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Hey everyone, anytime you see an image with text you know there's an announcement so I'll get right to the point. Last Friday was my last day as a full-time member of Achievement Hunter. A few weeks ago, I was informed that my role at Rooster Teeth had been dissolved. These have been some of the most fun times in my life and I'm truly thankful to each and every person that had a hand in them. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for watching and for the love I've received during my time at AH. While this news is sad on the surface it's not terrible. I have accepted a part time contract so I will continue being in AH content and producing shows I'm passionate about like Challenge Accepted. Essentially I'm not going to be in the office every day, but I'll still be in as much as I can. As for the future, I can't say for sure what all it will hold. All I can say is when I received this news, I was sad, but I wasn't scared. We've created an incredible community of mages on Twitch that have changed my life and the way I've looked at content. And now that I am no longer full time at AH, I want to devote more time to that community. Over the next few weeks the schedule will be changing on Twitch as I feel out what being a full time streamer is like. We're going to experiment and hopefully grow so please bear with me as I try some new times and different things. Thank you all so much for your support as a member of AH and as an individual content creator thus far, and thank you for all of your support going forward. As new as this is all going to be, I'm excited to take this next step with you all. See you all soon <3

Gabriel Silva @Kaxbeokay I actually heavily considered quitting animation altogether in 2017 because of how I was treated at Rooster Teeth. While the rest of the team was improving their craft working on episodes of Camp Camp, I received so little animation that my skills lagged far behind everyone else. 2:48 AM - Oct 17, 2022. Twitter for iPhone

Noor Ata @TheNoorata ... My former Rooster Teeth colleagues can DM me or call me if they need someone to talk to. There are a lot of people going public about the trauma that they endured while working at Rooster Teeth. While I'm not sure if I'll make a public statement about my own experience, reading about our former colleagues' experiences can be triggering. It's definitely brought out old feelings in me. This weekend, I've seen more than one person reveal that the closest that they've come to taking their own life was when they worked at Rooster Teeth. If seeing all the news coming out has made you relive the trauma, you can always call me, even if we weren't close when working there. I worked at Rooster Teeth during my first year in this industry and it is still the most difficult experience that I've ever had. I think most of the animators I worked with were extremely talented and kind. I always get excited when I see a former RT animator moving on and being successful in their career. For people who are just now getting out or haven't found their footing, know that despite the Rooster Teeth experience being terrible, you are talented. You can do this job very well. Regardless if people told you otherwise, Rooster Teeth's conduct is not the industry standard. There are better jobs and studios out there that will respect your boundaries and compensate you fairly. I'm on the other side of it and life is definitely better. I highly advise anyone that is reliving the trauma to reach out to someone. You can call me to talk. If you need me to promote your reel on LinkedIn, reach out. If you want career advice or want the 411 on studios in LA, let me know. If you're in Los Angeles and want to meet up, you can reach me at

Chris Of The Dead @ChrisDAnimation It took me about a year after my Rooster Teeth contract expired (and thank goodness it did) to realize I didn't think the rest of the industry was any better. I animated my own stuff for passion, but went into Tech Support 7 years before looking for and finding a GOOD studio. andi c CØMMS ØPEN @andicdayo Oct 16 was there for everything. can confirm this entire thing, and then some. ... genlock s1 gave me ptsd. i am still recovering from it. it took me years not doing 3D animation to feel well enough to open up maya without feeling sick. i still am not working in 3D again- im a teacher. twitter.com/ked_ees/status... Show this thread

zozo @zoeterhune nothing *horrible* happened to me in my time at rooster teeth; I left when I realized I was never going to get paid enough for the pressure of having millions of dollars of ad revenue on me and my team's shoulders. that said, some of the s--- i witnessed was f------ nuts!! 5:02 PM Oct 15, 2022 Twitter Web App

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Overview

2022 Rooster Teeth Workplace Misconduct Allegations refers to a series of accusations made by ex-Rooster Teeth employee Kdin Jenzen accusing the company and its employees of workplace misconduct, including alleged harassment, months of unpaid work, referring to her as the homophobic F-slur as a nickname and fostering a "crunch culture." The allegations were posted to TwitLonger in October 2022 after Rooster Teeth allegedly laid off several employees. In the following days, numerous ex-Rooster Teeth employees and contractors came out with similar allegations, and Rooster Teeth's ex-Director gave his support to Jenzen as well. Rooster Teeth then posted an official statement about the accusations that was largely criticized for perceptibly missing the point, failing to address specific portions of the allegations and not taking accountability.

