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Phil Kollar let go from Polygon in wake of #MeToo scandal

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Typhonsentra

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Oct 27, 2017
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Some of you might be thinking this is old news, but the original story of the revelations from last year never had the follow-up of Vox's decision. Actually, an announcement was never made however his name as a founding member of the website has been quietly removed and he has updated his LinkedIn to show that he was let go back in February.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-kollar-6178988

For those of you who do not know the story: Back a year ago a former acquaintance of Phil's went on Twitter to tell her story. She knew him through online conversations where he gave her some advise in building her online presence. On one occasion she invited him to drinks and he obliged. At the end of the evening before they parted he asked her if she wanted to come with him to "Play Mario Kart", to which she declined. In her story she shared that this advance made her uncomfortable and viewed it as an abuse of power. After the story blew up, Phil apologized to her for his actions and deleted his Twitter and has not publicly commented on the story since.
 
gogosox82

gogosox82

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Oct 25, 2017
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Them quietly letting him go is a bit odd. They didn't do that with Nick Robinson. They made that very public.
 
Ketch

Ketch

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Oct 25, 2017
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I for one am outraged.

Current waiting for the mob to tell me exactly what part I'm supposed to be outraged about
 

Deleted member 42484

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So she asked him out for drinks, afterwards he asked her to play Mario Kart (a "nightcap"), she refused, they both go their own ways.

Is that the whole story? Really? Am I missing something? Fired for that?!
 
Dullahan

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Oct 25, 2017
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That can't be the full story. I mean just asking you out and getting turned down...Abuse of power? I'm sorry but I don't see it.
 
Heynongman!

Heynongman!

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Oct 25, 2017
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Yo, what? I ask everyone if they want to come play Mario kart after a night out. They must be leaving out details if he was let go. If not, dudes life is ruined over some god damn Nintendo.
 
//DEVIL//

//DEVIL//

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Aug 13, 2018
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Wtf. That is nothing . Something not adding up and if that's it then that's.... Ok ? I mean.l, I honestly don't see anything wrong with that . Like at all.
 
BrickArts295

BrickArts295

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"Play Mario Kart"
I am so done with this generation if this has a secret meaning other than just playing Mario Kart XD
 
StuBurns

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Did he say it with air quotes while comically raising and lowering his eye brows or something?
 
TheYanger

TheYanger

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Oct 25, 2017
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If they let him go and he didn't make a big fuss or aynthing, almost SURELY they investigated and found something they didn't like. Cause nobody would be let go for that interaction as described.
 
Yearsoflurking

Yearsoflurking

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Nov 11, 2017
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This story's a bit weird, she was flirting with him some time starting it , then decided that he was creepy down the road randomly?
 
OP
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Typhonsentra

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Abylim

Abylim

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Yeah that makes more sense. I didn't remember the story myself. The tweets paint a much more understandable picture.
 
QuixoticNeutral

QuixoticNeutral

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Oct 25, 2017
2,644
No, for those of you asking, of course this isn't the full story. That doesn't mean the full story is our business, and I resent how the ubiquitous day-to-day self-exposure of individual micro-celebrities on social media has created this sense of entitlement we have to internal HR processes about personnel. That applies to both front-facing media people and those in the industry proper who are let go under circumstances that look strange or unsavoury to us with the little information we have. It's not incumbent on his employer or their parent company to embarrass him with a big statement.

And if you were really paying attention, you would know this was a pattern. Not everyone had a problem with it, and indeed I remember seeing at least one woman credit Kollar's unprompted contact as her foothold into the industry, but evidently some did. But I'm not going to be a hypocrite here and dig into that nonsense when it's none of my business, or yours.
 
chrisypoo

chrisypoo

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Oct 27, 2017
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She admitted in those posts to being hypersexual and flirting with him at first, and, unless I'm mistaking something, she felt hurt and betrayed due to his flirting back? I've been married for a decade, so I suppose I'm not up to date on the newest dating and flirting rules, but it seems like.....he didn't do anything wrong? I think the real victim here is his wife, and she knew he was married when she flirted with him. I feel like I'm missing something.
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

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The OP is missing a few details, like that he was (or is still) married and that she was pretty young when the flirty stuff started.

If this is the cause, she's likely not the only person he's been DMing. But it's also a fairly big leap to assume this is directly related. Could be, could be something else unrelated, could be he was doing it a lot, or has done worse.
 
Reinhard

Reinhard

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Oct 27, 2017
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Sounds like he is the victim here of people over-reacting to a non-story. OMG, mild flirting after an evening of drinking, fire him! Maybe he was fired for an entirely different reason, but the timing sounds like this might have been it.
 

Deleted member 5028

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Typhonsentra said:
No proof of what? If he "Resigned" isn't that in effect still a firing in your view?
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No. You're being disingenuous about your framing here so im not sure what your game is but a big "you've no clue about what the fuck you're talking about" here. This is basically Charlie Kelly trying to connect the lines. And failing.
 
stinkyguy666

stinkyguy666

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From what I got from the thread of tweets, Phil comes across as a sort of predatory kind of guy (who's also married I guess?) and would jump at any kind of opportunity to flirt with someone who made it pretty clear she was only interested in getting a closer insight into professional journalism.

I think it probably goes a bit deeper than just "he invited her to play Mario Kart"
 
deepFlaw

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I'm sorry, but this is... not the best way to post this. This did not present the information very well, and so we have people going "that's it?" instead of understanding the full context. He took advantage of members of his community (in this case StreamFriends, not Polygon), he crossed lines he shouldn't have. He publicly stated on Twitter he was at fault; people he worked with on StreamFriends have her back on this.

It's been a very gross situation, where he publicly acknowledged this and then just got to hang out behind the scenes at Polygon with no response or acknowledgement on their part. I'm not even sure he got fired vs just leaving.
 
OP
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Typhonsentra

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Oct 27, 2017
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SlipperyFishes said:
No. You're being disingenuous about your framing here so im not sure what your game is but a big "you've no clue about what the fuck you're talking about" here. This is basically Charlie Kelly trying to connect the lines. And failing.
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Polygon says they will investigate the allegations and a few months later quietly removes him from his position. In what world is it crazy to see those two data points as connected?

Maybe they indeed found something else in the investigation, but his firing is undeniably connected to any investigation that came as a result of this incident.
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

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Also, to be clear: his relationship with his wife is not monogamous. This wasn't cheating, that's not the issue.

She was much younger and a fan of a group of streamers he was a founder of. He took advantage of that; not to the degree that some other people have, no, but he crossed a line. He acknowledged this himself and the people who worked with him have her back, this is not overblown.
 

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ZhugeEX

ZhugeEX

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The text in the OP doesn't do a great job at providing all the information and context.

If a new thread is made it needs to contain that. Thanks.
 
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