Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse, it looks like it has; MAGFest, the annual video game event, looks to be officially canceled. And based on what I’ve seen, it may not recover or come back.
According to the reports and tweets we’ve been following, this all stems from the executive director, Paul Birtel, being extremely abusive towards the employees of MAGFest. This has been documented on the website friendsofmag.com, and upon visiting the website, you’ll find multiple incidents where Paul has been abusive to the workers. This prompted every full-time worker to file formal HR reports against Paul Birtel for “Verbal and emotional harassment and abuse.”
Sadly, it looks that HR ignored those reports, all while Paul’s management seemed to have backed his behavior. On December 28th, 2020, Paul has started lashing out at everyone who filed a report and has started to fire people, both full-time and volunteers alike. Those same former employees are being denied healthcare, while volunteers are now banned from attending the event. However, to show how evil this person is, he has presented everyone with the option to sign a gag order and giving up their rights to sue the company or speak out against what happens behind the scenes.
Requiring people to sign a gag order so they can continue to abuse them is bullshit, but sadly they know they can get away with it. Especially by holding people’s healthcare over their heads as leverage during this COVID-19 rampant world. This is cruel; there’s no other way to describe this.
#MAGFest is cancelled. Don't support events run by abusers.
I've spent years working for @MAGFest and trying to work with Paul Birtel and board has violated every ethical boundary I hold. No more.https://t.co/8KJ2KrglSm pic.twitter.com/wxhiSxURZo
— Shir Goldbird (@shirgoldbird) December 28, 2020
With this, and it looks as MAGFest is done. The Events Director, Debra Lenik, and several other staff have also been removed by Paul Birtel, including the former Division Head of Staff Services and Department Head of STOPs, Josiah Tillett. Shir Goldberg, a volunteer I recently spoke with, also confirmed the termination. Shir had previously worked on other MAG events such as MAGSuper, MAGWest, and MAGStock, in addition to MAGFest.
On the morning of December 28th, Debra was fired from her job as Events Director by Paul Birtel. Shir, Ian, and Josiah were removed from their staffing positions without explanation beyond “violating the Code of Conduct” and indefinitely banned.
MAGFest as you know it is over.
On the morning of December 28th, Debra was fired from her job as Events Director by Paul Birtel. Shir, Ian, and Josiah were removed from their staffing positions without explanation beyond “violating the Code of Conduct” and indefinitely banned. The Friends of MAG made every effort to work with the board and move forward productively. Board members Dom, Paul Good, and Tresch also worked tirelessly on trying to mediate and lead the board towards a better path. The remaining board members, Paul Birtel, Jack, Joel, and Eli, refused to collaborate or negotiate. Instead of choosing a productive and uplifting path forward, they chose to continue walking their path of fear, harassment, and abuse. They have failed in their duties to MAGFest the organization and MAGFest the community. They have failed us, and they have failed you.
While It’s not the sort of thing we like to report on, we definitely need to cover stuff relevant to this industry. No one should be treated like this, so we’re here to signal boost this nonsense.
After all that has transpired, it’s clear that the upper management doesn’t care about what’s taking place. As such, no one should be supporting this event and it hurts to say that. MAGFest, despite being closer to me than any other event locale, has always been the one I never made it to. In fact, before COVID-19 hit, I was determined to get my butt to MAGFest finally.
Sadly, MAGFest isn’t the only gaming event that has been ruined due to management. Earlier this year, EVO 2020 Online was also canceled due to sexual abuse allegations against its co-founder, Joey Cuellar.
Obviously, you can do what you want. However, we implore you not to support companies that continue to abuse and harass their workforce. These people make these events happen by doing the leg work, working the floor, and are constantly doing the work behind the scenes. Without these people, events like MAGFest would never get off the ground, so seeing this happening to them is frustrating.
We are still looking into this story, so things will change as we’re updated, this story is developing…
