Alison Rapp, one of the more public faces of Nintendo on social media, has been fired by the company. Rapp took to Twitter to make the announcement, saying that she was “no longer a good, safe representative of Nintendo” was the reason for her termination.
Taken at a glance, Rapp seems to be insinuating that her firing was connected to her very vocal role in a recent controversy surrounding the localization of Fire Emblem Fates, during which she was very outspoken about her then-employer. Nintendo, however, has come out to state that Rapp was terminated due to her violation of an internal policy regarding exclusivity of employment.
Nintendo did acknowledge the recent controversy with Rapp, but stressed it was not the cause of her release. Rapp states that she’ll be seeking employment opportunities in the Seattle area. She’s not the first Nintendo employee to be fired in recent times, but this case seems to be a bit more complicated than previous terminations that have come to the attention of the public.
What do you think of Rapp being fired? Sound off, below!
Source: Kotaku
What does “exclusivity of employment” mean? She was technically fired for having a side-job?
The whole situation around Rapp doesn’t sit well with me. She’s vocal and holds some controversial opinions, so I’m not really surprised that a super-conservative company like Nintendo didn’t like the attention and found a reason to dismiss her.
At the same time, it seems like some people went out of their way to railroad her – searching for dirt that would show her in the worst possible light and methodically taking her statements out of context as if they had an axe to grind. Not sure why they believe she deserves this treatment, or why the internet is so quick to judge and condemn based on a very stilted set of information.
(Note: I’m not asserting that I understand her personal views or opinions, or saying that Nintendo made the wrong choice. I am saying that it’s complete bullshit when a group of anonymous people can aggressively use a false narrative to damage someone else’s reputation and ability to earn a living, all to settle some kind of imagined personal slight.)
A lot of companies (especially tech companies it seems) have clauses in employment contracts which prevent people from working another job without their consent and they can ask you to quit that job anyway if it interferes with your first job. They can also ask you to not hold a second job whatsoever if it is in the same industry.
I haven’t been paying attention to the controversy around her, but somebody suggested that it made them look into her background more closely and that led to them finding something to do with this. We’ll probably never know though!