Sony is firing again in court docket within the ongoing lawsuit between Bungie and former Marathon director Christopher Barrett. The Bungie veteran sued the studio in late 2024 after he was fired over alleged misconduct. He known as the investigation a “sham” in his lawsuit. Now Sony has responded and printed some creepy textual content messages Barrett despatched to feminine workers.
In March 2024 Barrett, Bungie’s govt artistic director on the time, was fired following an inside investigation into claims that he had despatched inappropriate and “disturbing” messages to a number of subordinate feminine workers on the studio behind Future and Halo. Barrett sued in retaliation in December 2024. Within the go well with he known as Bungie’s investigation a “sham,” denied committing any fireable offenses, and urged that Sony terminated his job as a part of a ploy to disclaim him greater than $40 million that he in any other case would have been paid attributable to Sony shopping for Bungie in 2022. Final week, Sony filed its personal authorized response and shared proof of Barrett’s texts to a number of girls.
As reported by Sport File on February 19, Sony’s 128-page court docket submitting consists of 9 textual content messages Barrett allegedly despatched feminine workers at Bungie. Sony’s legal professionals say that these messages present a “sample of misconduct.” The doc was filed final week, in response to Sport File.
In a single message Barrett asks a feminine Bungie worker, “Are you continue to in PJs?” and “[I]s it like a button down high and bottoms? Sweatpants? Lulu lemons?”
In one other message, Barrett known as a girl the “Holy Grail” and added:
I’m not hitting on you. I hope it doesn’t really feel like that. I’m married. However I will be trustworthy. You’re the .000001 and higher be handled like that eternally.
The lady replied that her boyfriend treats her “very effectively” and the previous Bungie director replied: “He higher cuz I might hit on you if he wasn’t.”
A unique lady working at Bungie claims Barrett known as her whereas drunk late at night time and spent hours together with her on FaceTime, regardless of the feminine worker asking him to respect her boundaries. At one level he allegedly took his telephone into his bed room and stated, “I can’t consider I’m mendacity in mattress speaking to [VICTIM 1].” She abruptly hung up.
Barrett’s lawyer despatched this assertion over to Sport File:
Sony continues to disingenuously cherry decide textual content messages and alleged conversations and make unsupported and conclusory statements to defame Christopher and justify terminating him to keep away from paying him what he was owed below his employment agreements. It’s telling that Sony doesn’t embrace the complete textual content messages as displays, or the complete content material of those conversations, and nothing in Sony’s response supplies a respectable authorized or factual foundation to terminate Christopher for trigger.
“Christopher is assured that when all of the proof is offered, it will likely be clear that Sony engaged in a scheme to strip him of his function and the fairness awards he earned for his 25 years of loyal service to the corporate,” stated Barrett’s lawyer.
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