like, to be quite honest, i think this is sort of fine, if they really don’t care about what they seem to be caring about right now via their constant PR clean up. if you make a thing, people are allowed to criticize it. if their criticism falls outside the scope of things you care about, then brush it off, right?
the fact that they keep backpedaling and “fucking up” like this suggests to me that they’re being disingenuous. or, if they do genuinely care about these things, then they should have brought someone onto their team who knew what they hell they were doing.
like, you get to have one “oopsie” when it comes to being cis white dudes who lack diversity in their teams and intent. when evidence emerges that you’re actively flexing on the groups you claim to be desiring, it then makes you look a lot worse.
yeah there are people adjacent to this clique like Anil Dash who I think will be deeply embarrassed by what their lawyers were doing but they’re all NYC based lol
TL;DR - Penny Arcade made a rape joke, reacted poorly when people didn’t like that they made a rape joke and then just doubled down and dug their heels in when it officially Became A Thing.
I remembered all of this, including Christine saying specifically that despite her feelings she still felt like she had to be at PAX to make a living; what I’m missing is where Love had to step in to stop Penny Arcade from embarrassing themselves? Because I don’t recall that at all, and I think I’m missing it from these links.
I’m guessing Felix was referring to the “Open Letter to Penny Arcade” she wrote that’s referenced throughout the second article that I should have linked.