http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2017/10/14/naughty-dog-sexual-harassment-allegations-emerge/

So a former Naughty Dog employee David Ballard, who was an Environment and Multiplayer Level Layout artist, says he was sexually harrased, terminated, and then essentially bribed for 20,000$ by Sony to not talk about his termination at the company. He came out on Twitter, sourcing the announcements by TV and Film industry veterans as his source of inspiration for revealing this information. 

Here are his tweets in full: 

"In late 2015, I was sexually harassed at Naughty Dog by a lead. My work environment became extremely toxic afterward. In February 2016 I had a mental breakdown at work & Sony Playstation HR became involved. When I told them about the harassment they ended the call and fired me the next day. They cited the company was moving in a different direction and my job was no longer needed.

They tried to silence me by offering $20,000 if I signed a letter agreeing to the termination as well as to not discuss it with anyone. I declined to sign. I have been unemployed for 17 months since. When interviewers ask why I left Naughty Dog, I say I was burned out by the crunch, ashamed to get to the root of the problem of being sexually harassed.

I’m speaking out now because of the strength I’ve seen in others coming forward about their experiences in the TV/Film industry. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I will not let anyone kill my drive or love for the video game industry, my passions or life. "

This is very unfortunate, regardless if it's true or not these kind of stories are not good. We'll just have to wait and see for more information to see if this is true or not.

Poor guy. He should come out as transgender then people might believe him.

A (white?) mans word means little these days. Dark times .

Damn. I would've signed for that money

Well that would definitely suck if true...

Was he sexually harassed by another male?

I wonder how Sony will respond to this?

I'm not sure he didn't say but does it really matter?

Sounds like a money hat exclusive went wrong.


(This is a joke post. Don’t take seriously)

If its true and they paid him to keep quiet, that would be terrible.
Obviously we don't know if its true.

Been reading the comment sections on a few news sites regarding this story and I just want to bury my head in sand in shame that I share the same species with some of these idiots.

While I believe harassment of any kind should get zero tolerance, I also believe in the burden of proof lying on the accuser. You are, after all, innocent until PROVEN guilty. And if the first to hear about an abuse is the internet...well...

Yeah, we need to be supportive of victims, but not blindly trusting of their narrative unless they can back it up with a bit more than just a twitter message. Accusing someone of harassment / rape / mean talking years after the fact leads us into this really awkward situation where the accuser can't prove the accused did it, and the accused can't prove he didn't do it, in which case we're up to "the word vs the word" and the result is damaged public image for everyone, especially once it goes viral. The general public likes its pound of flesh and it doesn't matter who it rips it out of.
This sort of thing would go over a lot better if we could, as a society, distance ourselves from the idea of "I'm too ashamed or afraid to come out with an accusation because of various circumstancial things". The real cancer is that people are afraid that the instutions which should normally protect their rights, will actually end up harming them...and so, years pass and something happens and suddenly everyone's a victim of something because someone else decided they'd be brave about their experience.
And who the fuck do you believe then?
The supposed victims? We've been reading of plenty of false rape claims for years now and how the term "rape" itself has become a bastardisation of its original self.
The supposed perpetrators? Plenty of big names have got away with despicable acts, that's no secret and no conspiracy theory.

Sorry for the rant, had it simmering in me for a while...