The Oculus cofounder Michael Antonov has been accused of reaching beneath a woman's skirt during a private virtual-reality demo following an event at the 2016 Game Developers Conference.

Autumn Rose Taylor, now a marketing director in the VR industry, said Antonov invited her to a private demo while she was a college student where he inappropriately touched her underneath her skirt without her permission while she was wearing a VR headset.

Taylor said the incident had made her anxious to attend Oculus events; Antonov was Oculus' chief software architect, but he left the Facebook-owned company earlier this year.

Antonov, in a statement to Business Insider, said he recalled his interaction with Taylor differently, and does not remember any inappropriate touching. He said the allegation came as a surprise, and said he had exchanged friendly communications with Taylor since first meeting. "I'm truly sorry to learn of the emotional anguish Autumn is feeling. The experience she recounts both troubles and saddens me, and it was never my intention to cause her to feel like this."



Taylor, in a follow-up response to Business Insider, said she didn't doubt exchanging messages with Antonov after she visited his apartment, but that she stood by her account of her interaction with him and said she had heard from others who say they witnessed inappropriate behavior from Antonov and others at Oculus.

"I believe Antonov's statement that he did not intentionally seek to cause me distress, but firmly stand by my account of what I experienced at that time and the impact it has left on me since," she told Business Insider.

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One of Oculus' cofounders has been accused of sexual assault by a woman in the virtual-reality industry. Autumn Rose Taylor, the marketing director for Owlchemy Labs, said that Michael Antonov reached beneath her skirt and touched her inappropriately while she was wearing a VR headset during a private demo several years ago.

In a series of tweets this week about "an important person that I admired," Taylor said a founder of a well-known VR hardware company invited her to a private demo at his apartment during the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco when she was a college student. She said the man put his hand under her skirt and touched her inappropriately while she was trying the demo.

Though Taylor left Michael Antonov's name out of her initial thread, she named him as the subject of her tweets in a follow-up message several hours later.

—Autumn Rose Taylor 🔜 #OC6 (@lusterly_) August 27, 2019

In a separate statement to Business Insider, Taylor said she met Antonov at an industry after-party at the 2016 Game Developers Conference. She said it was her first major industry event and she was excited to meet one of Oculus' cofounders — she had gotten her start in VR development using the Oculus Rift DK2. The consumer version of the Rift was scheduled for release weeks after GDC, and Taylor said Antonov offered to give her a private preview of the device.

"He offered to show me unreleased demos and games slated to launch with the Rift later that month," Taylor said. "I didn't think this was odd. Just the day prior, I tried a demo in the hotel room of someone I met at another VR mixer. It was a normal demo, nothing strange. Being new to the industry, I thought this was normal."

Taylor said that after being touched by Antonov she tried to keep her physical distance from him while avoiding eye contact and giving few responses in conversation. Though Taylor said she initially felt too afraid to leave, she left and returned to her hotel room at the first opportunity.

"I felt uncomfortable and scared, but was afraid to refuse his advances — after all, he was a cofounder and executive for one of the biggest VR companies in the world," Taylor said in her statement. "I was afraid of being blacklisted from the industry I had just joined and was so excited to be a part of. I was afraid of potentially severing a relationship between the VR company I worked for and Oculus. I was just… so afraid."

Taylor told Business Insider that she was motivated to speak about her experience after seeing multiple women in the gaming industry share their encounters with sexually abusive men. At least three other men in the gaming industry were accused of sexual misconduct in recent weeks.

Antonov, in a statement to Business Insider, said that he recalled his interaction with Taylor differently and does not remember any inappropriate touching. He said the allegation came as a surprise, and said he had exchanged friendly communications with Taylor since first meeting.

"I've just recently found out about Autumn Taylor's tweets after returning from travel off the grid, and I feel terrible that she experienced our interaction in this way," he told Business Insider.

"I recall meeting Autumn at a VR party a few years ago and hosting her at my apartment afterwards, but I truly do not recall the incident she has described. Our parting was amicable, and Autumn's followup outreach to me and our ensuing message exchange were all friendly, so I was taken aback to learn about her posts. I take consent seriously and would never want to have any unwelcome physical interaction with a woman, and until now I had no reason to think that was the case here."

"Nonetheless, I am truly sorry to learn of the emotional anguish Autumn is feeling. The experience she recounts both troubles and saddens me, and it was never my intention to cause her to feel like this."

Taylor, in a follow-up response provided to Business Insider, said she didn't doubt exchanging messages with Antonov after she visited his apartment, but said that she stood by her account of her interaction with him and that she had heard from others who say they witnessed inappropriate behavior from Antonov and others at Oculus.

