• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Former Naughty Dog employee says he was sexually harassed by a lead in late 2015

Ryan_MSF

Member
Genuinely asking, but would any heterosexual man actually be upset if a woman made sexual advances toward them?
Almost every straight guy I know would just view such a scenario as "suprise sex."

Unless David Hallard is homosexual, I'm going to assume his harasser was a man.

During my time at University I became friendly with a woman who was quite a bit older than me, having moved away from my home city, I didn't have many friends so I was very thankful for the few people who became friendly with me. I was invited to her house and rather naively I accepted the offer, it was very clear it was just a friend situation, I had no interest in this person in any capacity, as I say - it was just friendship.

I went, and during the evening i had a couple of drinks she'd given me, unbeknownst to me some kind of drug had been put into it. I know things like this are a sensitive subject, so i won't go into detail, but needless to say, the events of that evening have scarred me for a long time, and it's been a daily process of getting though it.

Comments like the one in this post are incredibly harmful. "Friends" of mine during this time made similar, and it made me feel even more ashamed than I did previously. So in answer to your question, yes - this can happen to heterosexual men. It has nothing to do with just wanting it "because you're a man" or being gay or straight. Think about your words before you post.
 
I'm very sorry - people can think whatever they like of me but this whole situation brought back bad memories that clouded my vision...
I'm glad you're seeing your mistake, at least. Good on you for understanding your fault, but that doesn't really mitigate what a bigoted and harmful thing you were saying.
 
What a lovely working environment. I wonder how the other higher-ups are in that ND and pretty much every other company.

Why is human nature so twisted and messed up towards other humans? Instead of good, people like to inflict harm.

I'm not proposing a solution, but this seems to be a problem with capitalism.
If it wasn't money on the line they wouldn't be trying so desperately to cover this stuff up.

Corporations are pretty damn awful too.
 
The focus on "industry" is misleading.
There are 1000s of women in (say) banking and on trading floors right now wondering how they can tell there story. Or in the army. Or in sports.
It isn't a problem that can be rooted out by "fixing Hollywood" or "fixing gaming" it's juat endemic in society and where there are power structures it will keep happening until education and upbringing and role models etc all change for the better.

This is the realest post I've seen on GAF in some time. It's as much an issue of gender inequality as it an issue of corporate culture and the way power is distributed and abused within that system. It's exactly why men are victims of it at the hands of women, usually superior to them. That is endemic of this corporate culture issue.
 
While I agree not everyone is responsible, the action of firing him and then bribing him to not talk about reflects on the entire company.

Cant it be the case that it was between the victim, harasser, and Sony HR?

Dont know if its reflective of ND as a whole. You would have to wonder who within the company would have known and who was fed the "Im just burned out" cover up though.
 

Tarrin

Member
You should at least warn people working at the store and hope that they believe it.

This happened over ten years ago. The store was closed down.

Its a regret I have that this could have happened to another employee, or many. I just wanted to get out of there. Hopefully it never happened again.
 

MrCarter

Member
I never cared for any of Naughty Dog's games so this doesn't affect the probability of me buying them but I think it's hilarious that a company that was pushing diversity and equality is hit with something like this. I guess it shows they were only promoting that stuff to try and look good while not really believing it themselves.

What a bizarre post. As I mentioned earlier, awful and unimaginable things have happened before in places of worship, especially with adults taking advantage of young children. Will I condemn and tar the whole religion with the same brush? Of course not. This was a group of individuals with too much power on their hands and I assume their little house of cards will be falling very, very shortly.
 

Syriel

Member
This is the last post I'll make here, but I just wanted to clarify that I support David for speaking oit and hope justice is served.

Funyarinpa said what I was going to say, so I won't bother repeating that point.

That said, respect for recognizing the point and clarifying.

No need to stop being part of the conversation, esp if you are willing to be open and learn.
 

NEO0MJ

Member
That's disgusting.