History

2022 Layoffs

On October 14th, 2022, ex-Rooster Teeth employee Matt Bragg announced on Twitter^[12] that he was laid off from the company (seen below). Numerous other employees were laid off or "dissolved" as well, including Matt Bragg of Achievement Hunger, artist Courtney Brenek, graphic designer Josh Bailey, the entire event staff, Inside Gaming host Brian Gaar and art director Marcus Gray LaPorte. On October 15th, a Redditor then made a post to /r/roosterteeth^[13] sharing the tweets by each person announcing their departure from Rooster Teeth.

Kdin Jenzen's "My Final Words On Rooster Teeth"

On October 15th, 2022, former Rooster Teeth employee Kdin Jenzen, most known for her work on Achievement Hunter and as the voice of May Marigold in RWBY, made a post to Twitter^[1] (@KdinJenzen) writing, "My final words on Rooster Teeth & just SOME of my experiences there," sharing a TwitLonger^[2] link (seen below). In the TwitLonger, Jenzen makes numerous allegations of workplace harassment against Rooster Teeth and its employees. People assumed Jenzen was laid off along with the other employees but claims to have resigned in the TwitLonger.

Kdin Jenzen @KdinJenzen My final words on Rooster Teeth & just SOME of my experiences there. Read: twitlonger.com/show/n_1ss5f7p 2:03 PM Oct 15, 2022 Twitlonger 14.9K Retweets 2,688 Quote Tweets 61.6K Likes

First, Jenzen claims that between February and November 2013, she was unpaid for all of her contract work, writing that she brought it up once but was told, “it’s been so long already, it’s not really a big deal is it?”

Next, she alleges that people called her "faggot" as a nickname, which was shortened to "Fugz" on-camera as a coded way to refer to the nickname. In the TwitLonger, she writes, "For any fans who used that nickname for me for years, that’s what you were calling me."

Jenzen alleges that she would often stay at work editing videos from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and that this type of crunch time was encouraged. She then alleges harassment, writing:

"From that point on harassment started, and not just toward me. Any time I brought up mistreatment or that 'making fun of people in content only encourages the community to hate us' – I was waved away saying 'IT’S JUST A JOKE! Ignore the comments!' This “ignore the comments” mantra was a way to excuse their own behavior. Anyone who was not “important” was constantly made fun of with no way to defend themselves or be part of the content in a way to defend themself even jokingly so. We were silenced at every turn."

Additionally, Jenzen also claimed that the harassment and work culture caused her to neglect her health. She was purportedly hospitalized with pneumonia and her work schedule was not accommodating when she returned. She eventually moved departments, where she was promised a producer job and a showrunner job for a podcast. She was uncredited for her work on the podcast, was hardly allowed on the show and was pushed to edit three videos a day.

Jenzen then wrote that in 2016, she came out as trans and claims the harassment got worse. She said, "People had no idea how to deal with a trans woman, so I was interacted with even less and only trotted out every so often to show off 'We Hire LGBTQIA+ People!'" People purportedly stopped using the "Fugz" nickname. Jenzen brought the harassment up to HR, who had Jenzen join a call with the manager who apologized dismissively. She claimed she also told one of the "founding fathers" of the company, who told her she should quit and was "too nice" for Rooster Teeth.