"I do recall sending a number of hand-written notes to individuals I met at GDC that year," she told Business Insider. "I do not doubt Antonov was a recipient of one of these cards, because I remember sending them out to prominent industry figures I met. I was fresh to the industry and eager to make connections and leave a good impression. As I mentioned in my original tweets, I definitely considered Antonov a prominent figure, and looked up to him. Truthfully, despite the fear and emotional turmoil I experienced during the incident I described, I still hold a deep respect for his work."

"I believe Antonov's statement that he did not intentionally seek to cause me distress, but firmly stand by my account of what I experienced at that time and the impact it has left on me since," she added. "In many cases where there is no malicious intent, there is still a negative impact. I remember the incident at his apartment viscerally and have carried that anxiety at subsequent Oculus events where I suspect he may be in attendance. My reason for speaking out had to do with this impact."



"I shared my experience to reclaim a story that has caused me pain in the hopes of inspiring cultural and structural changes to the industry as a whole. Over the past week, my experiences have only reinforced my belief that this needs to be an industry-wide conversation. I have received messages from individuals stating they witnessed and reported inappropriate behavior from Antonov and others while at Oculus, only to have their reports ignored or see no action taken. These are not my stories to tell, but point to the reality that there are other pieces to this puzzle that need to be addressed."

"I accept Michael's apology for the incident I described in my initial posts," she added. "I hold a deep belief in compassion for others and encouraging growth, and sincerely believe this is possible. At the same time, I still acknowledge the validity of my experience and know those wounds won't heal overnight. I also cannot speak for anyone else he may have affected. I can only speak to my desire to see cultural change to prevent things like this from happening in the future."

You can read Taylor's complete statement at the bottom of this post.

Antonov left Oculus and Facebook earlier this year, Facebook confirmed to Business Insider. He is one of Oculus' original founders along with Palmer Luckey, Nate Mitchell, Brendan Iribe, and Andrew Scott Reisse. Oculus launched with a Kickstarter campaign in 2012 and was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2.3 billion. Mitchell announced his departure from Facebook earlier this month, the last of the five cofounders to leave.

Andrew Bosworth, Facebook's vice president of augmented reality and virtual reality, replied to Taylor's allegations on Twitter and said he had asked internally about how the allegations against Antonov had been handled in the past. Bosworth was named vice president of Facebook's AR/VR and Oculus division last year and said he would take personal accountability for the company's culture moving forward.

"These stories are sickening," Bosworth wrote. "I'm sorry it happened then and that you have to face the trauma again now. I took over our AR/VR and Oculus team in 2018. I do not accept this behavior. I've asked to understand how the situations were handled that have been brought up."

Read more: Senior leader at Facebook's Oculus arrested and accused of soliciting sex from cop posing as underage girl

Here is Taylor's full statement:

Upon reading his statement, I do recall sending a number of hand-written notes to individuals I met at GDC that year. I do not doubt Antonov was a recipient of one of these cards, because I remember sending them out to prominent industry figures I met. I was fresh to the industry and eager to make connections and leave a good impression. As I mentioned in my original tweets, I definitely considered Antonov a prominent figure, and looked up to him. Truthfully, despite the fear and emotional turmoil I experienced during the incident I described, I still hold a deep respect for his work.



I believe Antonov's statement that he did not intentionally seek to cause me distress, but firmly stand by my account of what I experienced at that time and the impact it has left on me since. In many cases where there is no malicious intent, there is still a negative impact. I remember the incident at his apartment viscerally and have carried that anxiety at subsequent Oculus events where I suspect he may be in attendance.



My reason for speaking out had to do with this impact.



I shared my experience to reclaim a story that has caused me pain in the hopes of inspiring cultural and structural changes to the industry as a whole. Over the past week, my experiences have only reinforced my belief that this needs to be an industry-wide conversation. I have received messages from individuals stating they witnessed and reported inappropriate behavior from Antonov and others while at Oculus, only to have their reports ignored or see no action taken. These are not my stories to tell, but point to the reality that there are other pieces to this puzzle that need to be addressed.



How are we setting standards for what's acceptable? How do we make people feel safe to report inappropriate behavior? How are people being held accountable? How do we make affected individuals feel like they've been heard? And beyond that, how do we allow those who are willing to learn from their behavior and change? These are the things I've been thinking about, non-stop.



I accept Michael's apology for the incident I described in my initial posts. I hold a deep belief in compassion for others and encouraging growth, and sincerely believe this is possible. At the same time, I still acknowledge the validity of my experience and know those wounds won't heal overnight. I also cannot speak for anyone else he may have affected. I can only speak to my desire to see cultural change to prevent things like this from happening in the future.



I hope that the conversations we have surrounding these issues can shift our culture to allow people to feel safe calling out bad behavior as it happens and honor the experiences of those affected. I also hope for those who have hurt others— intentionally or not— that we can create a culture that allows for correction and change. I hope there is a future in our industry where justice and compassion can co-exist.