Kotaku’s Jason Schreier was on the receiving end of the 2017 Society of Professional Journalists’ Kunkel Award. The judges loved his piece “The Curious Case Of The ‘EA Game Dev’ Who Said He Received Death Threats” and awarded it first place in News Reporting. The article was published back on November 15th, 2017 over on Kotaku. After recently receiving the Kunkel Award, Schreier proceeded to log into his Twitter account, click on the button to make a new tweet, and bad mouth the Society of Professional Journalists, #GamerGate and the Kunkel Awards.

On May 4th, 2018, Schreier tweeted out the following.

I should clarify: the SPJ created these awards because Gamergate demanded it, and one (or more) of SPJ’s members was sympathetic to them. Gamergaters aren’t deciding on the winners, of course. I look forward to seeing them rage about it. — Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) May 4, 2018

After expressing his disdain toward #GamerGate with a backhanded compliment for winning the Kunkel Award, the most curious thing happened…

Social Justice Warriors began to flock to the tweet, like vultures on a bleeding carcass. They came not with gratitude, congratulations or amity; they came with pain, scorn, and agony.

It started with a former member of the GameJournoPros and co-founder of Polygon, Chris Plante, who tweeted out the following.

Not take away from your work (or take th awards srsly) but it’s BC to give the award 3x to the same guy. It’s not like great reporting isn’t being done by women and PoC — including peeps at your own outlet. And the text is dismissive, as if other reporting doesn’t exist — Chris Plante (@plante) May 4, 2018

Schreier responded by stating that he thought the awards were a “despicable joke” and claimed that it was irony given that #GamerGate made Kotaku one of its biggest targets. Schreier is correct about #GamerGate making Kotaku one of its biggest targets. In fact, the movement felt that Gawker was the most unethical news media outlet online, and targeted Gawker by going after their advertisers, and getting the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Gawker for illegal content promotion.

Nevertheless, many Social Justice Warriors took offense to Jason Schreier saying that Kotaku was a target of #GamerGate.

Maybe don’t refer to yourself as “one of [Gamergate’s] biggest targets” when anyone with a passing knowledge of it knows that it was primarily a harassment campaign against *women*. Were you doxxed and had to flee your home out of fear? — Dancin’ Rushberg (@RunDaltonRun) May 4, 2018

This resulted in writers and game designers from the Social Justice community to come out of the woodwork to reproach Schreier. Elizabeth Sampat raked the Kotaku journalist over the coals in a series of tweets.

How sad to try to save yourself with moral cowardice and still not be spared. There’s a lesson there, to anyone willing to learn it. — Elizabeth Sampat (@twoscooters) May 7, 2018

Another game writer, Barbara Kerr, and maker of mobile games, hopped in to chastise Schreier for responding to Sampat, ending his ability to defend himself against that particular member of the Intersectional Inquisition.

except that you’re coming into Elizabeth’s mentions because GoatGoober victims are yelling at you in your own… — Barbara Kerr That Nice Lady You Met At GDC (@ms45) May 7, 2018

Back on the main Twitter thread, things took a dark and drastic turn.

Like an uncaged banshee, swooping in to distill pain and suffering upon those she deemed uncouth, Zoe Quinn hurdled herself through the digital door, bearing the conversational gifts of textual fire and oil; tumultuously meting out public disgrace at Schreier’s expense.

Please don’t lump a website in with those of us who have already been dehumanized enough. It’s not comparable. Kotaku doesn’t have parents to threaten and it’s handling of GG caused *more* harassment to rain down on the people already targeted. — the fandom mënace (@UnburntWitch) May 7, 2018

In a surprising twist, Schreier was actually angered at Quinn – one of his long time friends – for attempting to drag him under the gavel of Social Justice. He shot back with the venom of an ensnared viper, trapped by hunters who had already placed upon their lips the desire to taste the proverbial blood of their prey.

