Philip Kollar (Polygon) accused of taking advantage to get closer to fan

[Cheddahz]

*I'm going to make a quick note here and say that it already takes a lot of courage to come out and publicly talk about an issue that like this and I would strongly advise against pushing Sarah for any more info. I know there will be people that will want more evidence, but as people observing the issue, it's not our right to view all of that*

(Click on the tweet to read the thread)

It should be noted that the person did report this to Polygon and Polygon never responded to the report. She also claims that did flirt with him for a little while, but stopped once thing started to get odd (stating that his wife was starting to get involved). While Sarah (@sdirtythugnasty ) claims she doesn't want to ruin his life, it's concerning that Polygon is ignoring reports like this one, as they have promoted themselves as a "progressive" game website where everyone should feel at home.

EDIT: Philip Kollar did issue an apology of sorts, but Sarah didn't accept it, as she claims he's done the same to other females who have tried to step into game journalism as well (once again, please click on the tweet to read the thread)

DOUBLE EDIT: Austin Walker (Editor-In-Chief at Waypoint) has acknowledged the thread and stated that he is disappointed by Philip's actions (sorry for not embedding the tweet, I ran out of media space on this post)

Hey everyone. To be honest, I'm quite surprised that this thread was re-opened (though I do agree that it's closing was pre-mature, but let's not talk about that), but during the day, I got the chance to talk to Sarah and I would like to clear some stuff:

- My original thread title was highly misleading and because of that title, it brought a lot of confusion to the thread and I apologize for that (and to Sarah, she was highly freaked out about this and I explained to her that the original thread title was indeed not)
- Sarah has stated to me that he flirted with her first and she flirted back, as the general conscious here is that she flirted first, which is false
- The tweets were not posted because Sarah wanted to "ruin his career", but more or less warn fans of his intentions, as others have suffered the same and as a warning for others. Sarah has stated that she does not hate him
- Philip Kollar has apologized, but only in a reply to Sarah's thread (not publicly) and according to Sarah, it shouldn't be a result of her calling him out

With that being said, this isn't the case of sexual harassment, but of "creeping" on a fan(s) that looks up to you and see you as an influence, which is still not acceptable

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[purseowner]

Bloody hell.

I'm speechless.

 

[Mikebison]

Another case of the company sweeping it under the rug, it seems.

 

[Rezsolution]

I don't know who he is, but I admire her strength and will to come forward

 

[DannyVice]

Here we go again..

 

[Deleted member 21411]

2017 is us going to the doctor after feeling really sick and finding out we have cancer. But now that we know it we can do something about it. Shame on polygon doing nothing about this, especially after Nick.

 

[Deleted member 24550]

Is there a summary somewhere? There's hundreds of tweets to dig through. So far it seems like they were just flirting?

 

[Nanashrew]

Phil, why? :C I really liked you and you were a cool dude...

 

[Tregard]

After the fiasco with Nick Robinson, you'd think Polygon would be dealing with this directly now.

 

[purseowner]

Kollar's 'apology' should be put in the OP itself, eventual part of that thread as it is:

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/929820518387212289

 

[Cheddahz]

Kollar's 'apology' should be put in the OP itself, eventual part of that thread as it is:

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/929820518387212289

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Thank you, I'll add it to OP (and a quick summary of the user's response as well)

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

I thought for a second it was Chris Kohler which would have been an even bigger bummer.

 

[Launchpad]

Not Phil :( I loved his work at Game Informer but haven't followed him at all since he moved to Polygon. This is terrible to hear.

 

[V_Ben]

Fuck, I really thought Kollar was one of the good ones, and this just hurts to see. I feel so awful that women like Camino have been taken advantage of by someone with yet again the 'nice dude' veneer.

 

[Stuart]

I don't care for Polygon, but do we need to encourage so many "Twitter witchhunts"? If he's done something illegal, it should be reported to the police and they will deal with it. If it's not illegal, then she should report it to the appropriate department of Polygon, and if nothing is heard then seek legal counsel or escalate to the authorities if appropriate.

No-one here is in a position to make a judgement. I get worried when someone's career can be ruined without going through a rigorous process, but instead a reactionary mob gets them sacked.

 

[burgervan]

Am I missing something here? According to her tweets, they flirted and he pursued more, but I'm not seeing where any lines were crossed. Is it the age difference or that she was a fan? I'm honestly confused.

 

[Mikebison]

I don't care for Polygon, but do we need to encourage so many "Twitter witchhunts"? If he's done something illegal, it should be reported to the police and they will deal with it. If it's not illegal, then she should report it to the appropriate department of Polygon, and if nothing is heard then seek legal counsel or escalate to the authorities if appropriate.

No-one here is in a position to make a judgement. I get worried when someone's career can be ruined without going through a rigorous process, but instead a reactionary mob gets them sacked.

