Critical Role determined a complaint made with regards to outside work being stolen was without substance following an “extensive investigation.”
Last month, the web series’ showrunners were accused of having commissioned work from a community member but not paying once that work was delivered. It’s claimed that an investigation was immediately undertaken with direction from outside counsel and it was found that the allegations could not be substantiated.
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In a resulting statement, Critical Role revealed they never reached out to the community member asking for his/her services.
“A couple weeks ago, an individual made statements online claiming that he provided work for Critical Role without payment,” the statement reads. “Critical Role took these allegations seriously and immediately sought to investigate the situation. After an extensive investigation directed by outside counsel, it has been concluded that Critical Role never established, or intended to establish, any employment, independent contractor relationship, consulting arrangement or any other type of work-related contract with that member of the community.”
It’s been suggested that the individual in question was named by username in a tweet (which has since been deleted). Unfortunately, that led to online abuse and the community member contacted the company to inform of the ordeal.
“This individual voluntarily reached out to Critical Role with concerns around his own experience with online bullying,” the statement continues. “Critical Role does not condone online bullying or harassment of any kind, and an employee within the company listened with the sole purpose of being an understanding ear.
“The correspondences on Discord reflect an empathetic dialogue with a concerned member of the community and not the providing of any professional services to Critical Role by this individual. Nothing in the communications established any professional, employment, or contractual relationship with Critical Role. After months of casual interaction, the individual made an inquiry to the Critical Role employee about possibly being engaged by Critical Role as a consultant to the company. Upon receiving this request, the Critical Role employee immediately and clearly declined the request.
“Thank you for your ongoing support. Harassment of any kind is unacceptable, so please be kind, and don’t forget to love each other.”
It appears this was simply a case of someone undertaking unsolicited work and then expecting payment, even after having a request to provide consultancy services rebuffed. It goes without saying that anyone who does such cannot rightly expect to be compensated. Abuse, however, can’t be justified even amid such circumstances.
Critical Role announced a return to action earlier this month following a hiatus brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Critical Role/Twitter
