward in the future. These statements make it clear that our leadership is not putting our values first. Immediate corrections are needed at the highest level of our organization.
Our company executives have stated that steps will be taken to protect us, but in the face of the legal action and the troubling official responses that followed, we no longer trust our leaders to put the safety of employees above their own best interests. Claiming that this is a “truly irresponsible and meritless lawsuit”, while seeing so many current and former employees talking about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable.
We ask for official statements that acknowledge the seriousness of these allegations and show compassion for the victims of harassment and assault. We call on Frances Townsend to keep her word to resign as Executive Sponsor of the ABK Women Employees Network as a result of the damaging nature of her statement. We call on the executive leadership team to work with us on new and meaningful efforts to ensure that employees, as well as our community, have a safe place to speak and introduce themselves.
We support all of our friends, teammates and colleagues, as well as members of our dedicated community, who have experienced abuse or harassment of any kind. We will not be silenced, we will not stand by, and we will not give up until the company we love is a workplace that we can all be proud to be a part of again. We will be the change.
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Activision’s opening statements: Over 2,000 Activision Blizzard Employees Sign Letter Demanding Board Rectification: “We Will Not Be Silenced” (Updated)
Fran Townsend, Executive Vice President of Activision Blizzard, issued a statement in response to the lawsuit from the California Department of Housing and Fair Employment. In it, he called the accusations ” distorted descriptions, and in many cases false .”
Polygon contacted several current employees, who say they are “disgusted” by the response, noting that the allegations in the lawsuit are just the tip of the iceberg. Another source consulted by the media indicates that dozens of employees have contacted the Housing Department to add their own experiences to the lawsuit.
An employee representative has reached out to Polygon, stating that “we appreciate the support of our co-workers, former ABK employees, and our communities during this time. Rest assured that we intend to demand change and hold accountable our leaders and companies of the values we adhere to. ” For its part, Activision Blizzard has not responded to Polygon’s request for a response to this letter. Over 2,000 Activision Blizzard Employees Sign Letter Demanding Board Rectification: “We Will Not Be Silenced” (Updated)
