Rooster Teeth Scandal - Adam Kovic and Ryan Haywood
As a fan of FunHaus and Achievement Hunter, I've been disappointed to hear about the recent controversy surrounding Ryan (AH) and Adam (FH).
For those who haven't heard, there have been accusations made against these two personalities of a sexual nature. There's been a lot of speculation, some of which has since been disproven, so I'm wary about being overly specific with what might turn out to be wrong. There is a (you need an account to see links) if you're looking to learn more of what is known. Put simply, images/videos of a sexual nature were leaked, as were stories of 'connections' they had with fans. The scandal is tied to them being married, as well as issues of power dynamics with fans, including potentially underage fans (though this last part seems to have been mostly cleared up now).
Beyond those issues, there's also the reliability and ethics of information, as while some of the leaks/stories came from fans allegedly involved, a large part of what opened the can of worms was apparently from someone catfishing them to intentionally get dirt. The authenticity of content in a world of deepfakes and photoshop, ethics of leaking/right to privacy, and the fact that this gained attention through 4chan (the toilet bowl of the internet) all come into play for us to consider as well.
Please ensure if you're posting, you're keeping it within the rules of our site. This is not the adult section. We're not going to discuss specifics of images (particularly relating to Adam, whose content was far more explicit). But I would like to see how you all feel about the greater situation. Do you think either/both are real? Were you surprised? What do you think should happen? Will the brands of FH, AH and/or RT be able to recover?
FH viewership was already down, so I think they'll close the LA office, moving people like James to another project based in Texas instead. I loved old FH, but it's just not the same without Laurence and Bruce. I always found Adam the most creepy of them (which is saying a lot when Laurence is in the mix!), so I'm not particularly surprised. I'm disappointed if people are just outraged because of fetish-shaming, but if he's doing stuff at his workplace, that's just unethical.
Ryan I'm more surprised at. He always struck me as a sweet man dedicated to his family. Everything I've heard, including from the fans, suggested he played along with what they started, which is adulterous yes, but not evil. I hope he doesn't get crucified for making mistakes that so many do, but don't have the public eye on them to become such a scandal. That said, there could be more I don't know about.
I'm cautious to villify anyone without proper proof. Anything from 4chan is sketchy, let alone from someone bragging about catfishing. Not exactly an ethical source. I just hope people are able to see the forest for the trees, and talk about the bigger underpinning issues, rather than blindly baying for blood. I don't defend the actions of people that are 1) illegal or 2) hurt others. But some things are the personal business of adults, and shouldn't affect us.
Ryan has already (you need an account to see links)to focus on his family. Given that Adam's content was far more extreme, and allegedly included content taken at the FH offices, it is unlikely he'll continue on there.
With full respect to the people involved in the case: I find it interesting that this bubbles up about a year and a half after Rooster Teeth cut ties with famed voice actor (you need an account to see links) doing... well, (you need an account to see links)? (Sorry for the source here - I found Anime News Network's investigative journalism to be the most thorough, even as I was following the case while it was happening).
In his case, he lost a lot - a LOT - of work. He no longer has a contract with Funimation, and his Wikipedia entry doesn't list any work at all in 2020. He had to pay a sneeze of legal fees to the plaintiff, almost all of which were covered by the donation campaign that his lawyer set up.
I expect the same thing (or similar) will happen here: they'll take some time off and bounce back in a year or two, expecting to be fully purged of any wrongdoing by posting a screenshot of a long iOS Notes ramble to their Twitter. Sadly, there's usually no closure for the young people that these adults solicit.
As I usually say when things like this come to light... I'm disappointed, but not surprised. People in power will always find some way to take advantage of it, and anything that has an added power dynamic of fans vs creators is rife with potential for scandal.