Alexis Kennedy, the man behind Sunless Sea and Cultist Simulator, has been accused by multiple women of harassing and abusive behavior over several years. The accusations continue in what has been a string of posts from various women in the video game industry this week who claim to be victims of abuse.
Late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, it was two women accusing Luc Shelton and Alec Holowka. Today, a handful of women have taken aim at Alexis Kennedy on Twitter.
Among those who have come forward against Kennedy is Leigh Alexander, the narrative designer for Reigns: Her Majesty and Reigns: Game of Thrones. Alexander started tweeting about sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace shortly after the allegations about Shelton and Holowka came to light.
On Wednesday morning, she was more specific about the target for her comments.
https://twitter.com/leighalexander/status/1166757951262068736
In addition to Alexander, Meg Jayanth, a narrative designer on games such as 80 Days and Falcon Age, stepped forward. Jayanth said she saw an anon account naming Alexis Kennedy among the abusers in the gaming industry.
If you have not heard this before it is because Alexis Kennedy has retaliated against people who have spoken out against him in the past, and many he has harmed the most are rightly afraid to come forward. He has frightened and threatened a lot of women into silence.
— 𝕞𝕖𝕘𝕙𝕟𝕒 𝕛𝕒𝕪𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕙 (@betterthemask) August 28, 2019
Jayanth went on to say that she can’t speak to the motives of the accuser but agreed with the accusations. She went on to say Kennedy is a well-known predator in the industry. She also said she’s been warning people about him for years. Jayanth added if people hadn’t heard about Kennedy before now, it was because his alleged victims are afraid of him. A third accuser, Kat Brewster, tweeted out she has seen firsthand the harm Alexis Kennedy has done to women. She added that the Sunless Skies creator is both smart and well-spoken, but manipulative and cruel.
For his part, Kennedy ignored the first few accusations but felt he had to respond on Wednesday afternoon issuing a statement on Twitter:
“I deny this. I have had a small number of fully consensual relationships with other people in the industry. Everything else here is a malicious misrepresentation. I have taken legal advice and I am making a police complaint about what seems to be a campaign of harassment.”
Since the allegations against Kennedy surfaced, more women have been coming forward with their own accounts of his abusive behavior. Those who first accused him have responded to his denials with a lack of surprise.