Jenzen continued that until 2020, she was paid $40,000 USD per year as a producer/director, writing that this is "below the industry standard." She then writes that crunch time during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was "monstrous," adding that during the 2021 Anniversary Stream Event she needed to leave mid-production for life-saving surgery. Someone she was working with took the credit for all the work she did for the event and blamed her for anything that went wrong.

She also wrote that "Business Resource Groups" were created to help deal with "representation issues inside the company." She purportedly tried to help with these, but in mid-2021 was told, "we’ve done enough for the queer community," although she felt they had "barely accomplished anything." She asked for transparency about how some employees were treated at the company but was told, "the company is going through a lot right now just leave it alone." She then wrote:

I left Rooster Teeth because, despite thinking I could make positive change in the company, they proved that I couldn’t every step of the way. From 2013 until 2022, I did what I could to help my fellow employees, make positive change, and help the industry.

Finally, she alleges that all her voiceover work she did for Rooster Teeth before leaving, writing that these allegations are "just the surface level" and that she still struggles with "emotional, mental, physical, and financial damage." The post gained over 61,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in two days (shown below, click to expand).

My final words on Rooster Teeth & just SOME of my experiences there. I've been waiting to say anything directly for a long time on this subject in hopes that something - anything - would change and get better, but it's obvious that this is just "how it is there." So it's time for me to finally say something about Rooster Teeth. I joined the company, officially, as a contracted content creator and editor in February 2013. I worked to create a monthly video game news/release series. I produced episodes every month until I was officially hired as a full time content creator/editor in November of 2013. From February 2013 until November 2013, I went entirely unpaid for all of my contract work. I was never given the payment promised for anything I did. When I was hired full time and I brought that up, I was told that "it's been so long already, it's not really a big deal is it?" And then the subject was never brought up again. Within a few weeks of working at Rooster Teeth I was given a nickname, that nickname was a slur. Every day I came into work I was called "F*gg*t" - but they could not use that name in content so when anyone was recording I was called "Fugz" instead. For any fans who used that nickname for me for years, that's what you were calling me. I couldn't say anything about it, I had reported the use of that nickname for years to HR, and nothing was ever done about it and the videos that use that nickname for me are still up. When Christmas rolled around my first year, 2013, I was given a "bonus" of about $100. Any money I had at the time was extremely helpful as I had nearly nothing to my name, so I was grateful for it. But a long time member of the company looked at me as I was handed my small bonus and scoffed "Why do YOU get a bonus? You've only been here for five minutes." In my first years there I would arrive at work around 7am (two hours before everyone else) to begin editing videos and would often have to stay until 9pm to get as much work done as possible. This was actively encouraged so we could have a backlog of content, but I was always given "rush orders" to edit more important videos to go out either the same day or next day. That's when the crunch began for me and it did not end. From that point on harassment started, and not just toward me. Any time I brought up mistreatment or that "making fun of people in content only encourages the community to hate us" - I was waved away saying "IT'S JUST A JOKE! Ignore the comments!" This "ignore the comments" mantra was a way to excuse their own behavior. Anyone who was not "important" was constantly made fun of with no way to defend themselves or be part of the content in a way to defend themself even jokingly so. We were silenced at every turn. Jeremy, Matt, and I tried to make content together as often as we could in those earlier days. And we rarely got the chance to do so. I remember being yelled at for making the Zelda video with Matt after it had already