What started as criticism over errors in recent YouTube videos has escalated into allegations of sexual harassment, prompting the company to hire an outside investigator.

https://lemm.ee/post/4468758

What started as criticism over errors in recent YouTube videos has escalated into allegations of sexual harassment, prompting the company to hire an outside investigator. - lemm.ee

Linus Media Group CEO Terren Tong also responded via email, saying he was “shocked at the allegations and the company described” in Reeve’s posts. He went on to note that “as part of this process, beyond an internal review we will also be hiring an outside investigator to look into the allegations and will commit to publish the findings and implementing any corrective actions that may arise because of this.”

Wow quick and decisive action by CEO to call in external investigation. Reading Linus’ response, it doesn’t even appear that he would consider external investigation. He states that HR would conduct a thorough review. I’ll be frank, I don’t trust Colton to run the HR review.

I bet once this issue is resolved, we might see Terren bring in external subject matter experts to completely overhaul LMG business operations. HR consultants, Operations and Logistics consultants, Finance, etc. Up until now, LMG was/is run by a self-taught/self-made/learning-on-the-job crew. Can’t do that when you’re now a corp.

It is HIGHLY silly to even imply these woes are from a, “learn-on-the-job” crew/etc.

Many of the allegations are about basic factual information being wrong and a terrible work environment.

Those DO NOT naturally show up in any ol’ little work environment. They show up when there’s a lack of professionalism and basic respect for fellow humans.

That culture comes from a lack of process and experience of large organizations. The second that a team grows beyond 7 people it has grown beyond the direct control of any one person and the culture takes on a life of it’s own. If not addressed early in growth, issues typically spiral and are either not caught or are allowed to exist out of a perceived necessity.

Small organizations are nimble so they do not need to formalize cultural and HR processes in the same way that large organizations do. If the leader sees something they don’t like, they address it. It isn’t just about basic respect. We all bring our own cultural issues to an organization. A lack of professionalism comes hand in hand with smaller creative organizations. That’s what makes them entertaining. It also enables the toxic tendencies of some people as they are allowed to slip in and as the pressure builds. Don’t confuse professionalism with respect.

These things don’t happen immediately either. It happens over time as people get tired and impatient so they are not on their best behavior. We all go through a storming process. That’s when toxic culture can set in if good lower level leadership doesn’t catch and address it. That takes training and a formal approach to organizational structure, not just production processes.

I am one of those outside consultants.

Well said. I’m not sure I believe this former employee either. I read the “reasons they left,” and it’s simply too unbelievable. It sounds like more of a personal cry for help than a legitimate accusation. The more I read, the more buzzwords for media I saw. And every community is reacting as those buzzwords intend.

I’m not sure I believe this former employee either. I read the “reasons they left,” and it’s simply too unbelievable

Statements from actual victims often do. That’s part of the problem with the culture of not believing, or even alienating, victims. I’m not saying it should be treated as evidence against the company, but the company absolutely should make sure this believe is not happening internally and those of us on the outside should be charitable towards this former employee’s testimony unless contradictory evidence shows up.

Using the Depp/Heard thing as a point of reference. There were good reasons to suspect her claims were fabricated or exaggerated, but I’ve also known people who have gone through many of the relationship experiences she testified about. Until she had her day in court and showed the world her (probable) dishonesty, even she deserved the benefit of charity. Or else by sheer misfortune we will start telling real victims they made it up.

Yeah. It just seems far too fabricated. For someone who is willing to share their life on social media, it seems very strange that they wouldn’t have told a single person they know about it. Then, all of a sudden, other accusations arise and - oh yeah, look at all the things that happened to me! Too many things to never have been mentioned.

You understand that people who are victims of abuse, especially sexual abuse, are often afraid to come out, to tell anyone? What you are calling evidence of being fabricated is a symptom of abuse, and people who are trained to understand and report on those types of abuse are also trained to do so from victims who will go so far as to deny it had ever happened.

For your own benefit, please read this National Domestic Violence Hotline article on exactly why people’s loved ones never share that they have had situations worse than Reeve alleged. Yes, it’s about domestic abuse and not workplace abuse, but it is the same type of trauma and helplessness.

"Why Didn’t You Say Anything?"

Whenever abuse from a public figure comes out people ask the victims "why didn't you say anything?". Learn why talking about abuse is tough.

