Turtle Rock Studios, the minds behind the upcoming multiplayer shooter Evolve, let go of their Community Manager due to tweets regarding L.A. Clipper owner Donald Sterling.

When Sterling was accused of making racist and inflammatory comments, Josh Olin, who was the Community Manager of Turtle Rock Studios at the time, released the following tweets about the incident on his personal account.

After this, Turtle Rock released tweets on the official account, indicating that Olin was no longer with the studio, indicated by the use of the word “former”.

Olin then took back to Twitter, defending his tweets.

In a statement to Game Informer, Olin said, “Anyone who follows me knows my tweets were not in support of Sterling’s actions. Rather, they were promoting three core tenets I believe in: 1) The harm sensational media presents to society. 2) The importance and sanctity of your privacy within your own home. And 3) The right to be whatever you want to be as an American, as long as it isn’t hurting anyone else. That last point not to be confused with condoning Sterling’s actions, which I don’t. That said, it’s disappointing to see that a select few in Turtle Rock and 2K Games management bought into this hysteria without even having a conversation with me – or even thoroughly reviewing the context of the tweets themselves. Ironically, it serves as a great example of why I hold tenet #1 above so close to heart.”

My Opinion

This is a sad day. It shows that no matter what people say on their own personal accounts, people will hear and associate their personal views with the company as a whole. Maybe some other studio will hire Mr. Olin, who I feel wasn’t rightfully outed. At least the company could discuss this and release a statement or tweets saying that Olin’s tweets did not represent the company. That way, people could NOT FIRE SOMEONE over Twitter. But alas, the world is a cruel and fickle place sometimes. Best of luck to Mr. Olin. As always, my opinion is not reflective of Middle of Nowhere Gaming.

Shawn Richards studies games to understand how they work. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.