UPDATED 9/14: EDG mishandled internal sexual harassment case, reportedly making changes

▲ Image Source: EDG Twitter

 

According to several posts on Weibo, a Chinese social media site, EDward Gaming will make changes to their staff following a poorly handled sexual harassment case within the organization. On Sunday, League of Legends insider Linda posted a translation of a post made by a former EDG video producer on Twitter that outlines the sexual harassment she endured while working for the org. Linda later updated the story with news that the EDG founder, Edward Chu, was unaware of the harassment last year until after its spread across social platforms, and he has since pledged to restaff the company.

 

According to the Weibo post, one of the EDG content producers, A Yuan, was sexually harassing the OP, who was the writer, director, and post-production editor of "Fight Back," a video series put out by EDG. The OP claims to have delayed in her initial reporting of the harassment, fearing for her job, but that it eventually became bad enough that she brought it to her superiors. However, they did not respond by removing the perpetrator, nor by separating them in their work, but rather tried to put him in an easier position to harass her so they could get evidence of it and fire him. She was told to "seduce him" in order to do so, but he was never fired. 

 

Later, said superiors reportedly tried to give her money to keep her quiet, which she refused. Then they gave her extra work, supposedly enough for two or three people, so that they could release her from her job due to not being able to handle the workload. The OP was then instructed to write up a full "overview" of the harassment, and she did so and then left the company.

 

 

EDG responded to the post with a different story, claiming the OP had not brought forward sufficient evidence to the company and that she was slacking off, playing games during work hours, not completing her work, and not showing up for work. They stated that they had zero tolerance for "violations of social morality and law" and that they had "never ignored the employee's complaints," and that they hope the person will report it to the police so they can have a more thorough investigation.

 

EDG has received much backlash on Weibo and, according to Linda, their League of Legends coach (and former player), Ming "Clearlove" Kai, brought the case to the founder's attention, who was reportedly unaware that the situation had ever occurred. He then issued his own statement which opposed the original public response by EDG. He claimed that he would punish the perpetrator, dismiss staff members who were compliant in the harassment, and work to protect the victim. 

 

UPDATED 9/14: The OP updated her Weibo with a new statement that Edward Chu had gotten in touch with her and they were handling the situation together. They made a report to the public security bureau, and EDG will work through the case till the end. EDG will also provide counseling for the OP, at her request, and will launch an internal investigation as Chu claimed in his original statement previously. Upon finalizing their investigation, they'll provide an update to the public on the outcome. The Weibo posts and translations are linked below.

 

 

This story is currently ongoing and Inven Global will provide updates upon further development.

 

Disclaimer: An original version of this article used a picture of EDG's players, potentially implying their involvement in the story. We've since changed the thumbnail to avoid confusion. 

 

 


 

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