"No evidence" Activision board ignored gender harassment, says Activision board

gamesradar.com:

The Activision Blizzard board of directors has claimed in a new statement that there is "no evidence" that it "ignored or attempted to downplay" gender harassment at the company. 

The statement references findings from "an ongoing, thorough review" undertaken by the board "with the assistance of external advisors" including Gilbert Casellas, who was chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1994 to 1998. (Earlier this year, a judge approved Activision's $18 million harassment settlement with the EEOC, which the board says is "already available for eligible employees to submit claims.")

"The board and its external advisors have diligently reviewed allegations by the DFEH and the media," the statement (opens in new tab) reads, specifying a range of documents and correspondence as well as "additional interviews" of current and former Activision Blizzard employees. 

The report's chief finding is that "contrary to many of the allegations, the board and its external advisors have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported." Likewise, it's claimed that "outside advisors, after exhaustive review, also determined the board never intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported."

Indeed, this clashes with multiple accounts from the long-running Activision Blizzard lawsuit saga. The initial lawsuit filed by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing – which the board describes in its statement as "highly inflammatory, made-for-press allegations" – alleged a "frat boy"