Zoe Quinn has returned from her self-imposed social media exile, issuing a statement in which she denies any responsibility for Holowka’s suicide and refuses to address the recently uncovered evidence which directly contradict her initial accusations against Holowka.
On September 12th, Quinn reverted her Twitter account from private to public status and responded to the recent public backlash against her by posting a tweet containing four screenshots of text she had written in the Notes app of her iPhone. (Archive link: http://archive.is/IebZZ)
Reactivated, but not really back. This is the one and only thing I have to say publicly about the last few weeks. Love and healing to those affected – piss and pus for opportunistic creeps.
cw: suicide/abuse https://t.co/gm3iQCPWT2 pic.twitter.com/CrwDqiPA32
— zoë “bi fieri” quinn (@UnburntWitch) September 12, 2019
Despite publicly accusing Holowka of egregious sexual and emotional abuse and subjecting him to the unforgiving court of internet opinion, Quinn begins by denying any culpability for Holowka’s suicide, drawing attention on the topic of suicide to her recent struggles, and claiming to have “nothing but love and sympathies for anyone else hurt in the wake of all this.” (Related: Marvel Comics Writer Zoe Quinn’s Allegations Against Alec Holowka Called Into Question by New Evidence of Inconsistencies in Initial Claims)
– no one coming forward about abuse they’ve faced and telling their story is responsible for their abuser’s suicide, just as no one who chooses not to come forward is responsible for the abuser’s further victims.
– suicide is an awful thing full stop. I know this intimately, as I have struggled against it since I was a teenager, and I have been put on watch since the events and have been leaning on my support system heavily.
– I have nothing but love and sympathies for anyone else hurt in the wake of all this.
Quinn proceeds to claim she is “saddened” by recent events, flippantly addresses her accusations against Holowka as “whatever drove Alec to hurt himself” and proclaim that publicly coming forward with her accusations was her “only option remaining.” (Related: Private Messages Reveal DC Comics Writer Zoe Quinn’s Abusive Behavior During Relationship with Alec Holowka)
– I’m saddened for how much harm and hurt so many of us were going through in silence, for whatever drove Alec to hurt himself and others. I’m saddened that 8 years of quietly trying to move around this out of fear and to minimize damage and harm he’d caused only resulted in more harm to himself and others, and my only option remaining was to speak up about my experiences because I knew I could withstand the backlash from people who already are determined to hate me. I’m saddened that whatever Alec needed to heal, before and after the truth started coming out, he couldn’t obtain. I legitimately lack the words for how horrible all of this is.
Rather than address the narrative contradicting Tweets and private messages reported on by Anna Slatz at The Post Millennial, Quinn instead states that she refuses to “dignify any of the gross misogynistic fake PI nonsense of strangers,” claiming that Slatz, The Post Millennial, and the outlets that subsequently covered the story, such as Bounding into Comics and Niche Gamer, were “lower than ambulance chasers” and “tabloids” and that the “truth isn’t really what they’re looking for in the first place.” (Related: Zoe Quinn to Write DC Comics’ Batman and Superman Spin-Off The Infected: Deathbringer)
– I’m not going to dignify any of the gross misogynistic fake PI nonsense of strangers trying to scrutinize how imperfect a victim I was for cheap clicks and YouTube subs. They’re lower than ambulance chasers and addressing tabloids is a waste of time because truth isn’t really what they’re looking for in the first place
Quinn then states that her “story has been corroborated repeatedly” and decries “anyone using this to bully anyone else into staying silent about abuse” and refocuses the recent tragedies solely around her personal feelings, stating that the accusations were “not about proving anything about him – It was about no longer keeping a secret that had been making me periodically suicidal inside” and claiming that she “[doesn’t] think I’m ever going to be the same.” (Related: Marvel Comics Hires Zoe Quinn to Write Hellcat Story)
– my story has been corroborated repeatedly by everyone including the family, my friends who were there, his coworkers, his roommates, and multiple other survivors, but this was not about proving anything about him – It was about no longer keeping a secret that had been making me periodically suicidal inside.
– Anyone using this to bully anyone else into staying silent about abuse is a monster. Anyone going against the family’s wishes to use their tragedy to harass people they’ve predetermined to hate is a monster.
– I don’t have words for how fucking disgusting it is to go through what I went through, feel (unfairly) responsible for every new victim in 8 years in silence while being afraid of anyone finding out about what happened to me out of shame and fear of ostracism, facing the backlash for speaking up, and then also facing the backlash for what happened next – all in the same week that finding out one of the other men I’d trusted most had sexually abused another woman and cutting him out of my life. My heart is with anyone else being hit by this tide. I don’t think I’m ever going to be the same.
The multiple image response ends with Quinn stating that she has reactivated her Twitter account “to promote my work because that’s a part of my job” but will “not be monitoring most aspects of this account for some time.”
Facing a mountain of lingering questions and the aforementioned unaddressed contradictory evidence, Quinn then attempts to completely distance herself from the situation, stating that she is “horrified by every element of this situation” and “never [wants] to speak of it again” while dishonestly painting her critics and those asking for answers and accountability as attempting to “discourage survivors from speaking up.” (Related: DC Comics Writer Zoe Quinn Attempts to Excuse Antifa Assault On Reporter Andy Ngo)
-I deactivated to try to minimize the sickos who would try to mine my feed for more reasons to cause more pain. I will be posting again to promote my work because that’s a part of my job I can no longer put off, and I owe it to my co-collaborators to show up for at least that much.
– Under advisement from my support network and mental health professionals, I will not be monitoring most aspects of this account for some time.
– I’m horrified by every element of this situation and I never want to speak of it again, but I refuse to be sorry for naming a broken stair and I refuse to be made an example of to discourage survivors from speaking up.
Since returning, Quinn has used her Twitter account to promote her upcoming comic book work on DC’s The Infected: Deathbringer, IDW’s The Addam’s Family: The Bodies Issue, and Marvel’s Fearless, as well as pictures of her dog. Quinn has made no mention of the Patreon account she has not updated in over a year or her failed Kickstarter project Kickstarted in the Butt: A Chuck Tingle Digital Adventure, which raised $85,000 in crowdfunding but has not yet been released despite a promised 2017 release date and has not seen an update to backers in over a year.