Fired From Destructoid for Not Liking a Person

Destructoid fired a guy because he "called out" Felicia Day.

Destructoid has since deleted all their tweets regarding the matter.

Should that guy have gone on a tirade about Felicia Day? Probably not.

Should that guy have been publicly fired on twitter, inciting an internet lynch mob full of white knights? Absolutely not.

Destructoid: http://twitter.com/#!/destructoid

Ryan Perez: http://twitter.com/#!/PissedOffRyno

Better thread over here.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic/31/anyone-following-this-felicia-day-twitter-drama/552653/?

I'm a fuck-up,

Some could argue that all he adds to gaming is personality, why did he go out of his way to mock people who enjoy games? the people at the unemployment office will find out.

Yeah, I'm one of those crazy libertarians. Destructoid is a private business and has no moral or legal obligation to continue making monthly deposits in an ass's bank account.

I feel like him being fired is justified. He made a completely rude and uncalled for remark against another (fairly high profile) person. This affects Destructoid in the sense that if they kept him on, some people would associate the "Destructoid brand" with the lowlife comments of that one editor. In essence, he made comments both during and after the initial flurry that could be seen as indirectly damaging to the Destructoid name. Basically, he publicly made an ass of himself and by proxy the company he works for (at least in the minds of their readers).

While Destructoid's response was quick and fierce, it was in their best interest both on a business level and on a moral level to disassociate with this writer.

Bring Ryan Perez to Giantbomb!!!

As Jeff is fond of saying, if you want to work in the games industry don't make fun of other people in the games industry.

he didnt just badmouth felicia day by the way, he did it randomly on twitter, and to make matters worse, he then tweeted the same things directly AT HER (like the first ones didnt get a response, let me tweet @ her to see what she says i guess?). that part is just completely uncalled for in my opinion, and i dont even give a rats ass about felicia day

I wonder if he would have been fired if he were talking shit about another man................ hmmmm. Seems pretty knee jerk to me.

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

I don't agree with what he said or the forum in which he chose to do it in, but if you are going to publicly take someone to task they way he did he should have known it could go south. All actions have reactions and this is the reaction so maybe the next time he will keeps his thoughts like these in a more private venue.

No. This is more fired for "Being a fuckwit that embarrassed the company he worked for". Bit of a difference.

I still think this mostly happened because she's a woman, I imagine less fallout if he attacked some guy.

The greatest threat to humanity is white knights.

As Jeff is fond of saying, if you want to work in the games industry don't make fun of other people in the games industry.

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

I still think this mostly happened because she's a woman, I imagine less fallout if he attacked some guy.

The greatest threat to humanity is white knights.

@Oldirtybearon

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

It's a stupid question. She's done plenty of work in the industry and is an obvious fan. Better yet, she's probably done more than him. Had he done his goddamn research he would have known all that too. The way he said it was moronic and then calling her a glorified booth babe directly to her on twitter is downright insulting. I'm not a huge fan of her but questioning her authenticity for no reason isn't a good question. It's idiotic. Granted, he was apparently shitfaced at the time but still. Don't go on the Internet when you're hammered.

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Oldirtybearon

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

It's a stupid question. She's done plenty of work in the industry and is an obvious fan. Better yet, she's probably done more than him. Had he done his goddamn research he would have known all that too. The way he said it was moronic and then calling her a glorified booth babe directly to her on twitter is downright insulting. I'm not a huge fan of her but questioning her authenticity for no reason isn't a good question. It's idiotic. Granted, he was apparently shitfaced at the time but still. Don't go on the Internet when you're hammered.

He asked - rudely - what exactly she does for the games industry. He could have worded it with more tact, but he wasn't wrong, especially considering she hasn't done anything except profit from nerd lust. I don't mind it, or mind her, but the dude calls a spade a spade and gets fired for it? That's bullshit.

You won't get very far in a business where you are constantly in the public eye by saying dumbass shit.

What she has done in the gaming world (excluding other game related projects in other mediums):

Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1260407/

Mary Beth (voice) - Rock of The Dead (2010)

Veronica (voice) - Fallout: New Vegas (2010)

Tallis (voice) - Dragon Age 2 (2011)

His claim that she is just a glorified "booth babe" does not hold water. She has legitimate credentials in the gaming industry as seen above.