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She did report it to Polygon. Right after the whole Nick Robinson ordeal in fact and nothing was done.

 

[massoluk]

At least it just looks like he's being too pushy.

 

[Take5GiantSteps]

Honestly not surprised that Polygon would cover this up. We're being shown again and again that HR is only there to protect a company.

Edit: removed snarky comment related to Phil's review scores as it is not pertinent to topic at hand.

 

[Ahri]

This list won't end here at all.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

I read the entire chain and im pretty darn confused.

 

[Salty Rice]

At first when i read that they both were flirting i thought its not a big deal.

Digging through the tweets it looks he wanted to take advantage of her when she would be drunk and go with her to a hotel room.

Thats a important addition that makes this fucked up and disgusting if i understand it correctly.

Its confusing tho.

But if it was just a offer between two people who flirted with each other i dont see it being wrong.

 

[Nowise10]

Um. I read the entire twitter thread multiple times. What I'm seeing is she was 18/19, he sent heart emojis to her (which, yes, is seen as flirty), and offered to have her stay at his hotel so she didn't drive drunk.

And that's it.

 

[New Fang]

Fuck, I really thought Kollar was one of the good ones, and this just hurts to see. I feel so awful that women like Camino have been taken advantage of by someone with yet again the 'nice dude' veneer.

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I read her tweet thread but I'm still not sure how he took advantage of her.

 

[Stuart]

She did report it to Polygon. Right after the whole Nick Robinson ordeal in fact and nothing was done.

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Then she should get a lawyer or report to the police if she considers it necessary. I don't like the casual method of using Twitter to accuse someone and let a witch-hunt occur. Official channels are there for a reason, because otherwise society descends to a baying mob.

 

[Nowise10]

At first when i read that they both were flirting i thought its not a big deal.

But digging through the tweets it looks he wanted to take advantage of her when she would be drunk and go with her to a hotel room.

Thats a important addition that makes this fucked up and disgusting if i understand it correctly.

Click to shrink...

You're literally just assuming because he's a dude he would rape her. Why can someone not offer a place to stay if they are going to be driving and drinking that night.

 

[Mikebison]

I think it comes down to wether you think writing for a games website and having an audience is a position of power to be abused.
But yeah, whilst not the worst case we've heard about, I think the gist of it is him being far too pushy about getting her to stay at his hotel when she was drunk and persisting after she made it clear she didn't want to. Ie not sexual harassment as such, but habitual creeping. His apology lends some credence to that.

 

[blueredandgold]

This is probably a good time to remind yourself that this whole personality-driven niche that's been a hallmark of games coverage since about the mid 00s is fine just as long as you don't get *too* attached to any one content creator.

Just as they might say you shouldn't be a zealot or apologist for corporations, nor should you blindly and uncritically follow everything they say and do.

Listen. Learn.

 

[Salty Rice]

You're literally just assuming because he's a dude he would rape her. Why can someone not offer a place to stay if they are going to be driving and drinking that night.

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I added that its confusing and it could be either way.

And so far im on nobodys side without more concrete information.

 

[Jager]

Um. I read the entire twitter thread multiple times. What I'm seeing is she was 18/19, he sent heart emojis to her (which, yes, is seen as flirty), and offered to have her stay at his hotel so she didn't drive drunk.

And that's it.

Click to shrink...

Am I missing something here? According to her tweets, they flirted and he pursued more, but I'm not seeing where any lines were crossed. Is it the age difference or that she was a fan? I'm honestly confused.

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Trying to see where he crossed the line too, I read all the tweets.

It just all seems like an assumption going off what she shared.

 

[Nav]

This is unfortunate. Kollar seems to acknowledge having issues in his tweet. I hope we can get more training for professionals who deal with fans through social media to understand how the power dynamics work.

The hotel situation might seem nuanced since drunk driving is dangerous, but Camino was there and knows what happened. From what she wrote this wasn't innocuous behavior on Kollar's part.

 

[KingSnake]

I read the twitter thread twice and I still don't understand what exactly is the abuse here.

 

[LuisGarcia]

I read the twitter thread twice and I still don't understand what exactly is the abuse here.

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Me either.

 

[opticalmace]

I read the twitter thread twice and I still don't understand what exactly is the abuse here.

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I concur. I feel like there's probably a point in which the flirting was no longer wanted but it was hard for me to tell where that point was.

 

[HosannaExcelsis]

Am I missing something here? According to her tweets, they flirted and he pursued more, but I'm not seeing where any lines were crossed. Is it the age difference or that she was a fan? I'm honestly confused.

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If Phil Kollar is married, he shouldn't be flirting with other women to begin with.

 

[electricblue]

Um. I read the entire twitter thread multiple times. What I'm seeing is she was 18/19, he sent heart emojis to her (which, yes, is seen as flirty), and offered to have her stay at his hotel so she didn't drive drunk.

