Riot Games CEO Being Sued For Sexual Harasment By Former Assistant
| Tags: General
| Author David Hollingsworth
A former employee of Riot Games has filed sexual harassment claims at the door of CEO Nicolo Laurent.
The news, which was first picked up on by VICE, shows that former employee Sharon O'Donnell has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Nicolo Laurent. Sharon is alleging that Nicolo asked her to “ ‘c*m’ over to his house while his wife was away”. It’s also alleged that he discussed his underwear size with her. And told her that “his wife was jealous of beautiful women”.
O'Donnell was the executive assistant at Riot Games before the company fired her back in 2020. This is according to a lawsuit filed by the Superior Court for the State of California in Los Angeles county last month.
In a statement, Riot Games had the following to say:
“In this case, because some of the claims relate to an executive leader, a special committee of our Board of Directors is overseeing the investigation, which is being conducted by an outside law firm. Our CEO has pledged his full cooperation and support during this process, and we're committed to ensuring that all claims are thoroughly explored and appropriately resolved.”
A tough spot for Riot
The case is just another in a series of accusations and allegations towards Riot Games and its staff. Riot Games staff also staged a mass walkout in 2019. In a slightly ironic statement back in July 2020, Laurent wrote an open letter to other games industry CEOs. It followed with the following statement:
“As I write this, I'm thankful we made sufficient progress that the board kept me on. But more importantly, I'm proud of the Riot we have become, and that we continue to evolve every day.”
Esports consultant and insider Rod Breslau shed more light on the issue in a tweet, with a statement he reportedly received from Riot themselves.
Riot Games has responded, telling me: “To clarify, this individual (the plantiff) was terminated following more than a dozen complaints from both employees and external partners and after multiple coaching discussions to try and address these concerns." https://t.co/BPZuLNp4RR
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) February 10, 2021
This story will be updated as we get more information about the case and any future verdict.
David has written for games media outlets for the last ten years. With his first major esports role being with Esports News UK covering mostly UK League of Legends. David is also a member of the British Esports Association and is an advisor to them on World of Warcraft Esports. More recently David has worked for Esports Insider and Red Bull as an esports journalist.
David later became Editor at ESTNN and now leads the current team.