But i wonder can't he do anything? He has names and he has proof of someone from Sony trying to bribe him.I'm sure there are some high profile lawyers out there who would love to take this case.

Sony will bring even better lawyers. Despite how many people came up to speak about Cosby's sexual assaults in the end he got a mistrial and the victims will have to wait until mid next year for another trial, and we don't know what will happen then.
 

Waji

Member
Fucking yikes Sony. I hope they find that lead from Naughty Dog and expose him or her.
They wanted to silence the thing... why would they try to expose the person ?
Makes me love sony even more now if that's true.

EDIT : It's sarcasm. I'm currently now so fond of sony especially so that news is clearly not helping.
 
Genuinely asking, but would any heterosexual man actually be upset if a woman made sexual advances toward them?
Almost every straight guy I know would just view such a scenario as "suprise sex."

Unless David Hallard is homosexual, I'm going to assume his harasser was a man.

EDIT: It appears others have called you out and I don't want to dogpile if you've at least recognized how shitty your post was. As a victim of harassment by both men and women I'm sad you can't empathize with the fact that someone wouldn't be thrilled by unwanted sexual advances, and I hope you can learn to. Being gay or straight has nothing to do with it and I'm not sure wtf you meant by that.
 

sublimit

Banned
Maybe ... i don't know. This is him just exposing it so perhaps not consulted lawyers yet. Maybe now it's out in the open he will feel able to do that. I hope he does.

I hope he does too.
Executives shouldn't feel that they can get away with that shit just because they have a big company on their backs to always cover their shitty behaviour.

Sony will bring even better lawyers. Despite how many people came up to speak about Cosby's sexual assaults in the end he got a mistrial and the victims will have to wait until mid next year for another trial, and we don't know what will happen then.

It may take time but i think it's worth it.
 

Harlequin

Member
I really don't think it matters at all if his assaulter was a man or a woman. I mean, what does it change, other than satisfying everyone's morbid curiosity? How does it affect the situation? It's kind of derailing the entire thread over a point that is anecdotal at best.

The situation specifically? Probably not at all. The commentary/discussion about the situation? Quite a bit, I'd imagine. If it's a man, it'll reinforce the "men are predators" stereotype many people have in their heads and it might lead to some of those wonderfully ludicrous "all gay men are pervs and sex offenders" comments, as well. If it's a woman, there'll likely be lots more of those "he probably enjoyed it" posts.
 

capnjazz

Neo Member
For clarification reasons:

I feel slighted by this coming out considering that Naughty Dog has been very open about their diversity message but then, apparently, the higher ups at Sony and ND tried to cover some of this up. If that doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth, I don't know what does.

I am a POC and I see this as the higher ups at ND/Sony caring a lot more about their bottom line and using the problems minorities and women have to push an agenda for the sole reason of making money. It's just another form of oppression and I'm disappointed that some, not all, at ND/Sony seem to have this kind of mentality if they're willing to pay off someone who was sexually harassed. I will apologize for my first post as it wasn't clear enough but I feel like this explains my stance well enough.
 
What a lovely working environment. I wonder how the other higher-ups are in that ND and pretty much every other company.

Why is human nature so twisted and messed up towards other humans? Instead of good, people like to inflict harm.

That's the thing with this and Weinstein in general. Does everyone at ND know about this or just that lead that took advantage of his/her employee and HR? We have way too little to go on here and chances are plenty of folk there are good hard working folk and completely not in the know about this. Can't be saying fuck you to them, we certainly can to that lead and Sony HR though.
 

IKizzLE

Member
Time to boycot Sony games for me then.

Better boycott your cell phone manufacturer and your data provider. Might as well boycott that clothing company that is putting those clothes on your back.

That's if of course, you don't think sexual harassment isn't in any of these workplaces and companies aren't actively trying to cover it up.
 

Head.spawn

Junior Member
Man that is terrible, shitty move on Sony and their HR department. No doubt about it, feeling conflicted, not wanting to say precisely why in truth and having to make up bad excuses as to why he left ND certainly affected his job finding process afterwards.
 

