Chris Avellone Responds to Harassment Allegations
Chris Avellone has decided to break the silence and respond to last year's harassment and sexual assault allegations. The developer has gathered evidence that he has decided to use to initiate a lawsuit to clear his name.
Chris Avellone, the legendary screenwriter, known from such games as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, has responded to allegations of sexual harassment and assault made against him just over a year ago by Karissa Barrows and Kelly Bristol. The creator claims that they were prompted by the fact that he had ended a relationship with their friend, Jackie, whom he dated for about twelve months over the course of 2012 and 2013. Significantly these allegations have never been corroborated or, according to Avellone, even properly investigated, but they were enough to derail his career. Now the developer has decided to sue both women for defamation.
"Not to silence Karissa and Kelly, but to encourage them to say more," explained Avellone in his statement (published in both The Waylanders.
Avellone confessed that he didn't try to fight it because he didn't want to cause problems for the companies he worked with.
"I didn’t fight any of this. You can’t. Cancel culture being what it is, the companies can’t fight it either, or else they are attacked, too. Companies can’t even ask for time to 'look into it' without coming across as not believing the accusations, as unfounded as they are, because even the hint of a delay or wanting to find out more will be judged and will get them canceled, too. And no one wants to get canceled, even if it means turning your back on someone else getting canceled, even someone you’d worked with in the trenches for years."
At the same time Avellone did not hide his grudge against journalists accusing him solely based on tweets and not trying to the facts. The developer has a particular beef with Sean Murray of The Gamer, who constructed the title of his article in such a way that it implied the existence of an investigation report (which was never conducted) and misled the readers. As an example of easily verifiable information, Avellone provided info from one of Karissa Barrows' friends, Christy Dena. The girl was allegedly persuaded to make a false claim that she spent the night with the developer in 2013. Except that the screenwriter claims he was on another continent at the time she stated, not to mention that he doesn't even ever meeting her.
It's extremely difficult to assess this situation. All that can be said without taking any position is that it is a good thing that the whole matter will be resolved in court. Perhaps in time it can serve as a precedent for this type of accusation - regardless of the verdict that ultimately comes down.
- Chris Avellone on Twitter
- Short version of Chris Avellone's statement
- Full version of Chris Avellone's statement
- „There is no lawsuit,” just an investigation - Movie Games explains the situation with Schedule I
- Infinite open world and realistic graphics. This GTA 6 clone has only one major problem
- Lawsuit against Ubisoft's shutdown of The Crew has an update
- Genki responds to lawsuit from Nintendo after 3D-printed mockup at CES
- Bungie's strategy to use YouTube videos of its “vaulted” Destiny 2 content as a shield against copyright claims backfired when a judge refused to watch a 10 hour lore lesson