GummyKat

A message with Jack and Michael before the stream today. This isn't the full message, just an important three and a half minutes for those who were wondering if they could excuse that man's actions.

There has been plenty of these stories throughout the years - where celebrities, no matter how major or minor, misused their status to manipulate and mislead and abuse their fans, but this is the first time it's been somebody that I personally looked up to, and it's been a huge letdown. A huge disappointment. This has never affected me personally because I wasn't involved in anything and this never happened to me and this wasn't my life turned upside down, but goddamn, I don't think anything like this has ever hurt me so bad before.

When the first reports came out, I was not exactly in denial, but I wasn't taking it too seriously - you know, I just thought, or hoped, that there were miscommunications or a regretful 100% consensual relationship. I was like yeah that sucks that he'd do that to his wife and kids, but that doesn't make him a monster.

And then more reports.

And then more stories.

And then more horrific details.

For him to abuse his position in an online community the way that he has...it's devastating.

It really could be anybody. This reminds me of Daniel Sloss' X show on HBO. He talked about how guys need to check their boys and make sure they're not the monsters we know are walking around in this world because, and this isn't an exact quote, "if 1 out of 10 guys are shit and the other 9 do nothing, they might as well not be there." For how horrible the Ryan situation is, seeing the way the other Achievement Hunters handled the situation has been uplifting. Seeing how they first hoped it wasn't true but immediately believed the victims once they realized this wasn't a hoax and shut Ryan out...they're not defending him. They're saying that Ryan was wrong and terrible and now it's time to move past him. They're taking down some of their most popular videos to erase Ryan moments that need to be erased. They're moving forward with the intention to never talk about him again while simultaneously encouraging members of the community to come forward about him.

I'm heartbroken over Ryan Haywood, but in the middle of all this sadness and feelings of betrayal over a person I thought was honorable at the very least, I'm watching other people I grew up watching and admired for so long do something that too many people in the media don't do:

Believe the victims and refuse to make excuses.

It's hard for us as a community to accept this, but this was one of their boys. He was their friend, their buddy. Some of them might have even considered him family, because I can't imagine working this closely next to someone for almost a decade and not form a family bond with them. It must have been so so hard for them to cut off ties, yet they did it the second they realized holy shit Ryan acted as a monster and that makes him a monster and there's no place in our lives or hearts or content for a person like that.

Jack crying, Michael looking emotionally wrecked, reading the crew's responses to this on Twitter...it's all a lot to deal with, and I feel sorry for them.

And more so than that, I feel sorry for the victims, and I'll never get over how quickly a story like this could spiral. All it takes is one person to come out to encourage others to speak up, and everybody who has is brave.

They're brave. The rest of Rooster Teeth is brave. The community members who are hurt by this betrayal yet stand by the victims are brave.

Roasted.

@incorrectahbois x

Reminder that supporting AH right now is supporting their choice to remove Ryan.

Reminder that AH will take a hit of views, subscriptions, and funding via merch in this time.

Reminder that if AH is seen to recover and grow stronger after this then other companies are less likely to try to cover up similar situations to prevent fall out.

Reminder that Ryan receives no benefit from you liking AH videos, subscribing, commenting, paying for membership or merch. Reminder that all these things keep the company going.

Reminder that other companies are watching; If AH doesn’t survive whilst Ryan continues to garner support, then some will decide that covering up is the best action and more predators will be protected.

(…)

One of the hardest things about this (…) there are a lot of things that people don’t know and people will never know. And that’s one of the things that is important to accept. There is a level of privacy and a level of professionalism (…) there will always be stuff that you don’t know. And that sucks, I know it sucks (…) but it’s just the way that that has to be, so you are just going to have to trust the people in AH, the people who like feel like we’ve lost a family member (…) what I’m asking is, you’re going to see a lot of people in AH saying things like they’re really hurt and feel like they’ve lost a family member. I think it’s important to remember we have our reasons for feeling this way. And there’s going to be a lot of people who try to argue with that…people who go ‘oh well how bad was it really? Was this really necessary?’ I’m just letting you know, every single decision that’s been made was necessary. None of this has been easy. I’m just asking you in this time to trust us.”

Yes, I spent all morning doing this. No I don’t regret it.

Geoff owns up to each and every mistake he makes. He grew up in a hard ass life, he knows what accountability is.

Jack wants nothing more than to make people happy.

Michael and Lindsay met because of this company, and they know damn well who they can and can't trust (if you noticed, as soon as all this shit with R came out, Lindsay unfollowed him on everything).

Gavin has been interacting with this company since he was a teenager. He's like Geoff's son. Geoff will literally make him hold himself accountable for anything.

Jeremy, Matt, and Trevor were LITERALLY part of the fandom before the company picked them up.

Alfredo had his own public streaming career before joining achievement hunter, which he still has, he doesn't let the attention go to his head.

Fiona, dear sweet Fiona, is literally one of us and has exhibited time and time again she will fight tooth and goddamn nail to create safe spaces for people who need them.

We've watched this company grow, and it feels like we might be watching it fall, but we need to keep up hope.

It's better to have loved and trusted, and been hurt, rather than to have felt absolutely nothing at all. Emotions are hard. Being a person is hard. That's why we're pack animals. We're here to help one another through times like this.

Please, reach out. It's okay to feel scared, hurt, angry, sad, whatever. Just don't bottle it up, and don't take action with those feelings.

Just talk to someone, even if that someone happens to be a notepad or piece of paper.

Ways to protect a coastline