gone up because it was a "waste of time". During that time I was put into a position where I ignored my own physical health to focus more on work, which eventually caused me to come down with pneumonia. I spent several days in the hospital with a fever over 112F. When I was released I was back to work only a few days later and with the same work schedule. Eventually I had enough from the department I was working for at the time and moved departments in hope that I would be better treated elsewhere in the company. I still loved the work I did, I loved some of the people at the company, and I believed that if I put my effort into it I could make things better for everyone. The department I transferred to promised me a producer job and show running their new podcast while also being tasked to edit videos and sometimes write stories for news channel. I was never given the producer position in that department, I was never allowed even near the podcast unless they were "desperate for a last minute person", I went entirely uncredited for anything I wrote for them, and I was pushed to edit 3 videos from start to finish every day with little to no turn around time so they could be posted immediately. My hours in that department were 7am until 11pm. I was crunching harder than before. I wasn't allowed to be in anything. I had my name removed from everything I worked on. I was put in an office where I was forgotten about and swept under the rug, people even IN the company forgot I worked there with how sectioned off and pushed aside I was. In 2016 I came out as trans and many people at the company publicly voiced their support on social media. Inside the company however, things got worse. People had no idea how to deal with a trans woman, so I was interacted with even less and only trotted out every so often to show off "We Hire LGBTQIA+ People!" It was only at this point where the nickname "Fugz" finally stopped being used all the time. Three years of content with that name being used toward me and all that content is still up. During that time my acting manager began to harass me and lie to the community any time I was "planned to be on camera and couldn't show up" - many times it was said to the audience watching that I had already gone home" when I was in the other room crunching to finish my job and the work of my manager. The harassment continued and I began to spiral into a deep depression, wondering what I could do, I eventually reported it to HR and the "solution" was that they brought in my manager who was harassing me into a Two-On- One meeting where the manager said "oh I'm sorry" and that was it. The way I was treated did not change at all and actively became worse. I then went to one of the founding fathers of the company to express my concerns, and was told that I was "too nice to work at Rooster Teeth" and that I should "just quit and find somewhere else to work" - I was horrified. At the moment I couldn't do anything but feel horrified and powerless. I was an out trans woman in Texas in 2018 and was told "just quit and find work elsewhere in Texas" a state that actively finds ways to keep our rights from us. Throughout my employment I also struggled to get the company insurance to cover my transition despite Rooster Teeth telling me that "Oh it's all good" - because of their inaction and lack of help in this matter I amassed horrible amounts of medical debt despite being "completely covered" by them. I still am recovering from this debt now as Rooster Teeth has been underpaying me for years, my raises were frozen by my manager at the time, and because of that I never received a proper raise even up until I quit earlier this year. Until the end of 2020 I was paid around $40k per year as a Producer/Director. Far below the industry standard. If not for the help of one person fighting for me to be paid properly, I wouldn't have gotten bumped up to the pay of the lowest paid person next to me. Which was nearly $70k. I was shocked that I was being underpaid by nearly $30k. During the 2019 layoffs, I was actually one of the people affected. I was very nearly laid off as well, but was told to either move to LA and work there (at the $40k per year rate which UNLIVABLE in LA) or be laid off immediately. I agreed to move to LA, Rooster Teeth said they would be giving me $5k moving costs to pick up my life and move to LA by March of 2020. The money never was given to me and then COVID forced the company into moving to remote, meaning my job was actually saved by COVID happening. Crunch