I'm going to hold everyone's hands when I say this, but please. Kat, Wil and Zerum aren't victims that were manipulated. (CW: SA, HARASSMENT (BOTH NORMAL AND SEXUAL), HOMOPHOBIA, RACISM, STALKING, ABLEISM)
In this (admitedly badly written) essay, I'll be going back on everything they've done and put it in comparaison with both experiences I've lived (not with the dev teams, but similar enough) and other people's testimonies/experienves.
I've seen people paint Zerum as a misunderstood woman that simply blocked Ren because of a past argument. I'll start here with the fact that she has done nothing but lie in her apology. First, she claims she "doesn't condone how Zeal has acted", only to be caught still being his friend on a platform. You cannot claim to not condone this shitty behavior, only to still be friend with the person. She then says she'll take her leave, but has been caught still holding onto her power on the official discord server and roblox community server. (after being called out, she had left the discord server, but hasn't left the roblox group.) I'd also like to add that her statement was predicted by Ren's document.
Now, I'm going to share my own experience with a somewhat similar situation. I've been a victim of sexual harasment for 3 years. I had friends saying it was fucked up. I had teachers aware. No one cared. No one ever did anything. It was all "oh, that's not good", and no action. Always "I don't associate with this", never any punishment. Shit, it was nothing but a funny joke to them. My friends knew, and kept hanging out with the people that harassed me. Whether it was stealing my stuff and rubbing it on their you-know-where, creepy comments about what I could be enjoying, non-consensual sexualisation, etc. These "friends" stayed with my harassers, despite claiming that "they didn't condone it". I want you to sit there ONE moment and ask yourself how it feel. I fully relate to Ren in the sense that the so called people that "didn't condone this behavior" stayed with my harassers and gave them a community, even after knowing. That's not being an innocent victim. That's being complicit.
An ex friend of Zerum has also confirmed she knew before the doc came out, either ways. This person also explains in their testimony that Zerum had been talking behind people's back, exploited them [person speaking] for art and threw them away when she got bored. This is a behavior that many people have confirmed, such as this person who was seventeen at the time and three other artists that had been in touch with her. This is, in no way, the behavior of an innocent person.
I, too, have been a victim of exploitation by other people. I was only fifteen when I was randomly given a huge responsibility in a moderately known game by a specific fandom on ROBLOX. Fifteen. I wake up being a community server moderator, all alone. I was fifteen and had to deal with people spamming slurs, pornography, plus the harassment that came with applying the rules. The fear of opening my messages because it was likely gonna be nazi rhetorics, gore, etc. I couldn't leave. I admired the person. Truth to be told, I still do. I still talk to them, a year later. The situation has calmed down over time, but the exploitation still happened. I was overworked by school and had to baby sit a server full of idiots afterward. If I said anything, I'd disappoint the person I admired. I had to suck it up and take in the bullying, the feeling of emptiness I felt, the pain. I can promise you, it destroys you. It exhausts you. You start blaming yourself, telling yourself you deserve it. Much like how Zerum vented to these people, this person I admired did the same. I was FIFTEEN with a grown adult constantly seeking reassurance from me. "Henry, please say you like it." "C'mon, it's a good update, right ?" "Henry, I can't do this, am I a bad person ?", "Henry, should I [IMPORTANT DECISION A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD SHOULDNT TAKE] ?" or venting, telling me about his mental issues, etc. It breaks you. It destroys the person. This isn't an innocent behavior. This is abusive.
This grown woman has made queerphobic comments such as "Guys I go find queer pages online and tell them to kill themselves trust", "can't have shit as a het", "why do people act like ur only cool if ur under some sort of queer umbrella", then saying she's "not trying to say she's oppressed". My goodness, miss, you are TWENTY TWO and mad because queer people are proud of existing. How can you call yourself a queer ally when you make jokes about pushing minorities to suicide ? HOW in HELL is that an "innocent behavior" from "a person that doesn't know any better"?
I've been a victim of a lot of queerphobia and have witnessed a lot of queerphobia. A LOT of queerphobia. Whether it was online, or IRL. I live in a homophobic household and am forced to stay in the closet. Any "suspicious" thing I do ends up in disgusting comments about how I'd be kicked out if I were gay or transgender. Any hint I tried giving to my friends about my gender identity (transgender man) has resulted in weird stares with me having to backtrack. Comments as simple as "I think I'd cut my hair to have a more manly haircut" got me in situations where I wasn't safe. I can't talk to my lover in front of my mother because they're non binary. I am stuck in an iron prison where I have to be reminded that I'll never be who I want to be by my own body. Some days, I can't stare at myself because I feel nothing but disgust. I've been called online things such as "faggot, tranny, pedophile" for being QUEER. I have been mocked for being gay at school. In no way can I see this grown woman pretend that gay people are seen as cool and that cishetallo people suffer from the "evil queer oppression" when people like her have destroyed me to the point that TO THIS DAY, I still have many negative thoughts and am queerphobic to myself. Innocent behavior ? This ? Are we FUCKING KIDDING ?
Zerum has also shown racist behaviors through Sebastian's character and it's creation (in which she uses an asian person to create a chilean character), but also through her strawpage. This woman is palestinian and has conveniently said "no, actually, i'm not palestinian but black!"(picture needed, easily found on twitter) to excuse her use of the n word. She has lied about being black to use the n word. Do I truly have to explain the issue here ? This is racist. She is lying about being a minority to use a slur. It does not matter if Zerum is a part of another minority, it does not excuse lying about being black.