The Hotline

All of this just solidifies, in my mind and those who can think critically outside of a herd mentality, that this is fabrication. The accusations made didn’t happen in a family behind closed doors, they happened out in the open. Do we think that the LTT facilities don’t have cameras covering every square inch? Get with it. They record everything, I’m sure. This person didn’t go to the police because there probably isn’t anything to go to the police about.

Unless we’re all to believe that everything that happened was in the one place where cameras never went, every single time? That none of it occurred on any kind of technology that would or could be audited, right?

Use your brain brochacho. These are the fabrications of someone who is mentally unstable. Not of a victim. Unless… a victim of their own mind.

Wow. You’re giving off some heavy misogyny vibes right now accusing me of having a herd mentality for pointing out actual symptoms of actual problems. We’re not even talking about the LTT accusation anymore, but about specific behaviors you used to decide that she was probably lying. That is the shit that makes people afraid to tell anyone when they are abused.

Do we think that the LTT facilities don’t have cameras covering every square inch?

I’ve worked at some big paranoid companies, cameras everywhere (full lockdown, fwiw), that have dealt with abuse issues. My own boss was stuck in a toxic environment regarding another coworker for MONTHS before she got the courage to speak up and deal with it. Guess what. The cameras don’t do much when a large part of the abuse is verbal and the abusive moments are just that - moments.

Thing that made me feel like shit? I witnessed some of it, and took it as consenxual because she wasn’t saying anything about it. I was young, dumb, and raised to have the same mindset you’re showing me right now.

That none of it occurred on any kind of technology that would or could be audited, right?

Not sure. I’m using Reid’s Principle of Credulity at this point and time. Should evidence come out she is lying, I will stop giving her the benefit of a respectful response. The presence of cameras at LTT’s office is not that. People are abused in front of, or around, cameras all the bloody time.

Use your brain brochacho. These are the fabrications of someone who is mentally unstable. Not of a victim. Unless… a victim of their own mind.

I’m going to give this to you straight. I’ve heard someone say basically the same thing with the same attitude about a domestic abuser. Then the “lying” victim was hospitalized. If you had lived that life experience, would you act that way?

Bottom line, beyond any contestation - the right thing to do would have been to report it to the the correct authorities; not us.

That they didn’t, alone, is enough to completely discredit the entire story. To claim ignorance, in 2023, of what should have been done is just bullshit.

What happens, then, when the storm blows over and this is all proven to be false? Are ya’ll gonna come back here and admit you were wrong? Going to start following LTT again? Nah, the herd has left and moved on. Ya’ll will pretend to be enthused by the delivery of the dude at Gamer’s Nexus, despite his content being less thrilling than simply reading the spec sheet. (Just saying, his delivery is terrible, though I respect the channel.)

If it comes out that this was all a lie, it might just be too late.

Bottom line, beyond any contestation - the right thing to do would have been to report it to the the correct authorities; not us.

You actually think that’s easy? And how do you know she didn’t, and that they didn’t just say the same shit you did? There’s a LOT of documentation of authorities in some areas (and Az is one of those) not taking those types of complaints seriously enough, especially when made against a person of power. There’s literally been a huge outcry about it.

And if it actually happened and she finally got the courage to say it, why exactly should those who care enough to follow her NOT be made aware of it?

What happens, then, when the storm blows over and this is all proven to be false?

With that attitude, it WILL be proven to be false regardless of the facts.

Are ya’ll gonna come back here and admit you were wrong?

Wrong to give the potential victim the benefit of credulity? FUCK no. I hope she’s lying because it means she wasn’t abused, but I’m not going to add to the abuse by denying her life experience. I’m not saying we should globally cancel LTT. I’m saying we shouldn’t cancel HER, like you seem to be doing.

If it comes out that this was all a lie, it might just be too late.

You really have more sympathy for a corporate machine with their ability to hire professional troubleshooters for bad press, than a person who might have been highly abused by that corporate machine? Well there’s the disconnect.

Let me make this clear. If LTT is destroyed by her coming out, that’s on **their ** failure to be a business that can prove itself safe for workers. Note the word “prove”. If they did everything right, they would have mountains of structure and evidence to support that they are a safe environment, not people coming out of every little crack recounting consistent stories about them. If they do everything right moving forward, they change this from being a toxicity issue to an HR issue and whether or not you believe it actually happened they make sure it can’t ever happen again.

You really have more sympathy for a corporate machine

This tells me everything I need to know about you.

No matter what I say, you’ll never contest a single point; and we will never have any middle ground. So engaging with you will be a waste of time.