Games Journalism General

[quaawaa]

Kotaku Detected​

List of folks who work, have worked, or are friends with Kotaku... and beyond!

Welcome to the comprehensive directory of individuals who work or have worked at Kotaku, a website that has historically shown to care more about pushing activist agendas and narratives instead of conversations about video games. This page includes some of the worst writers, editors, and others who have contributed to the downfall of games journalism over the years. Each entry provides relevant information for further research, including their roles, articles, and/or linked video explanations. Whether you're a researcher, enthusiast, or industry professional, this resource is designed to spotlight the people behind Kotaku's content and hold them accountable for their actions.

For those who do not appear on this list, they have not committed any awful behavior publicly... Yet.

Consider this curation group my personal opinions, and your opinion may vary.

For more information detailing why the #EndKotaku movement was created, please watch this video.

Current Employees​

Carolyn Petit​

Managing Editor

• Refuses to reprimand Alyssa Mercante for contacting my wife on Facebook
• Contributed to Anita Sarkeesian's "Feminist Frequency"

Alyssa Mercante​

Senior Editor

• Misled readers by leaving out key aspects of why Sweet Baby Inc. started the GG2 Controvers
• Misled readers by misrepresenting CEO's words in an interview to push her narrative
• Contacted wife of Smash JT on Facebook
• Threatened to sue me
• Attempted to make a joke out of contacting Smash JT's wife on Facebook

Kenneth Shepard​

Staff Writer

• Pushed Transgender narrative for Paper Mario TTYD

David Smith​

Managing Editor (Kotaku AU)

• Wants to 'Hardware Ban' gamers for mean words in a lobby

Previously Worked At Kotaku​

Cecilia D'Anastasio​

Reporter, Bloomberg News

• Claimed hack Youtubers are stealing their jobs in journalism

Levi Winslow​

Former Staff Writer at Kotaku

• Defended Alyssa Mercante's "All Men Are Enemies" Tattoo

Luke Plunkett​

Writer, Aftermath

• Tweeted death threats to Japanese people after Nintendo bans Kotaku from review copies
• Injected SJW into Earthworm Jim coverage

Gita Jackson​

Cofounder, Aftermath

• Tweeted"If someone makes a goofy YouTube video about me, you bet I'm emailing his wife—that's a promise."

FOK - Friends of Kotaku​

Jeff Grubb​

Reporter, GamesBeat

• Defended Alyssa Mercante's Racisim

Anita Sarkeesian​

Founder, Feminist Frequency

• Founded "Femenist Frequency" to grift government funding
• Had Carolyn Petit (Kotaku) write for "Femenist Frequency"
• Married herself on her birthday

Jake Steinberg​

YouTuber, Former Editor at GameXplain

• Defended Alyssa Mercante's Racism

EmmySpeens​

OnlyFans CamGirl

• Defended Alyssa Mercante in unhinged livestream rant

Kim Belair​

Founder, Sweet baby Inc.

• Founded Sweet baby Inc., an organization known for injecting DEI into games and constantly championed by Kotaku

Chris Kindred​

Employee, Sweet baby Inc.

• Attempted to get Kabrutus banned for creating "Sweet Baby Inc. Detected" Steam Curator group, kicked off entire GamerGate 2 saga.

Jeffrey Rousseau​

Unemployed, Former reporter for GameIndustry.biz

• Focuses on "Marginalized Voices", amplified by Former Kotaku writer Cecilia D'Anastasio

Dani Lolanders​

Developer, Black Panther Video Game (Cliffhanger Games/EA)

• States she will not hire white people because "it's hard to work with them"

Mary Kenney​

Associate Narrative Director, Marvel's Wolverine

• Stated "Every Lever" Must Be Pulled To Push Disordered LGBTQ+ Agenda

Ashley Cooper​

Writer, Marvel's Iron Man (Motive/EA)

• Tweeted "Let's not cast cis white men in stuff for a year and see what happens. Just for fun.
• Tweeted "Sorry, cishet white dudes. Comics don't belong to you. Comics never belonged to you.

Ash Parrish​

Reporter, The Verge

• Wrote an article for "The Verge" blaming Gamergate return on "a group of gamers has mobilized a harassment campaign against a story consultant company, marginalized developers, and journalists in protest of what they see as ‘forced’ diversity in gaming."
• The Verge Reporter Ash Parrish ADMITS to Lying About Sweet Baby Inc.

Maya Felix Kramer​

Consultant, Sweet Baby Inc.

• Has one hell of a history with Gamergate and Anita Sarkeesian - "The Quinnspiracy"
• History of abhorrent tweets against white people like "pay me to shoot down your white male lead game ideas" and "had a nightmare that I was a white male gamer"

Megan Farokhmanesh​

Senior Writer, Wired (Prev. Axios, The Verge)

• Misled readers by leaving out key aspects of why Sweet Baby Inc. started the GG2 Controversy

Jules Hardy​

Presenter/Host CBBC, BAFTA

• Tweeted "can we a agree that for round two of 'this' it can be the final purge of these kinds of gamers?"

Nick Calandra​

Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Second Wind

• Encouraged followers to report #KotakuDetected & attempting to take it down

Are We Missing Someone?​

Tag me on Twitter @SmashJT with details, or email at info@SmashJT.com

https://archive.ph/dUKAf

 

[AssignedEva]

Jules Hardy - Presenter/Host CBBC, Bafta.
Presenter on CBBC, the children's TV channel? What on earth does she host on t-

Ah.

