It has come to our attention that information previously unknown has come to light about Jacob Geller’s past – specifically a sexual assault in 2016 for which he was suspended from college.
This information appears to have been made public without consent of the victim and our thoughts are with her at this time.
We condemn Jacob Geller’s actions and stand with all victims of sexual violence.
In light of the revelation, we have decided to remove all podcasts and articles featuring Geller from our feeds.
The games that were covered on those podcasts will be added back to our list for consideration again in the future:
340 Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth
341 Resident Evil 5
343 Horizon Zero Dawn
347 The Last Guardian
352 Virginia
361 Dark Souls III
362 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
363 This War of Mine
366 Pony Island
367 Doom (2016)
374 Furi
378 Inside
381 Observer
384 Superhot
391 The Evil Within
392 Batman: Arkham Origins
396 The Evil Within 2
401 Red Dead Redemption II
406 Shadow of the Colossus (2018)
411 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
412 Dying Light
418 Beat Saber
444 Return of the Obra Dinn
Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources or time to re-record those shows on top of the regular production schedule.
With our sincere apologies to listeners, and to all those who put time, effort and great work into those podcasts.
I hope you will consider a different solution. I am thoroughly disappointed in Geller, but I do not like erasing media in response.
I would imagine putting a disclaimer (in descriptions or audio) would be fairer to the Patreons who funded these episodes, and doesn’t erase the insights from the cohosts who put time and care into these episodes.
@Thomas
I’ve contributed to a fair few of these and I liked listening back to them every once in a while when I was thinking about a specific game we discussed, but now knowing what Jacob did I wouldn’t be able to stand doing that again, hearing him on there.
The whole team shares the conviction that minimising his public presence in media, however small, supercedes any perceived importance of our work on and contributions to these podcasts. Not in the least when thinking of the victim and how she might feel about his fame and success.
@Thomas
I do appreciate and understand your position, but I want to echo the feelings of Michiel above, and to quote James:
“Our course of action creates attention around Jacob now and silence thereafter – adding caveats to webpages and podcasts draws attention to Jacob in perpetuity. That’s not acceptable to [us].”
The response from our Patreons has been overwhelmingly supportive of the action we’ve taken:
https://www.patreon.com/messages/db8e4af2332240a2b0d278b2af8b7082?mode=campaign&tab=chats
I’m no longer a member of the podcast, but I would also like to add my voice in support of the actions taken here. I think the quote Leon picked out from James mirrors my position on this. This is not a desirable outcome, but the morally correct one.