Voice actress and former Rooster Teeth employee Kdin Jenzen says she faced horrible conditions at the company for nearly a decade. Now, she’s spoken her full truth — and it turns out she’s not alone.
In a lengthy statement published to Twitter on Saturday following a round of layoffs, the former Achievement Hunter staffer and RWBY voice actress addressed her time at the company.
She alleges that her nine years of employment included being constantly called a queerphobic slur, uncredited for countless projects, underpaid by tens of thousands of dollars, and forced to regularly work 14+ hour days.
The full letter is almost unbelievable:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
My final words on Rooster Teeth & just SOME of my experiences there.
Read: https://t.co/r6t0hvaq3k
— Kdin Jenzen (@KdinJenzen) October 15, 2022
“Every day I came into work I was called ‘F*ggot’ – but they could not use that name in content so when anyone was recording I was called ‘Fugz’ instead,” she explains. “For any fans who used that nickname for me for years, that’s what you were calling me.”
The nickname was finally dropped when Jenzen came out as trans (though videos of her being called the name remain on the channel). That said, her coming out came with a new wave of mistreatment.
“During that time my acting manager began to harass me and lie to the community any time I was ‘planned to be on camera and couldn’t show up’,” she writes. “Many times it was said to the audience watching that I ‘had already gone home’ when I was in the other room crunching to finish my job and the work of my manager.”
Related: This trans Twitch streamer refuses to let haters take her down. Instead, she’s fighting back.
Even with all the queerphobic treatment she received, the relentless time crunch (and lack of proper compensation for it) made up the largest part of her statement. The low pay she received and insurance coverage that went unfulfilled throughout her transition have left the voice actress with medical bills that she was assured at the time would be taken care of.
Rooster Teeth issued a statement of their own, focusing more on “interpersonal challenges” and company culture than the explicit overworking and underpayment that Jenzen addressed.
Their statement in full:
Our statement: pic.twitter.com/q3gvA8l5vr
— Rooster Teeth (@RoosterTeeth) October 16, 2022
Since Jenzen’s admission, dozens of former Rooster Teeth employees and contractors have come forward about horrible working conditions and compensation from the company.
These recollections have ranged from people being rebuffed by the HR department to folks being overworked to the brink of self-harm.
Here’s just a few of the stories shared:
I have multiple herniated discs in my back from mocap related injuries while working at Rooster Teeth. I was working 12 hour days so I miss the window to file workers comp. I’m only now getting spinal procedures done so I can stand/sit again. My quality of life has been destroyed
— Kim Newman @ FFXIV (@Kimchiladah) October 16, 2022
I normally like to keep my Twitter free of this sort of stuff, but without going into too much detail,the closest I have ever got to taking my own life was during my time at RT. I was told I was talentless on a weekly basis. That I was nothing but trouble to those around me.(1/?)
— Brian K. Lee (@BrianKLee) October 17, 2022
Nah, I’ve already spent a number of therapy sessions talking about this shit with therapists who look at me like I was crazy for sticking around for as long as I did.
I even brought some of that old mindset to a new job so I’m still working on letting that shit go. I’m good. https://t.co/JizEJGPygP
— Torrian #BlackLivesMatter (@AnimatedTorrii) October 17, 2022
The biggest waste of time in my life was talking to HR at Rooster Teeth. I just stopped even trying with them at the end because what was the point 🤷♂️
— squat (@where_is_squat) October 16, 2022
My former Rooster Teeth colleagues can DM me or call me if they need someone to talk to. pic.twitter.com/HI1mAehDri
— Noor Ata (@TheNoorAta) October 17, 2022
Nah, I’ve already spent a number of therapy sessions talking about this shit with therapists who look at me like I was crazy for sticking around for as long as I did.
I even brought some of that old mindset to a new job so I’m still working on letting that shit go. I’m good. https://t.co/JizEJGPygP
— Torrian #BlackLivesMatter (@AnimatedTorrii) October 17, 2022
When I went to HR to ask why I wasn’t being paid as much as the guys doing the same job as me I was told “sometimes you don’t get paid what you’re worth.” https://t.co/5EiTjT8ai5
— Ellie Main (@Elliemainey) October 16, 2022
reminds me of the time i was told i was gonna get a raise. didn’t get it, tried talk to hr. instead of talking to me he just avoided me and wouldn’t even look at me in the hallways. took a year before i finally found out why… don’t even get me started on how low my pay was.