 

[Disastrously Dumb]

Isnt Alyssa Mercante having a meltdown
because soemone made a website using her sister's name, tracking all of Alyssa's bullshit

like Alyssa said "its not doxxing and harassment to target people she didnt like's family"
but its "harassing" if people does the same to her

 

[Absolutego]

They get bailouts and funding from leftist orgs and political affiliates to post fluffer pieces or smear campaigns against whoever fits the narrative (that’s just the truth of it). If it wasn’t for those two components then I doubt many of these sites would still exist outside of “which Disney character is your dad’s generation on Halloween” Quiz no 275. I can count on more than one hand people who have left buzzfeed and the times buzzfeed/CH has been bankrupt and making employees redundant.

ETA in relation to Kotaku specifically feminist frequency and gamergate played a large part in their “success” (more like infamy) and although that was over a decade ago now, video games have gotten more politically motivated (recent example being on the happenings page currently) so I can only assume that’s why Kotaku is still kicking. Ngl, I haven’t seen anything Kotaku in years so who knows if they’re as predatory as they used to be.

The continued existence of the various Gawker vertical spinoff blogs is more a case of media conglomerate after media conglomerate buying them on the cheap and thinking "I can fix her", before they realize they can't and cut bait. This is why Kotaku in particular had a mass walkout and current staff seething this spring when their new owner told them to cool it with the op-eds and controversy and to get back to writing game guides before he replaced them with AI.

 

[Vapid_Idiot]

But tracking anyone who streams the wizard game is A-OK guys! And Alyssa Mercante keeping a list of any youtuber who ever made a negative video about her, specifically asking her simps to dig up dirt on them and contacting SmashJT's wife and telling her he's a horrible person is also fan-dabbie-dozy!

Seriously, Mercante needs a lolcow thread and she needs it yesterday.

She’s a psychopath

 

[quaawaa]

I don't care about journalism, much less games journalism, but if anyone's got an offline copy of the list/articles/whatever, send it my way and I'll hold on to it for dear life.

https://web.archive.org/web/*/smashjt.com/post/*

 

[Fake Steve Franssen]

Can anyone contact the guy and tell him to come here?

 

[Cyclonus]

Isnt Alyssa Mercante having a meltdown
because soemone made a website using her sister's name, tracking all of Alyssa's bullshit

like Alyssa said "its not doxxing and harassment to target people she didnt like's family"
but its "harassing" if people does the same to her

She is a fucking hypocrite but two wrongs don't make a right. They shouldn't drag her sister into this, we know nothing about her and for all we know she might hate Mercante. It's not easy having a psychopath in the family.

 

[m1ddl3m4rch]

At what point is this tortious interference with a contract? Seems clear cut to me.

edit: I mean those who are mass reporting tortiously interfering with SmashJT's contract with Wix.

 

[popsoda]

Bitch you ARE white, the fuck?? These people are actually delusional, it would be even more funny if their retarded ideas didn’t have institutional backing.

That's not a bitch.
He would need to be female for that.

 

[Ed Special]

Bitch you ARE white

And a man, baby. Also, to borrow one of the baizuo's favorite words, a manbaby.

 

[The Cheese Aisle]

That's not a bitch.
He would need to be female for that.

That is in fact a female who “identifies” as non-binary/transmasculine and uses they/he pronouns- which honestly makes it all the more funny that she is having “nightmares” about being a white man. Like, girly, isn’t that your goal??

Edit: took me a second but I wanted to find a good pre-transition photo. Powerword: Maya Kramer.

 

[fresh pair of socks]

At what point is this tortious interference with a contract? Seems clear cut to me.

edit: I mean those who are mass reporting tortiously interfering with SmashJT's contract with Wix.

Our legal system is not on the side of freedom.

 

[klarine]

Game journos arent even people lets be real

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

journos arent even people lets be real

FTFY

 

[popsoda]

That is in fact a female who “identifies” as non-binary/transmasculine and uses they/he pronouns- which honestly makes it all the more funny that she is having “nightmares” about being a white man. Like, girly, isn’t that your goal??

Then I retract my statement, she totally passes for a tranny, and you may call her a bitch

 

[m1ddl3m4rch]

Our legal system is not on the side of freedom.

I don't disagree, but I still don't have an answer to my question. And the courts can't do anything unless a case is brought.

 

[Dire Dire Cocks]

Kotaku is already known as bottom feeder garbage by the majority of the Internet. Great job of helping your case!

 

[Rotollo 2]

That only seems like it'd benefit people who deplatformed him and want to deplatform even more people. The amount of people Null could describe the process to without risking them being an undercover fag (who would share the method with bad people so they can figure out how to thwart it) could be counted on one hand.

you saying this just reminded me that before his downfall, Nick Rekieta would be one of those people Null would have trusted

 

[The Cheese Aisle]

Then I retract my statement, she totally passes for a tranny, and you may call her a bitch

I think there’s a point in the middle of the tranny hon to pooner spectrum where hormones and a shitty lifestyle make both males and females look like amorphous blobs of man titties and PCOS chin hair. It’s easy to get confused, especially when societal institutions are constantly trying to push messaging that it’s totally normal and beautiful to look like you have a rare genetic disorder. It gets easier with practice, though. Anyways, will totally still call her a bitch o7