during the height of COVID was monstrous. Every department was forced to push out more and more content and do more and more work to make up for "losses" - many of us were working 7 days a week and extremely long hours. I helped run the 2021 Anniversary Stream Event, but in the middle of production I had to undergo life saving surgery and was told I needed AT LEAST two weeks rest before going back to work. The person I was working with to schedule that event took credit for all the work I did up to that point and then BLAMED ME for anything that went wrong with it because "I wasn't doing my job" while I was recovering for major surgery and was on mandated medical leave. BRGS (Business Resource Groups) were created at this time to help with representation issues inside the company. I did everything I could to help the other BRGs as well as the Queer BRG I helped lead. By mid 2021 1 was told "we've done enough for the queer community" - which hurt to hear as I felt like we had barely accomplished anything and were still struggling to have accurate representation on screen as most of our PRIDE stream events featured mostly Cis/Het talent still. During this time there was a lot of outspokenness for the mistreatment of minority groups inside of Rooster Teeth from former employees, lots of fans asked "Why didn't you all do anything about it?", to which I say actual ground level employees did everything they could. But we could only do so much. At that moment I asked for transparency for how others, not just one or two employees, were treated in the company - myself included - and was essentially told that "the company is going through a lot right now just leave it alone". How I was being treated and how others were being treated was once again swept under the rug. I left Rooster Teeth because, despite thinking I could make positive change in the company, they proved that I couldn't every step of the way. From 2013 until 2022, I did what I could to help my fellow employees, make positive change, and help the industry. It's also worth mentioning that for every bit of VO I did before I left Rooster Teeth, I wasn't actually paid for any of it under the idea that "I was an employee, so I don't need to be paid for VO." In that case and the way it was viewed, I was paid less than $30 per hour for each of my VO sessions. Which is well below any industry standard. But I was ultimately silenced and pushed aside. This is all really just the surface level, there's so much more I want to say but honestly it's all so exhausting at this point and I've done everything I can. I still struggle regularly with the emotional, mental, physical, and financial damage that was done to me over those years. There are good people still working there, I'm friends with them, and I wish them the best. TL;DR - Feb 2013 - Nov 2013. Unpaid Contract Work - Fugz F*gg*t, reported to HR nothing was done - 2013 Christmas "Bonus" $100. Long time members disapproved of said bonus - 14hr work days, rush orders for same or next day videos - "Any time hate us" - I I brought up mistreatment or that "making fun of people in content only encourages the community to was waved away saying "IT'S JUST A JOKE! Ignore the comments!"" RT crunch caused pneumonia, no recovery period on return - Crunched harder, physically isolated "people even IN the company forgot I worked" - RT never fulfilled their deals promotion deals - 15 hr work days - 2016 came out as Trans, Transphobia harassment started - Acting Manager lied to the community and harassed me, HR did nothing and enabled harassment - Founding Fathers knew and did nothing. Said "too nice to work at Rooster Teeth" and "just quit and find somewhere else to work" - RT did not properly support medical insurance coverage - End 2020 Position Producer/Director, paid $40k. Next lowest paid person was $70k. - 2019, forced to move to LA or get laid off. RT never paid moving costs. COVID forced remote jobs thus SAVING my job -RT INCREASES crunch during COVID - 2021 Anniversary Stream Event. Had LIFE SAVING surgery, majority work stolen by coworker and blamed production failures on me during MEDICAL LEAVE. - BRG created to help PRIDE stream events still mostly Cis/Het talents Handful of - Mistreatment of - Unpaid for with representation issues, mid 2021 RT said "we've done enough for the queer community" minorities in RT ignored the company is going through a lot right now just leave it alone" VO work during tenure at RT, May Marigold and RWBY Fairy Tales included. good people. Bad Company.