— Spooky Scary Steffie 💀 (@TheSteffie) October 17, 2022
The overworking of RT animation teams was a recurring joke at company meetings. They knew, and would laugh about it in front of the whole company.
— Zac Fox (@zachariahfox) October 16, 2022
nothing *horrible* happened to me in my time at rooster teeth; I left when I realized I was never going to get paid enough for the pressure of having millions of dollars of ad revenue on me and my team’s shoulders. that said, some of the shit i witnessed was fucking nuts!!
— zozo 🍄 (@zoeterhune) October 15, 2022
Related: eSports player busted for lying about being nonbinary in the messiest way
The reports go on and on as people come forward to share the traumatic working conditions they faced at the company. Even as they reflect on their awful time at the company, the support between these workers lower on the ladder is evident.
“There are good people still working there, I’m friends with them, and I wish them the best,” Jenzen writes.
“Handful of good people. Bad Company.”
Queerty reached out to Rooster Teeth for comment. We will update this post if we hear back.
Prax07
Cry, cry, cry yet he stayed there so long. That’s on him, not the company.
Ronbo
Again Charlie, try to inspire our community instead of this kind of self-approved victimization. Why would any Individual allow these horrors to happen for nearly a DECADE?!? It takes two to tango, and who would NOT have left that dance floor? Exaggeration is a human trait.
What made our struggle for legal equality stick was OUR insistance upon equality. Never allow anyone else to control you and hold you back with insults and lies. To do so is giving permission. It’s why I comment when I see people here trying to use those same techniques to control the conversation.
The solution for me has always been more communications instead of trying to cancel people who have been rude or insulting or hateful. When people know that you will stand your ground, they usually move on – quickly. Laughter (not derision) is my method. Being called a fag in the ’70’s was common; but, when you respond “No more room on my lap buddy… ha ha ha You’ll just have to play with yourself and dream” you rarely get pushback.
Just because we won legal equality, we still have to be prepared for personal, bigoted attacks. Arm yourself with light laughter that encourages a different topic – redirect without showing weakness. Do the opposite of what Charlie Grey suggests and put down the victimization card. It’s an invitation to bullying.
Cam
Sweetie, you come in with all of your screenames to attack ANY trans person no matter the situation, so let’s not pretend you would have approved of anything they did.
You have ALWAYS attacked the trans person no matter the context. Yes, what a shock that a large company overworked their employees underpaid them and the environment was hostile. Gee, that NEVER happens right? What a shock that an LGBTQ person would get harassment at work…that NEVER happens right?
And your solution is to of course, that it is the LGBTQ person’s responsibility to deal with it or become a joke because, gee whiz, those bigots sure are wonderful accepting people.
Seriously, as always, your troll game is sad and weak.
Neoprene
Cammie – Sweetie, pooky, muffin: Your obsession with the unfounded idea that anyone who voices opinions counter to your own is part of a right wing conspiracy and has multiple accounts is sad and weak. And paranoid.
BTW…Thanks for playing your part in giving us Trump in 2016. Try not to do it again, ok?
still_onthemark
Can anyone please explain the tweet from Kim Newman?: “I have multiple herniated discs in my back from mocap related injuries while working at Rooster Teeth. I was working 12 hour days so I miss the window to file workers comp.”
I’d never heard of “mocap” before but I see it’s “motion capture.” Is it common in the gaming industry for real-life people to get injured doing it? I’m not doubting it, just have never heard of this before. (It’s a good thing the Roadrunner & Wile E. Coyote didn’t need real-life motion capture-ers.)
And WTF is that about the “window”? I worked for workers’ comp attorneys for many years and I have no idea what she’s referring to there. It varies by state, but why would working 12 hour days somehow preclude anyone from filing for workers’ comp?
LumpyPillows
I am at a loss as to why, if this was so terrible, did they stay for 10 years? It undermines the accusations.
GreekKeys
Step 1: Stop wearing a costume to work.
Yooper
I’d say about 100% of this nonsense is on Kdin, if in fact any of it is true.