Blizzard Employees Claim “Epstein Suite” Did Not Contain Reference to Jeffrey Epstein
Lawsuit response insists “the portrait came with the hotel room”
Since news broke last week of widespread and repeated allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Activision Blizzard, multiple legal complaints have been filed against both the company and former individual developers. In a recent press release, CEO Bobby Kotick responded to the class action lawsuit.
“I would like to make it clear that Activision Blizzard takes and any all allegations of sexual abuse with the utmost importance. We continually strive to make our workplace a safe zone for all individuals. A photo depicting a small handful of developers relaxing in a hotel room nicknamed ‘The Jeffrey Epstein Sex Suite Where We Go To Have Sexual Intercourse With Women Who Have Been Drinking and Possibly Additionally Drugged’ has portrayed our company in a relatively negative fashion.”
Activision Blizzard additionally proceeded to describe public outcry as “overblown” and “a group of persistent Twitter malcontents who have nothing better to do than complain about sexual abuse and rape.”
“Any modern hotel room, by default, contains a minibar well stocked with alcoholic beverages. In this specific case, a group of our developers requested multiple brands not supplied, ones only available in 16-liter bottles from Costco, which ran a ‘buy one, get 48 free’ promotional event at the time. These distorted claims of alcohol involved with sexual activity inside ‘The Jeffrey Epstein Sex Suite Where We Go To Have Sexual Intercourse With Women Who Have Been Drinking and Possibly Additionally Drugged’ incorrectly presents our company as being out of touch. This is demonstratively false, as we consistently contact our employees to ensure they have access to a sufficient supply of alcohol at all times.”
Former World of Warcraft developer Alex Afrasiabi, currently a PR representative for Governor Andrew Cuomo, claimed the hotel room “came furnished with the portrait,” and “to the best of my knowledge, every room in that particular hotel chain had one.” Dave “Fargo” Kosak, another ex-developer featured in the photo, dismissed the room’s name as “a private joke.”
“The room’s name had nothing to do with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That was simply a coincidence. A group of us had this secret in-joke for years that [is] so incredibly complex and lengthy it would take me decades to explain to you. It’s pretty much the humor equivalent of quantum physics.”
Cory Stockton, currently a lead game designer at Blizzard, continued to clarify the connection. “It was dubbed ‘The Jeffrey Epstein Sex Suite Where We Go To Have Sexual Intercourse With Women Who Have Been Drinking and Possibly Additionally Drugged’ because we thought if there was a person named Jeffrey Epstein, who we were not aware actually existed, he would remind us of the distinctive color pattern of the drapes in the room. Or possibly the door handles. One of the two.”
Update 08/05/2021 7:33 a.m. ET: Joshua Mosqueira, one of the ex-Blizzard developers pictured above, wrote in a Medium post that he “doesn’t even know what sex is” or “how to drink liquids.”
Update 08/05/2021 11:41 a.m. ET: Mosqueira updated his Medium post to clarify the car shuttle which drove females to the hotel, dubbed “the Gnollita Express,” wasn’t specifically an express delivery.