Current and Ex-Rooster Teeth Employees Respond to Jenzen's Allegations

Following Jenzen's TwitLonger post, numerous current and former employees of Rooster Teeth and its subsidiaries made statements about the brand, showing support for Jenzen, confirming her allegations and criticizing the company. On October 15th, 2022, the head writer of RWBY tweeted,^[3] "Lots of feelings. I hope my friends and former coworkers all find places that make them feel enriched, fulfilled, valued, seen, and appreciated," garnering over 1,000 likes in two days. Former employee and Twitter^[4] user @zoeterhune then posted, "I left when I realized I was never going to get paid enough for the pressure of having millions of dollars of ad revenue on me and my team's shoulders. that said, some of the shit i witnessed was fucking nuts," garnering over 1,400 likes in the same span of time.

Later that day, Rooster Teeth's former director Gavin Free tweeted^[5] a statement confirming that he and others used to call Kdin the slur as a nickname and apologized for it, garnering over 16,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Gavin Free @GavinFree Today, Kdin continued an important conversation that I've referred to vaguely in the past and rather than tweet something vague or just attempt to push forward, today I want to stop and take full responsibility for my past behaviour at Rooster Teeth. Firstly, I don't want anything I say here to be construed as an excuse - there simply aren't any excuses for my past behaviour. In the past I certainly played a role in other people's unhappiness with my s--- attempts at humor and I look back on these moments with disgust in myself. I'm absolutely shocked by what I used to think could pass as comedy or "just joking around". I used to think that I could say or do offensive things because those around me knew it was beyond absurd that I would speak that way - basically, the intent was to shock and the content of my character would excuse it - I couldn't have been more wrong and I fully acknowledge how stupid and hurtful that way of thinking was. Before Kdin bravely came out and transitioned, I did use that horrifically offensive nickname - it didn't matter that I was under the impression that we were all in on a joke - it was hurtful and wrong. Full stop. I would never use that kind of language in any context today, but again, that doesn't excuse my behaviour and I completely acknowledge that. In the years since, I've tried my absolute best to grow as a human being and would never, ever behave in this manner now - again, I'm beyond ashamed when I think back and I am forever grateful to the amazing individuals like Kdin who have shown me more grace than I was ever deserving of as I've worked to put my hurtful behaviour behind me. 8:53 PM - Oct 15, 2022 - Twitter for iPhone

On October 16th, 2022, Twitter^[6] user @where_is_squat wrote that talking to Rooster Teeth HR was the "biggest waste of time," garnering over 2,100 likes in a day. Twitter^[7] user and former Rooster Teeth employee @ClayToneProd then made a thread confirming some of the allegations, garnering over 1,300 likes in a day.

Rooster Teeth's Response

On October 16th, 2022, the Rooster Teeth Twitter^[8] account posted an official statement responding to the allegations. In the statement, it began by writing that "2020 was a year of broad societal change that brought past conduct to our attention." It continued that the company purportedly brought in new leadership to drive internal work over the years, writing, "As our organization continues to evolve, this will be an ongoing exercise." It then directly acknowledged Kdin, writing that the brand was grateful for her collaboration:

"Leadership, management and personnel across the company have evolved over the past two decades to build what we believe is a safe, secure and inclusive workplace. We are disheartened to hear of anyone who has experienced pain resulting from prior experiences working at Rooster Teeth and support the resolution of interpersonal conflicts through direct and honest dialog. New leadership has worked to address and investigate past conduct, acknowledging that mediation si complex and doesn't guarantee a perfect solution."

Rooster Teeth's Twitter then wrote that while it is committed to hearing all sides of each dispute and upholding the company's values, it will not comment on these matters publicly out of "respect for all parties." The company then addressed employee turnover and letting employees go, writing:

"We are not immune to the disruptive forces that affect every business[…] like many other companies, we are experiencing people leaving to pursue different career paths and opportunities, while others are making bigger life changes. As a result, we had to make tough decisions to reduce a handful of roles in select departments to adjust to marketplace realities."

The brand's Twitter account then finished the statement by writing that it genuinely believes in the progress its team has made over the past two years, writing that Rooster Teeth stands by its words and actions, stating, "We will continue to move forward together as a passionate, creative company and community with open hearts and minds." The post gained over 3,600 likes and 2,000 quote retweets in a day (shown below). The response was largely criticized in the comments shortly after.

