Bobby Kotick Files Defamation Suit Against Media Outlets Over Discrimination Comments

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Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard, has filed a suit in Delaware against G/O Media, naming Kotaku and Gizmodo specifically. The suit complains that both outlets attempted to smear Kotick by ‘going out of their way’ to besmirch his name by mentioning false, withdrawn allegations of discrimination and workplace harassment.

It was claimed by Kotick that articles were penned with the ‘malicious purposes of causing further harm’ to his name, which was at the time already considerably tarnished.

Seeking Damages

The Delaware suit filed by Bobby Kotick is pretty basic on the surface, but details of the complaint were obtained and published by Courthouse News Service on March 13.

The complaint from Kotick reads:

Neither article had anything to do with Activision.

Both were about rumors that Kotick was interested in buying TikTok. Yet, Kotaku and Gizmodo went out of their way to include withdrawn, false allegations relating to workplace issues which G/O Media knew had been conclusively disproven by numerous investigations … purely for the malicious purposes of causing further harm to Kotick.

The articles in question were reports published by Kotaku and Gizmodo about the claim that Bobby Kotick was part of a cabal looking to acquire TikTok in the United States. For reference, I also covered those claims, but I neglected to insult the man or bring up his troubled past at Activision Blizzard, aside from mentioning what employees were saying about him on social media.

But that’s probably why I’m not being sued.

Courthouse News Service noted that Kotaku and Gizmodo updated their articles to remove more negative terminology, but Kotick insists that, as a general rule, they’re still ‘mischaracterising’ him, and he’s seeking damages.

Stay tuned to see how this unfolds.

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2025-03-16 10:21