An American video game company has fired their community manager after what some are calling an ideological “witch hunt” led by a trans-identified male My Little Pony fan.
On January 6, Limited Run Games, a specialty video games distributor, announced it had terminated an employee following an “investigation” into a situation ostensibly related to diversity and inclusivity.
While the announcement, posted to the company’s Twitter account, did not specify which employee had been terminated or offer any concrete details, it didn’t take long for netizens to determine who had been the subject of the tweet.
Kara Lynne, the now-ex community manager of Limited Run, was reportedly fired following complaints from a trans activist on Twitter who had dissected Lynne’s social media history.
Jonathan “Jessica” Blank, a trans-identified male better known in the My Little Pony fan community as Purple Tinker, published a Twitter thread on January 6 accusing Lynne of “transphobia” and tagging Limited Run Games in an apparent effort to have her penalized.
The so-called infractions Blank leveled against Lynne included that she had been following popular conservative social media account Libs of TikTok, and had posted a tweet expressing opposition to self-identification laws in 2016.
Other alleged examples of transphobia included that Lynne had expressed support for the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy video game.
Blank also posted a screenshot showing that he was cancelling $1,200 worth of pre-ordered games he had purchased through Limited Run.
Less than 24 hours after Blank’s thread was published, Limited Run Games released their statement announcing an employee had been fired. Blank posted that same day with an update to his thread, excitedly announcing that Lynne had been terminated from her position.
News of the incident quickly began to spread on social media, with many gamers expressing disappointment and outrage at Limited Run Games for succumbing to what many perceived to be a “witch hunt.”
Letting people witch hunt your staff is bad business. You're only encouraging further harassment of your personnel.
— Cosmonaut Cartilag (@Spessmen) January 7, 2023
Thousands of Twitter users quickly piled beneath their January 6 announcement to express their opinion about the company’s move to fire Lynne. As of the writing of this article, Limited Run Games’ post has over 3,800 overwhelmingly negative replies. The company has since turned their Twitter comments off to restrict further responses.
“I won’t spend a dime on your products. You fired an employee because someone from a small percentage of the population was offended. That wasn’t a smart business decision. It’s all going to be downhill from here,” one user wrote.
“Inclusive, my ass. You are catering to a very specific agenda, and you fired someone for it. I will never buy from you again,” another said, expressing a common theme throughout the replies from many former Limited Run customers.
“Thanks for letting me know your company has no backbone and shouldn’t recieve a single dime from me. Could have just said NOTHING but instead decided to pander to random weirdos trying to cancel people,” gamer Juno Maxwell stated.
Congrats! Your company contributed to the bullying, harassment, and firing of a woman based on her personal beliefs. Way to “respect all personal opinions” 👍🏼
— Steph Anie (@mynerdyhome) January 7, 2023
Many women’s rights advocates expressed support for Lynne’s views on gender ideology, and warned Limited Run Games against penalizing Lynne for her freedom of speech.
“Apart from women who don’t believe in the mythology that a person can change sex – which is a legally protected belief. You’re on dodgy legal ground,” user Antonia Frances warned.
Jonathan Blank, the trans-identified male ostensibly responsible for launching the campaign that got Lynne fired, has deactivated his Twitter account since backlash began to accumulate.
Blank, who is the founder of My Little Pony convention Bronycon, is reportedly known within his community for directing hatred and abuse towards others, and some former friends of Blank’s have even taken to maintaining lists of alleged abusive, bigoted, or disturbing transgressions he has committed.
Despite Blank’s recent campaign against Lynne for “transphobia,” Blank has been accused of serious infractions by some within the My Little Pony fandom. The accusations include those of racism, sexism, stalking, and doxing.
Blank has even been accused of transphobia himself, and penned an apology in 2013 for threatening to “out” a trans-identified individual he disliked.
Other posts which received backlash include comments made by Blank in 2014 on Tumblr in which he appeared to challenge the “legitimacy” of statutory rape “as a concept,” and other comments he made around the same time defending childhood porn exposure.
In 2014, Blank boasted of coding a redirect targeting a specific IP address he believed belonged to an individual who was visiting his website for “hateful” reasons. Rather than being granted access to his site, the unsuspecting visitor was sent to pages containing My Little Pony rape fantasy art, hardcore pornography, and the website of the pro-pedophile North American Man-Boy Love Association.
In 2020, Blank published a PDF apology directed to multiple people within the My Little Pony fandom for repeated incidents of cyber-bullying and harassment. In the statement, Blank admits to having “bullied, abused and manipulated” multiple people.
“I am, and have always been, perhaps this fandom’s worst internet bully. Josh [Dean] was spot on the money,” Blank wrote. “He called me out and I am rightfully called. I contain within me a monstrous and indiscriminate anger, and when it comes out I become a nightmare.”
It is not clear at this time if Limited Run Games will walk back their decision to terminate Lynne in the face of the overwhelming backlash, or if Lynne will pursue any action against her former employers.
This is not the first instance of a woman losing her job because of her views on gender ideology.
Most notably, a UK-based women’s rights advocate took her former employers to a tribunal after they refused to renew her contract due to remarks she had made on the reality of biological sex. Maya Forstater, who was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), was found to have been “directly discriminated against and victimized” for her views when CGD did not renew her contract on the basis of her protected beliefs.
Earlier this week, Reduxx reported that female transit employees at Denver’s Regional Transportation District were left fearing for their jobs after their employer clamped down on criticism of a trans-identified male colleague. The women were told they would be fired if they continued to raise concerns about a male staff member who had recently transitioned and begun using female washrooms, lockers, and shower rooms.
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