Riot Games executive Ron Johnson has been placed on leave after making a social media post about Geroge Floyd that Riot has condemned as "abhorrent." This comes after the game company's President Dylan Jadeja spoke in of the global protests and pledged $1 million to charities dedicated to racial injustice and law enforcement reform.
League of Legends and calls to the Black community, a move that went unannounced but welcomed due to the franchise's history with racial slurs and discrimination among its player base.
The post made by Johnson featured the now iconic selfie of George Floyd, but with white block letters saying "The media and the left have made George Floyd into a martyr, but who was he really?" He then goes on to say that Floyd was partly at fault for the events that would lead to his murder by Derek Chauvin, despite video evidence that depicts Floyd not resisting arrest. Riot Games condemned the post stating that “Ron Johnson is no longer employed at Riot Games," in a statement to Screen Rant.
“The sentiment expressed in the image in question is abhorrent and runs directly counter to our values and our belief that addressing systemic racism requires immediate societal change, something that we’re committed to working toward."
According to VICE, Johnson has a history of posting inflammatory statements including memes that show anti-abortion rights sentiments and for Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The article describes Johnson's page as one that "anyone with conservative relatives will recognize immediately." This isn't an isolated scandal for Riot either. In 2018, employees opened up about a gender discrimination lawsuit. Riot's statement continues:
“As we shared last week, Riot is taking thoughtful and deliberate action to help combat racism and injustice in the communities where we work and live. To start, we’re committing $1 million to areas where we know we can make an impact, including justice reform, long-term solutions to address racial bias, and for local Black-owned businesses. We’re also striving to change the face of our industry and create opportunities, including by investing $10 million in founders underrepresented in the games industry and helping create a future pipeline of underrepresented talent for the gaming and tech world.
“We know there is much work to be done, and we vow to do our part.”
In an era when consumers are becoming more ethical with their choices of what companies to , an executive with views like this is very dangerous for Riot Games, particularly on the issues of Black Lives Matter and police brutality which are shown to have worldwide . While from the top of these companies is great, it means nothing when a culture that stands in opposition to that exists underneath.
Source: VICE