Activision Blizzardhas been reeling for the last few weeks, ever since theState of California announced its intention to sue the companyover issues of gender discrimination and a hostile and toxic work environment. The response from the company has been a bit of a mixed bag since then, but one executive in particular can’t seem to stay out of the news cycle.
Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security advisor for the George W. Bush administration and current chief compliance officer atActivisionBlizzard, got off to an extremely bad start in the wake of the lawsuit, announcing that the allegations against the company were “meritless and irresponsible” in an internal email. She invited controversy again recently after sharing an article on social media criticizing the concept of whistleblowing.
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It would appear that Townsend, who has previously been vocally supportive of the use of torture under the Bush administration, has decided to try a bit of damage control of late. After unsuccessfully trying to mitigate the backlash of sharing the whistleblowing article by blocking journalists and Blizzard employees on Twitter,Townsend deleted her account altogether. Though many wondered at the time whether she had been pushed to take this step by her employer, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson later revealed to Kotaku that this wasn’t the case. According to the spokesperson, it “was her personal account. The company didn’t ask her to delete it. It was her decision.”
The storm doesn’t look like it will be passing any time soon, which will no doubt provide some comfort to those who were victims of the company’s toxic workplace culture.Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier published a reportgoing into even more detail about the inequality and harassment so deeply embedded in the history ofActivision Blizzard. Hopefully, bringing all these details to light and continuing to support the people who have suffered will help to reshape the industry at large in due time.