Concerning his job, it is sad to see anyone lose their job in this economy. However, Destructoid had the right to release the individual for their actions on twitter and they exercised that right.

@Oldirtybearon: The original post left out the other things he said.

Another gem from him: "@feliciaday, could you be considered nothing more than a glorified booth babe? You don't seem to add anything creative to the medium."

This being said to an actor, producer, and writer, with no provocation. Felicia Day may not be the bee's knees, but suggesting that she's just a glorified booth babe is completely untoward. Destructoid had every right to distance themselves from such an unprovoked insult to someone.

@Oldirtybearon said:

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Oldirtybearon

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

It's a stupid question. She's done plenty of work in the industry and is an obvious fan. Better yet, she's probably done more than him. Had he done his goddamn research he would have known all that too. The way he said it was moronic and then calling her a glorified booth babe directly to her on twitter is downright insulting. I'm not a huge fan of her but questioning her authenticity for no reason isn't a good question. It's idiotic. Granted, he was apparently shitfaced at the time but still. Don't go on the Internet when you're hammered.

He asked - rudely - what exactly she does for the games industry. He could have worded it with more tact, but he wasn't wrong, especially considering she hasn't done anything except profit from nerd lust. I don't mind it, or mind her, but the dude calls a spade a spade and gets fired for it? That's bullshit.

i'm with you... every girl in the industry is a gem due to nerdlust, which makes separating the ones who would be useful were they men very hard to differentiate.

@Oldirtybearon said:

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Oldirtybearon

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

It's a stupid question. She's done plenty of work in the industry and is an obvious fan. Better yet, she's probably done more than him. Had he done his goddamn research he would have known all that too. The way he said it was moronic and then calling her a glorified booth babe directly to her on twitter is downright insulting. I'm not a huge fan of her but questioning her authenticity for no reason isn't a good question. It's idiotic. Granted, he was apparently shitfaced at the time but still. Don't go on the Internet when you're hammered.

He asked - rudely - what exactly she does for the games industry. He could have worded it with more tact, but he wasn't wrong, especially considering she hasn't done anything except profit from nerd lust. I don't mind it, or mind her, but the dude calls a spade a spade and gets fired for it? That's bullshit.

I like that people think "being right" is a free pass for being a tactless jerk. He didn't get fired for voicing his opinion, he got fired for being an asshole at someone unprovoked. Sure any old person can attack anyone on twitter without repurcussions, but when you work for a company that needs to maintain a certain image and relies on the internet to do so, the rules change and you need to adjust accordingly.

I think the guy was acting a damn fool, but I don't think he deserved to be fired for his actions though. Jeff got fired for something way bigger than a twitter fight, so when I look at this, it's small fry compared what Jeff went through.

@SuperJoe said:

Wow, his Twitter feed is a trainwreck right about now, pretty much milking the 15 min of fame. On the plus side, he has over 700 followers and was called out by Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket.

The man lost his job and people are pretty much going "haha you deserved it." I can't say I blame the guy. He hasn't much else to lose. But if he wants future employers to be confident about hiring him, he best get it out of his system fast.

@Galiant said:

@Sooty

I still think this mostly happened because she's a woman, I imagine less fallout if he attacked some guy.

The greatest threat to humanity is white knights.

I definitely don't think it's a gender issue. Pick any other popular male in the game industry, like Jeff Gerstmann. Fallout would be the same.

yea. it was a problem because as a somewhat high profile person, that caused a lot of same-level profile public reactions. it's simply in bad taste to do such a thing ...especially publicly in a manner that reflects on you and the place you work at. the guy knew exactly that many people love Felicia Day so simple math would have told him that he practically put a hit out on himself.

@Oldirtybearon said:

@MariachiMacabre said:

@Oldirtybearon

so you can get fired for asking a good question.

huh. Go figure.

It's a stupid question. She's done plenty of work in the industry and is an obvious fan. Better yet, she's probably done more than him. Had he done his goddamn research he would have known all that too. The way he said it was moronic and then calling her a glorified booth babe directly to her on twitter is downright insulting. I'm not a huge fan of her but questioning her authenticity for no reason isn't a good question. It's idiotic. Granted, he was apparently shitfaced at the time but still. Don't go on the Internet when you're hammered.