I have absolutely no patience for your disregard of how they went after Patricia, Nathan, and others on our staff, and it’s shameful that you and others are trying to pretend that didn’t happen or doesn’t matter. — Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) May 7, 2018

Quinn met his venom with a defensive snap, and a bite back that cowered Schreier deeper into the corner – crowded by enemies on all sides.

Your personal initial reaction to GG was to get uppity in my mentions over word choice while my life was being threatened and I have not forgotten that for a second. pic.twitter.com/SDu9iY7Kit — the fandom mënace (@UnburntWitch) May 7, 2018

But the Intersectional Inquisition wasn’t done with Schreier yet.

Social Justice Warriors had pried from him his pride, and bled from him weakness. It was a sign that their work was not yet finished, but instead just getting started.

Danika Harrod from Waypoint took point, using a pincer attack to pierce through Schreier’s defenses, catching him off guard and using his own outlet as a weapon against him.

twitter is twitter. if your first instinct when victims confront you is to use the names of kotaku employees (without their approval, i’m guessing) to back yourself up and boost your point while dismissing others, that is a thing that probably needs to be thought about a bit. — Danika Harrod (@danikaharrod) May 7, 2018

Like some sort of winged matriarch of punitive oppression, Leigh Alexander forcefully glided down into the conversation with all the grace of an eagle’s talon snapping thin twigs beneath it after a hard landing. Moving into an attack position against one of her former friends and an ex-member of the GameJournoPros, Alexander setup Schreier by purposefully painting Kotaku as one of the villains in the #Gamergate saga.

not blaming you personally for this, but we want to see the big games press do a little more self-examination re their complicity in enabling, tolerating, & soft-pedaling that malicious type of community. outlets didn’t suffer, individuals did. — Leigh Alexander (@leighalexander) May 7, 2018

Like a potoo witnessing the claws of a hawk readying for a death grip, Schreier attempted to reposition himself. He shared the article from Max Read talking about how much money #GamerGate costs them, as a way to play-up how much Kotaku suffered at the hands of the consumer revolt. Leigh Alexander would have none of it, though.

Alexander shifted her presentation, going from the wing-clawed matriarch to a de-fanged walrus stranded on the beach of financial desolation, tweeting how much Intel still owed her after she was fired from Gamasutra. This was around the time when Intel started a $300 million dollar diversity initiative following their pull-out of Gamasutra, which occurred during the early days of #GamerGate, as reported by the New York Times.

so like, i don’t want to hear from entities, media outlets, or companies that they were doing anything for us at the time. the larger role they could’ve played in a cultural shift was a boat missed long ago. even if i don’t “blame” e.g. kotaku, i have no solidarity pats to offer. — Leigh Alexander (@leighalexander) May 7, 2018

Eventually the shrieks and claws retracted; numbed in their effect after she began resurfacing old wounds. The embittered huntress for Social Justice retreated shortly after basking in past traumas, managing to just barely scathe Schreier in the process before skulking off to her own shadows, a lonely and forlorn safe space.

Throughout it all, there were some industry regulars who popped in to congratulate Schreier, as well as the Society of Professional Journalist’s own Billy O’Keefe. O’Keefe happens to operate the SPJ’s web tech, and openly expressed bete noire toward #GamerGate, despite the fact that the Kunkels never would have existed without #GamerGate.

Regardless of your feelings about the Kunkels’ origins, to call the current production a circus is to paint with a broad brush. Your readers nominated you, judges agreed. GG may have had a weird hand in the events that led to the Kunkels but these awards were not made for them. — Billy O’Keefe (@billyok) May 6, 2018

In the end, Schreier was able to bear witness to the almighty might of an organized Social Justice crusade… only this time, he was on the receiving end of it. Unlike many of his other articles, he had no one to cry “foul” or “harassment” to; no one in which to bemoan his grief, and no one in which to offer him solace. Firsthand, Schreier realized that the so-called victims of oppression were capable of being the oppressor.

(Thanks for the news tip Lyle, Phoxel, Lo-Ping and Mombot)

(Main image courtesy of Kinda Funny Games)