As an almost 20-year-old company that started in the earliest days of online video and grew rapidly alongside the rise of internet culture, we have faced inevitable mistakes and interpersonal challenges. 2020 was a year of broad societal change that brought past conduct to our attention. Many individuals at Rooster Teeth acknowledged personal responsibility for their actions both internally and externally. We as a company took that moment to seize the opportunity to respond and improve. Over the last two years, we've spoken about challenges with the community, pledged to do things better, and implemented internal actions to advance structural improvement. Specifically, we began by bringing in new leadership to drive this internal work. This led to engaging a DEI consultant, a management firm specializing in cultural growth and workplace change, outside HR support, and external management training consultants. In addition, we engaged an outside compensation tool in 2020 to review our internal pay bands and completed our initial pay parity review in 2021. As our organization continues to evolve, this will be an ongoing exercise and continual effort. Our dedication to change has included the valuable input of many team members across the company, Kdin being one, and we're grateful for their collaboration. We have held ourselves accountable, and everyone in the organization has committed to establishing the Rooster Teeth Way-a comprehensive and aspirational set of values and behaviors anchored by our purpose and vision-carefully crafted with the input of the entire company. These values are reinforced by workshops and management training, employee business resource groups (BRGS), increased channels for feedback, both direct and anonymous, and immediate action when warranted. Leadership, management, and personnel across the company have evolved over the past two decades to build what we believe is a safe, secure, and inclusive workplace. We are disheartened to hear of anyone who has experienced pain resulting from prior experiences working at Rooster Teeth and support the resolution of interpersonal conflicts through direct and honest dialog. New leadership has worked to address and investigate past conduct, acknowledging that mediation is complex and doesn't guarantee a perfect solution. We are committed to hearing every side of each dispute and operating within our authority to uphold the company's values and behaviors. Out of respect for all parties, the company will not comment publicly on these matters. Many employees who have voiced past grievances choose to continue working with us, and we continue to encourage them to share their stories as they wish. Acknowledging employee turnover, we are not immune to the disruptive forces that affect every business and workplace today. Like many other companies, we are experiencing people leaving to pursue different career paths and opportunities, while others are making bigger life changes. Additionally, external economic pressures have impacted some of our business units. As a result, we had to make tough decisions to reduce a handful of roles in select departments to adjust to marketplace realities. While these targeted actions do not amount to a significant reduction in overall employee headcount, it is still difficult to have to lay off anybody at any time. Since our work is largely project-based, as different shows and channels get created and come to an end, we hope to continue working with many of these people in the future. We are proud of the work they have done and also proud of being a place where artists and entertainers have unusually long tenures in the world of entertainment. Some of them are already working on new projects you will see soon. Openness and transparency are critical to our growth and dedication to doing better. We cannot imagine this is easy for anyone in our community to be reading and hope that even if you're questioning your support, it will remain with the people that you met through the shared interest of who we are. We genuinely believe in the progress our team has made over the past two years, and stand by our words and our actions, pointing to the work we have done and continue to do to acknowledge past transgressions, though the work is not done. As we mature in our 20th year, we will continue to move forward together as a passionate, creative company and community with open hearts and minds.

Online Reactions

As the allegations went viral in the days after Jenzen's TwitLonger post, numerous current and ex-employees and contractors for Rooster Teeth came forward with similar allegations, while others made memes and reacted to the situation. On October 16th, 2022, Twitter^[9] user @Graven131982 retweeted an old Rooster Teeth post supporting trans rights, writing, "This didn't age well. 🙄," garnering over 2,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[10] user and ex-Rooster Teeth employee @_rufhaus posted a TwitLonger^[11] supporting allegations that Rooster Teeth has an HR problem, garnering over 10,000 likes in a day (shown below, right, click to expand).

Graven Lupus @Graven131982 This didn't age well. #RoosterTeeth Rooster Teeth @RoosterTeeth Aug 14, 2021 Transphobia sucks and intolerance has no home in the Rooster Teeth community. Let's be inclusive and kind. If you disagree, you don't belong here. ...

On the same day, video game writer Alanah Pearce, who used to work at Rooster Teeth, posted a video to YouTube answering questions about the scandal and going over it, garnering over 161,000 views in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References

^[1] Twitter – KdinJenzen

^[2] TwitLonger – My final words on Rooster Teeth

^[3] Twitter – eddyrivas

^[4] Twitter – zoeterhune

^[5] Twitter – gavinfree

^[6] Twitter – where_is_squat

^[7] Twitter – ClayToneProd

^[8] Twitter – RoosterTeeth

^[9] Twitter – Graven131982

^[10] Twitter – My experience with Rooster Teeth

^[11] TwitLonger – twitlonger

^[12] Twitter – Axialmatt

^[13] Reddit – roosterteeth

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2022 Rooster Teeth Workplace Misconduct Allegations

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Overview

History

2022 Layoffs

Kdin Jenzen's "My Final Words On Rooster Teeth"

Jenzen alleges that she would often stay at work editing videos from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and that this type of crunch time was encouraged. She then alleges harassment, writing:

"From that point on harassment started, and not just toward me. Any time I brought up mistreatment or that 'making fun of people in content only encourages the community to hate us' – I was waved away saying 'IT’S JUST A JOKE! Ignore the comments!' This “ignore the comments” mantra was a way to excuse their own behavior. Anyone who was not “important” was constantly made fun of with no way to defend themselves or be part of the content in a way to defend themself even jokingly so. We were silenced at every turn."

