Brian Waggoner, Marvel’s lead designer fired, after a series of offensive, racist, homophobic etc tweets were unearthed by fans. As such, Crystal Dynamics have announced that he’ll be removed from being a spokesperson for the company, but are silent on his future going forward.
The tweets included various ‘jokes’ based on racist stereotypes, ableist insults aimed at people with disabilities, debatable ‘talking points’ for the far right, including the regular trope of Barack Obama’s citizenship, and more.
Brian Waggoner has been at Crystal Dynamics for a few years, and aside from his input and creative control over the Marvel’s Avengers game, also had an active role in the company as a spokesperson. It seems now though that has come to an end, with Crystal Dynamics no doubt realising having someone with such a checkered past as the face of their company may not be the best PR move, especially with the upcoming expansion for Marvel’s Avengers.
After the news broke of his removal as spokesperson, Brian Waggoner tweeted the below.
https://twitter.com/HeyItsBWags/status/1594847500061802496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1594847500061802496%7Ctwgr%5E058e595850608edec6311f8b7e8bd2cfb6ed54ed%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ign.com%2Farticles%2Fmarvels-avengers-lead-designer-removed-as-spokesperson-after-offensive-tweets-surface
Quoting the above tweet in their response, Crystal Dynamics ensured they didn’t hide from the controversy, meeting it head on by saying “It’s incredibly disappointing to see language and views from employees that don’t align with our studio values. We apologise to our community and coworkers who are rightfully upset by the content. Brian will no longer be a studio spokesperson or communicating about studio projects.”.
Marvel’s Lead Designer Fired – James Gunn 2.0?
Now Marvel fans won’t be a stranger to a public figure in their fandom having a controversial moment or two, the most recent being the James Gunn firing back in 2018, where he himself was found to have had a controversial relationship with social media, posting various jokes and comments that went against the social convention of what was acceptable.
Unlike this occasion though, the most recent of Gunn’s offensive tweets was way back in 2010, and had shown over the previous years his inclusive attitude towards all walks of life, and had seemingly left behind the cutting-edge ‘comedy’ he was found to have employed at the time.
In this case though Brian Waggoner’s offensive tweets were only five years ago, and whilst plenty of growth can be accomplished in a much shorter time, it’s less obvious to fans if anything has actually changed, or if he’s just saying what he’s supposed to at this controversial moment in his career.
With Marvel’s lead designer fired from his spokesperson role at the company, the question remains if he’ll be staying on at the company at all, or if he’ll be fired completely. At the end of the day, it’s not like he has a rousing successful franchise behind him to give him any sort of buffer, with Marvel’s Avengers being considered one of the worst superhero games in the last few years.
Related: Marvel’s Midnight Suns: All You Need to Know
The debate will always rage on about free speech, social media, and whether people should be ‘cancelled’ for something they said or done years prior, but one thing that isn’t up for debate is that being racist, ableist, homophobic and more isn’t right.
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