Yogscast CEO steps down following sexual harassment allegations
Mark ‘Turps’ Turpin has resigned from his CEO position at British YouTube collective ‘Yogscast’ following sexual harassment allegations from members of their online community.
Turpin joined the company in 2012 as their Chief Executive Officer, where he remained for seven years until he resigned on July 17 after Yogscast community members accused him of sexual harassment.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, allegations of his misconduct started swirling after a 17-year-old girl claimed that he tried to solicit nude photographs of her. Turpin was reportedly on leave while an investigation was held.
Turpin was the company’s CEO since 2012.
Turpin responds with an apology
Turpin announced his resignation from Yogscast in a Reddit post on their official subreddit. “Hi guys. Just to let you know I’ve stepped down as CEO of the Yogscast.” he began. ” When I recently said we expected the highest levels of professionalism from our talent, I need to be held to those standards too.”
- Read More: Will KSI and Logan Paul ever fight again?
The former-CEO went on to address the allegations made against him, stating: “I have sent some inappropriate messages to several members of our community and I’m deeply embarrassed about this error of judgement. There’s no justification or excuse for my behaviour. I was in a position of considerable responsibility and you all deserved better from me.”
He then ended his post with an apology to the people affected by his behaviour, saying “If you’ve been upset by my actions, I’m very sorry.”
It’s the second claim to hit the company in a month
The allegations against Turpin are the second of its kind this month, with the company dropping Matthew ‘CaffCast’ Meredith on July 5 after he was accused of sexually harassing “at least eight separate women.”
Fans of Yogscast were alerted to his firing by the company’s Discord moderators, who posted a detailed statement about the collective’s decision to end their relationship with him.
CaffCast was accused of similar behaviour earlier this month.
Admin ‘Mighty Claw’ claimed that they had received “corroborated and proven evidence that shows Caff has been abusing his position to pursue sexual relationships with those he has power and influence over, using his position as a point of coercion and control.”
It was also stated that CaffCast was in a long-term relationship, but would lie to newer female staff members about his romantic status, leading them to believe he was single. Mighty Claw also wrote that Caff would suggest hiring women to the moderation team, presumably so he could prey on them to “be able to more easily groom them for his sexual motivations.”
The full statement from Mighty Claw.
We’ll update you with any further developments as they occur.