And that's it.

Click to shrink...

Seems like this is something she should've brought to his wife.

 

[bod]

So she flirted with him and he flirted back. Then when he started getting a bit more serious they broke off all comunications. Unless i am missing some info i see no harassment here.

 

[LuisGarcia]

If Phil Kollar is married, he shouldn't be flirting with other women to begin with.

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Shitty thing to do sure....but cheating isn't sexual harrasment.

 

[scabobbs]

I am struggling to see what Phillip actually did here that requires this kind of response. Am I missing something or did nothing actually happen here?

 

[Alexhex]

At first when i read that they both were flirting i thought its not a big deal.

Digging through the tweets it looks he wanted to take advantage of her when she would be drunk and go with her to a hotel room.

Thats a important addition that makes this fucked up and disgusting if i understand it correctly.

Its confusing tho.

But if it was just a offer between two people who flirted with each other i dont see it being wrong.

Click to shrink...

It seems to be an age/power dynamic thing too and him leveraging his position as well, which are details she's a little more vague on, though that is totally acceptable.

 

[Deleted member 442]

Then she should get a lawyer or report to the police if she considers it necessary. I don't like the casual method of using Twitter to accuse someone and let a witch-hunt occur. Official channels are there for a reason, because otherwise society descends to a baying mob.

Click to shrink...

Unless I'm missing something here, what's been described is predatory behaviour between two adults. That's not illegal. It's morally questionable but not illegal.

If someone raises this kind of behaviour with another person's employer, particularly when that behaviour has occurred with the implication of access or support in someone's career aspirations, and the employer hasn't responded to the report, then yeah I think going public is a step you should consider.

It's worthwhile to distinguish between these kind of accusations and reports when a crime has possibly occurred and where it doesn't appear to have. This is still bad but your response of taking it to the police honestly doesn't help.

 

[opticalmace]

If Phil Kollar is married, he shouldn't be flirting with other women to begin with.

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That depends on their marriage.

 

[burgervan]

If Phil Kollar is married, he shouldn't be flirting with other women to begin with.

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So why report it to Polygon?

 

[kvetcha]

In this particular case, I'm not really sure what in this transaction constitutes 'taking sexual advantage.' It seems like they flirted, consentually, and then he was too thick to take a hint when she had second thoughts. Did any real-life incident ever take place?

I suppose I'm not sure why this wasn't something that could be dealt with privately. I guess Camino was worried he would use whatever influence he might have in the industry to tank her career, which I suppose is an understandable fear. I just feel like there's a lack of context here.

Maybe I'm lucky and just know a lot of straight-shooting people. This sort of thing feels alien to me.

I'm certainly not victim-blaming, just curious where the line was crossed between consensual interaction and, well, whatever he's being accused of, apart from being a cad.

edit: That whole public apology reply chain was pretty ooky. Damage control.

 

[Lowlander2]

Uh, I would have been neutral on this until his apology. Every mealy-mouthed drip coming from his mouth is the kind I've seen a million times before. Just once I'd like one of these responses to be, like, an alibi. A flat out "I didn't do it" instead of trying to pretend it wasn't that bad or he wasn't thinking straight or whatever.

Also, "other females"? That just sounds icky dude.

 

[Ahri]

Are you guys serious and don't see the issue here?

The lady was seemingly very fragile and looked up to the guy. He suggests they get drunk and go to a hotel together.

There are several layers of wrong here:

• She was a fan
• She tried to get in gaming journalist
• He was married (but hey, whatever floats his boat)
• She said NO to the advances

I do understand that a lot of people seem to think the "lets go to the hotel drunk together and ... huh... play... Mario Kart!" is innocent. But no it is not: it means what it means. Especially after she said NO.

And i'm saying this while i'm not even a girl.

 

[Nav]

Camino points out Kollar was in a polyamorous relationship, as was she for a time, but all of that is beside the point. Married people can still commit sexual harassment. I would argue the same is true of the age differential being tangential to the main issue. These are relevant only insofar as they furthered a power disparity between the two; for example, Kollar being married making Camino feel safe around him, or the age difference putting him in a position of social power.

 

[Deleted member 2321]

Point me to what I´m missing because I can´t see the abuse here.

#MeToo is a very important movement, but I think it will lose steam if people use it like this.

Apologies if I´m missing something, I´m not a twitter pro.

 

[Phife Dawg]

So I read that thread and still don't know how exactly he sexually took advantage of her.

 

[FancyPants]

If Phil Kollar is married, he shouldn't be flirting with other women to begin with.

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Fair enough, it's grimy, but that's hardly harassment?

Shit, I'm not trying to be some kind of counterweight here, but I think I've read all the tweets and I can't seem to understand where there is any mention of sexual advantage or anything? He was a bit pushy after mutual flirting, and then nothing happened after she said no? How is this crossing the line?