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 support of the global protests and pledged $1 million to charities dedicated to racial injustice and law enforcement reform.
League of Legends and Valorant developer Riot Games isn’t the only company to speak in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Last week, the Pokémon Company donated to both the NCAAP and BLM, and even rival console companies Sony and Xbox stood together in support with protestors. Modern Warfare replaced its loading screens with calls to support 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 saying, “that image is abhorrent, against our values, and directly counter to our belief that addressing systemic racism requires immediate societal change,” in a statement to VICE.
According to VICE, Johnson has a history of posting inflammatory statements including memes that show anti-abortion rights sentiments and support 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 sexist workplace culture at Riot, and the following year saw employees staging a walkout in protest of forced arbitration. This year, the company is currently dealing with a major gender discrimination lawsuit.
In an era when consumers are becoming more ethical with their choices of what companies to support, 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 support. While support from the top of these companies is great, it means nothing when a culture that stands in opposition to that support exists underneath.
Source: VICE