The mere state of being black puts many people into dangerous situations everydays, especially right now in the USA. Whether it's being assaulted on the street, passive racist comments or the immigration police (ICE), these people are at risk for something they didn't choose. This is not something funny to lie about just to say a slur, especially when black people, hispanic people, latino people, and many others are put into places similar to detention camps where they have shitty life conditions. Some of my friends live in the USA and live in fear of ICE. They have to live knowing they can be deported. Racism isn't fucking funny. That's not an innocent behavior.
Similarily, Zerum has admitted supporting Zeal on her strawpage before claiming it was a mistake and then changing lies and saying she was hacked. Same woman that said she didn't condone Zeal's actions.
I have a strawpage. I've been using this platform for years. You don't just "get your page hacked". That's not how it works. The person needs to know your personal email to do this as you can't connect with the strawpage's URL. It's pure bullshit.
I've seen people excuse her behavior on her strawpage with "well, maybe she broke down from all the hate she recieved", and let me make this clear : This. Is not. An excuse. For racism and supporting a sexual abuser.
I'm mentally unstable. There, I said it. I seem stable, don't I ? So fucking stable, no ? I'm not. I've gone through therapy, it barely helped. Two years. It barely did anything. I break down almost every weeks. These horrible breakdowns where I either hurt myself or someone else. These horrible breakdowns you see in movies or games where they scream, sob, make incoherent rants. Those where you can't think straight. Where your brain convinces you everyone hates you. Where you can see thing. Where you can hear voices. THOSE breakdowns. THOSE attrocious things. And let me tell you something. I have. NEVER. gone out of my way to be racist and say I was in favor of a sexual abuser. Not ONCE.
I've had my buttons pushed. My pain had been made worse. I was intentionally manipulated. People knew what to say to enrage me. I gave people silence treatment to innocent. I hurt them. I'm ashamed. You know what I did ?
I took accountability. I apologised. I tried making things better. I communicated. You know what I didn't do ? PRETEND I WAS HACKED.
It's a shitty excuse. Even if she had broke down, it wouldn't be anything near enough to justify what she did. She didn't even TRY apologising for her racism or for condoning a sexual abuser. She simply said "sorry i got hacked". A pitiful excuse.
DO NOT FUCKING USE WHAT I GO THROUGH EVERY WEEKS AS SOME SHITTY EXCUSE FOR HER BEHAVIOR.
Going on with the next person, Kat.
Kat has released a statement on their own perspective, and I am deeply sorry that Zeal has done these things to them. However, none of this excuse exploiting artists (no, "dude i swear i wanted to give them the money but they said no" does not work) and for toxic behaviors with their friends. We need to stop babying them and pretending that what Zeal has done makes them innocent.
I'm not going back on that one. Refer to what I said about Zerum when she did the same thing.
Kat has also weaponised someone's NPD diagnosis as a "gotcha moment". This is ableism. NPD does not make anyone less human and most definitly isn't something to weaponise. It's a disorder.
Ableism hurts everyone. Whether someone is mentally disabled or physically disabled, it's a pain to go through it and deeply affects your life. Talking here as someone with suspected autism and with low empathy, this shit hurts. I'll never be normal. I'll never get along with others. I'll never be able to function normally because I was born different. I don't know what's wrong with me. Why I'm like that. I spend my nights thinking I'm worthless. My mother weaponises my lack of empathy as some sort of gotcha moment, too. I'm heartless to others. I'm a monster that doesn't care about people's issues. But also, I need to stop being so sensitive. It's not an issue if the clothes I wear make me feel uncomfortable, itch me. If a sound it physical torture. If sentences repeated multiple times make me want to cry. If some sounds overwhelm me. Some smells. Some silences, some eye contacts. I need to suck it up. I need to have a filter. I "can't just say what's on my mind". I can't be myself. My issues will always be discarded because "others aren't like that". Ableism hurts me. It hurts others. It hurts everyone. I'm not about to stand here, watch Kat weaponise a disorder and say nothing.
Wil, just like Zerum, has said he would no longer associate with Pressure or Zeal. Interestingly, this is contradicted by him still being friend with Zeal on another platform. Wil, like Zerum, was aware.
Again, refer to what I said for Zerum. It's the same. The exact same.
Wil has non-sexually groomed a minor into stalking so he could get informations on others to harass them. I don't think I even need to explain here what the issue is ?
I've been followed home by people from my school. I've had classmates search every socials that exist to find me. I've had classmates find my personal fanfictions I published on a secret account. They mocked me for my tastes. Made fun of me for what I liked, what I disliked. I lived in fear of walking home. I lived in fear of physical assault. I lived in fear of people knowing my darkest secrets. Of people knowing how rotten I was to the core. Nothing excuses stalking. Nothing. And nothing excuses grooming, sexual or not.
I was a victim of bullying. I had scars on my arms, people called me a witch. They excluded me, isolated me. It went as far as claiming I'd have commited crimes. The only thing that protected me was one single member of the school staff that knew I wasn't like that. I've been verbally and physically assaulted. Is this enough for you ? Is this enough of a reason for WHY harassment isn't good ?
They're not good people. They're rotten to the core. Stop finding excuses about them. Stop it. Stop.