Former Midnight Society Employee Alleges 'Abusive Leadership' At Dr Disrespect's Company
Midnight Society, the game development studio owned by Herschel "Dr Disrespect" Beahm IV, has come under scrutiny as a former employee took to YouTube and social media platforms to detail an alleged "abusive leadership" that reportedly forced him out of the business.
Ryan "Lorumerth" Mitchell is a digital marketing and content professional who decided to join Midnight Society as he believed it was his dream job. However, one individual within the company has been labelled as "abusive" and "toxic", which apparently forced the dev to resign from his post on May 13.
Mitchell was quick to get on record that the employee he was referring to was not decorated streamer Dr Disrespect, insisting that he "had nothing but good interactions with Doc." Adding: "He’s extremely creative, and his presence at Midnight Society still makes me confident that the studio as a whole is going to succeed."
Rather, he explained that it was another member of Midnight Society's leadership group who was apparently problematic, although Mitchell decided to keep their identity anonymous in the video.
His first instance of the alleged abusive nature was apparently just prior to the release of their Founders Pass, an NFT project that offers early access to their titles. Despite putting this down to the pressures of the release, Mitchell claimed, "There was some toxicity from a member of the company’s leadership. This was not a slight. This was not passive aggression. This was straight-up yelling and bullying on calls."
However, upon the launch of the pass, the nature of the reported abusive behaviour only heightened to the scale where Mitchell claimed to have to tread on eggshells around them. "Every day was like a grindstone. Do you think a team can be creative when they’re busy tiptoeing around said person?", he continued.
Pointing one specific meeting out as the final straw, Mitchell proceeded to apply for freelancing jobs elsewhere and handed in his notice at Midnight Society.
Despite Mitchell's initial belief that this role was perfect for him, he has claimed that he doesn't regret leaving "because no day job is worth your mental health, even a dream job."