Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford under fire for tweets about animal abuse
GearboxPresident and CEO of Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford added to the already-substantial controversy surrounding himself when he quote-tweeted a video of a kitten crying in pain after being pinched by a large crab.
Gearbox is the studio behind the upcoming Borderlands 3 game, but Pitchford seems to have attracted attention for everything except his company’s latest game recently.
Pitchford decided to share the video, which was originally posted on a now-suspended Twitter account called DAILY KITTEN, on March 27 and it didn’t take long for people to voice their objections.
I tend to favor curiosity and disfavor setting up a feeling and empathetic creature for discomfort. Yet among the negative reactions I felt watching this, there’s also some other stuff that isn’t exactly negative. This makes me curious about how other people react…
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 26, 2019
“Why don’t you just promote your game?”
A lot of followers said that Pitchford’s decision to share the video had changed their minds about purchasing the upcoming Borderlands 3.
Several people wondered why Pitchford decided to post the video at all, before the Gearbox CEO followed up his original tweet and claimed that he shared the video as a sort of social experiment.
The more you speak, the more I’m convinced you need help, my dude. I’m glad I don’t like Borderlands very much, because it makes my decision to not support you very easy. I feel bad for everyone else at Gearbox.
— Justin Meader (@justinmeader) May 27, 2019
His follow-up tweet quickly got ratio’d and many of the tweets urged Pitchford to seek mental help, amongst other things.
YouTuber TheQuartering attacked Pitchford for sharing the tweet in a video shortly after the whole thing happened, “I get it, at the end of the day on the scale of important things to be mad about, I understand that this is low,” he said in the video, before adding, “Randy Pitchford is an idiot, why don’t you just promote your game?”
An interesting year for Pitchford
2019 has been a wild ride for the Gearbox CEO. In January, he was accused by the company’s former general counsel – with whom the company is currently involved in a lawsuit with – of possessing underage pornography.
- Read More: Twitch streamer’s boyfriend hilariously exposes viewer for trying to buy her feet pictures
Pitchford denied the allegations and even though nothing happened from the claims, it’s definitely not the kind of attention Gearbox wants their CEO attracting while they try to build hype for their latest game.