Harlequin

Member
For clarification reasons:

I feel slighted by this coming out considering that Naughty Dog has been very open about their diversity message but then, apparently, the higher ups at Sony and ND tried to cover some of this up. If that doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth, I don't know what does.

I am a POC and I see this as the higher ups at ND/Sony caring a lot more about their bottom line and using the problems minorities and women have to push an agenda for the sole reason of making money. It's just another form of oppression and I'm disappointed that some, not all, at ND/Sony seem to have this kind of mentality if they're willing to pay off someone who was sexually harassed. I will apologize for my first post as it wasn't clear enough but I feel like this explains my stance well enough.

That's assuming that the "agenda" is being dictated from the top and didn't organically evolve from within the workforce, though. Which, I don't know enough about the company to say that either is the case, I'm just saying that both are a possibility.
 

StoveOven

Banned
Better boycott your cell phone manufacturer and your data provider. Might as well boycott that clothing company that is putting those clothes on your back.

That's if of course, you don't think sexual harassment isn't in any of these workplaces and companies aren't actively trying to cover it up.

I'm not on the "Let's boycott Sony" train, but this argument that you should either fight every injustice or fight no injustices is really shitty and tired at this point.
 

capnjazz

Neo Member
That's assuming that the "agenda" is being dictated from the top and didn't organically evolve from within the workforce, though. Which, I don't know enough about the company to say that either is the case, I'm just saying that both are a possibility.

Right, there's not enough proof here to say one way or another. But I'm sorry if a lifetime of being treated differently has made me a bit distrustful.
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Genuinely asking, but would any heterosexual man actually be upset if a woman made sexual advances toward them?
Almost every straight guy I know would just view such a scenario as "suprise sex."

Unless David Hallard is homosexual, I'm going to assume his harasser was a man.
I would be flattered if an attractive woman made sexual advances on me one time. If that woman was my superior at work and not necessarily attractive to me and didn't stop when I asked her to, I would be stressed, uncomfortable and distracted at work. It would probably hurt by job performance and desire to work there.

I have to imagine this isn't just true of me but virtually all men. Except you, I guess.
 
Genuinely asking, but would any heterosexual man actually be upset if a woman made sexual advances toward them?
Almost every straight guy I know would just view such a scenario as "suprise sex."

Unless David Hallard is homosexual, I'm going to assume his harasser was a man.
That just speaks loudly about you and the guys you know. And not in a good way.
 

Maxinas

Member
Genuinely asking, but would any heterosexual man actually be upset if a woman made sexual advances toward them?
Almost every straight guy I know would just view such a scenario as "suprise sex."

Unless David Hallard is homosexual, I'm going to assume his harasser was a man.

This mentally is the reason why some men who are genuinely harassed by perverted women (yes they exist), keep their mouths shut. Yeah, if a women ( sexy or ugly) groped my ballsack i’d feel sickened. These babies are exclusively for ‘the one’, not some dirty skanks.
 

Cranster

Banned
Pretty fucked up, the fact that they fired him and tried to bribe him makes this even more disgusting on ND and Sony's part. I could understand maybe moving one of them to a difirent position so they could avoid contact in a situation where no evidence exists but firing him and attempt to silence him? That's all kinds of fucked up!
 
Better boycott your cell phone manufacturer and your data provider. Might as well boycott that clothing company that is putting those clothes on your back.

That's if of course, you don't think sexual harassment isn't in any of these workplaces and companies aren't actively trying to cover it up.

Stop
 

Dice//

Banned
They wanted to silence the thing... why would they try to expose the person ?
Makes me love sony even more now if that's true.

posting this again butt...
X1kzBeA.png
 

labaronx

Member
Ill bet 85% of the blame goes to the sony hr department on this one. The rest is on Naughty Dog pres for not properly managing his house. That would be E. Wells during this period?
 
Top Bottom