I left Rooster Teeth because, despite thinking I could make positive change in the company, they proved that I couldn’t every step of the way. From 2013 until 2022, I did what I could to help my fellow employees, make positive change, and help the industry.

Current and Ex-Rooster Teeth Employees Respond to Jenzen's Allegations

Rooster Teeth's Response

"Leadership, management and personnel across the company have evolved over the past two decades to build what we believe is a safe, secure and inclusive workplace. We are disheartened to hear of anyone who has experienced pain resulting from prior experiences working at Rooster Teeth and support the resolution of interpersonal conflicts through direct and honest dialog. New leadership has worked to address and investigate past conduct, acknowledging that mediation si complex and doesn't guarantee a perfect solution."

"We are not immune to the disruptive forces that affect every business[…] like many other companies, we are experiencing people leaving to pursue different career paths and opportunities, while others are making bigger life changes. As a result, we had to make tough decisions to reduce a handful of roles in select departments to adjust to marketplace realities."

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External References

^[1] Twitter – KdinJenzen

^[2] TwitLonger – My final words on Rooster Teeth

^[3] Twitter – eddyrivas

^[4] Twitter – zoeterhune

^[5] Twitter – gavinfree

^[6] Twitter – where_is_squat

^[7] Twitter – ClayToneProd

^[8] Twitter – RoosterTeeth

^[9] Twitter – Graven131982

^[10] Twitter – My experience with Rooster Teeth

^[11] TwitLonger – twitlonger

^[12] Twitter – Axialmatt

^[13] Reddit – roosterteeth

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Top Comments

Chris the Lovable Jerk

Oct 17, 2022 at 02:08PM EDT

RT's problem was that they became too big too quickly. For years they were just the guys who made Red vs. Blue and a few other things, hosted gaming content but when they started RWBY they exploded and their popularity blew up out of control, and with that they attracted a huge crowd who wouldn't exactly be cool with their old content, so they had to pander to this new audience because they didn't want to lose them, but many could see just how hollow it was.

RWBY's suffered because they wanted it to be the next Full Metal Alchemist, but the writers simply aren't talented enough to pull something like that off, so RWBY suffered and came off like it was trying too hard to be dark and serious and they ended up wasting many characters and ideas with great potential because they wanted it to be the first 'serious' American made anime instead of just making something in the footsteps of Transformers Animated or Teen Titans. And given how RWBY's popularity has been going down in the last few years and many have admitted they just like reading fanfics of it instead of the real thing, it's safe to say they've screwed it up.

RvB became a shadow of its former self after season 14 where they handed the keys off to some random newcomer, GenLock was a massive flop, Nomad of Nowhere just faded out because the creator hated working for them…really when Burnie, Joel, Rey and others left, it was obvious that RT was dying and are only kept alive by the whim of WB.

+47

Gleaming Steel

Oct 18, 2022 at 02:06AM EDT

>Men who push radical feminism and assorted progressive talking points get buried under a hail of accusations of being sexist, racist, and transphobic

Time to reset the clock again, eh?

Whether it's a matter of them being major shitbags discovering that using feminist & progressive rhetoric won't shield you from your just desserts… or of them being largely innocent and reaping the rewards of attempting to pursue the mythical wider progressive audience… I frankly don't know/don't care, they're both equally arousing to watch the fallout of.

I wish these girls the best in their efforts to dismantle their former employers.

+43

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