G4 Host Frosk Posts Tone-Deaf Meme Celebrating Her Continued Employment After Network Hit With Massive Layoffs
Spencer Baculi
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In a stunning display of tone-deafness, particularly from someone whose own actions ostensibly played a significant role in getting here, G4 host Indiana “Frosk” Black responded to the network’s recently announced, sweeping staff cuts by sharing a meme celebrating the fact that she herself did not face the chopping block.
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As per “three sources familiar with the business” who spoke to Kotaku, “at least somewhere between 20-30 staff members were laid off at G4TV” on September 14th.
These staff cuts reportedly took the affected by complete surprise, with many even showing up to set with the understanding that they would be working as normal only to be met with both the news that their respective programs had been canceled and one-on-one layoff discussions with the network’s HR staff.
Source: G4, Xplay
Though details regarding the exact extent of these layoffs are currently unclear, those who were let go are supposedly set to receive anywhere between “16 weeks and six months of severance based on their tenure with Comcast, G4’s parent company”.
According to said sources, the network has been in rough financial shape for quite some time, with managers having been saddled with the honor of looking for any-and-all ways the network could reduce their costs – including by letting go of staff.
Source: G4, Xplay
Curiously, these cuts come on the heels of the network announcing a new slate of additional programing, including an Xplay-hosted, The Office-style parody of God of War titled God of Work.
To this end, one insider who spoke to Kotaku opined, “I truly can not imagine the company continuing to produce our slate of content without the people we lost today.”
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Staff were also said to have been working without a coherent sense of direction, a frustrating confusion which supposedly erupted when now-former G4 president Russel Arons – who herself abandoned ship earlier this year – admitted that the network was facing financial hardship and, in an attempt to wright the ship, set goals for the upcoming year which were widely considered to be completely unfeasible.
(Notably, not only did Arons leave the network a little under the year after she accepted her position as president, but her exit came just roughly five months after the similarly voluntary departure of G4 senior VP Blair Herter.)
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Taking to Twitter the day after these cuts were divulged to the public, Frosk – whose infamous “sexism in gaming” rant will undoubtedly be cited as a major factor in the network’s struggles – responded to the news by sharing a meme which featured a lizard with a crown, the ‘Deal With It’ glasses, a joint, and bold text reading “I SURVIVED” superimposed over its image.
“Let’s play some games, yo,” Frosk added.
Archive Link Source: Frosk Twitter
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