He asked - rudely - what exactly she does for the games industry. He could have worded it with more tact, but he wasn't wrong, especially considering she hasn't done anything except profit from nerd lust. I don't mind it, or mind her, but the dude calls a spade a spade and gets fired for it? That's bullshit.

His implied that she's basically worthless. You just don't do such a thing. You can ask ANYBODY this question. "What does Ryan contribute to the industry"? What does Nolan North contribute to the industry?" It's just as ridiculous. What does the guy in question contribute? What does anybody contribute to anything? Are serious in saying that his question was badly worded but ultimately justified? She's a writer, actress, voice actress and makes a lot of web-shows. Now what on earth justifies someone asking that stupid question?

Come on! "Profiting from nerd lust" my ass.

@DeF: I'm with you. Whether you like what she does or not, you can't say she doesn't do anything. The Guild is a well written show that resonates with a lot of people. Just look at the number of views of any episode and you can see that there are a number of people who are attached to that show.

Sexism is pretty terrible. You guys out there saying she is just doing what she is doing because she is an attractive woman have completely missed the point that she actually WROTE, PRODUCED, DIRECTED, and PROMOTED her own show from nothing to the juggernaut that is The Guild. You do better, then talk.

Firing him in the manner they did was purely a PR move on Destructiod's part in order to save face. He was a jackass on a public site for everyone to see. When you do these things and direct them towards people who operate in basically the same field as yourself and you question their place in the business, then you inadvertently make this a professional conflict. If he said he didn't like Paris Hilton then it would be taken more as him expressing a personal view point and would in no way reflect on the company he worked for. He was a dick to someone who works in the video game industry about her role in the industry. It becomes an industry matter and is no longer purely personal. Keeping the guy on staff could hurt business relations and steer viewers away from the site. Not doing anything about it could be taken as them being cool with what he said.
 
He probably didn't deserve to be fired for it. The problem here was that this thing blew up and had a massive blow back. He dropped a lit cigarette in a forest and expected nothing more than to burn a couple blades of grass. What ended up happening was he burnt the entire forest down. Shit got out of hand and it forced Destructiod's hand.

@DeF: Beyond questioning whether she was worthless, people should also note that he suggested she was a "glorified booth babe". Which, well, is a horrible thing to say to anyone, and it goes beyond mere criticism. Some are saying, "Well, he didn't speak with tact." But, in fact, he also spoke with malice, suggesting that as a woman, her looks are the only reason she is anything. That's unacceptable no matter how you say it.

@Oldirtybearon said:

He asked - rudely - what exactly she does for the games industry. He could have worded it with more tact, but he wasn't wrong, especially considering she hasn't done anything except profit from nerd lust. I don't mind it, or mind her, but the dude calls a spade a spade and gets fired for it? That's bullshit.

I see where you're coming from, the amount of youtube/twitter "celebrities" that get a ridiculous amount of attention for seemingly no reason beyond the fact they're attractive females who like games is pretty sick, but throwing Felicia Day into that category is pretty unfair and equally as sexist. Like others have said, a quick IMDB search will show you her rather impressive list of credentials.

Whether the guy should have been fired for this is debatable, but he made some very ignorant and tactless comments that reflect badly on the reputation of the website and were obviously going to upset a lot of people.. so it's not surprising.

I don't know why he felt the need to trash somebody on such a public forum like twitter. You have to think before you type and now he has to deal with the consequences.

Bit brash to ask it like that, but its a pretty legit question.
 
Not one that should or will be answered in public, however.

What has Ryan Perez done for the game industry? Apart from being an abhorrent neck-beard douche along with his friend Jim Sterling?

I care nothing for Felicia Day, but I think everyone that works in the game industry needs to be wary of asking about what someone's contributions are worth, because I doubt they'd like the answer if it were asked of them in return.

I really dislike Felicia Day and I agree with this guy, but I understand that Tweeter is not the correct venue for posing these questions, and that his tone was out of place. I wouldn't have fired him, though.

As there's already a thread about this over here I'll close up this duplicate.