#staffsalt

[santae-salt]

edit 7/6/25 - cj has canceled the claims against ember [link]

here's ember's parting message to the staff server. lots to unpack - i split it up for ease of reading. See also:

Their message to the main Sancord [here]

The news post addressing this [here]

CJs announcement in the staff server [here]

Some of CJs dms to Ember [here]

Former staff member Sky's statement [here]

Former staff member Keshi's statement [here]

Staff shittalking players [here]

edit: CJ has allegedly issued chargebacks for all work Ember has done for Santae, in addition to the $15k invoice.

here is proof, including dms and screenshots

and here is a message from crumble in the staff discord shortly after this post went live. update the next day: crumble has resigned.

pinning this post for now, here is the rules post

[santae-pepper]

Unfounded Rumors About Fife

Hi again, it’s Brillows! I have been seeing a lot of misinformation surrounding Fife. I think everyone should know that she also did NOT get paid by CJ for the last assets she made. She had made several unreleased HA items, and new pet colors which I have seen myself. She also was doing dev work of the minimal collection that many of you have probably seen because CJ leaked them without her permission. She didn’t reach out about the GoFundMe is because she wanted it to go to artists who needed it more. She just wrote it off as a loss and moved on with her life irl. She reported a post with some leaked resignation letters that were shared without permission. For example, I am still filing a small claims suit against CJ unless he pays and, personally, did not want my resignation leaked just in case it caused some issues, legally. People have reasons for not wanting a post, like a resignation, leaked. Had someone reached out, she would have told her story. I think it’s valid to be upset to have someone tell your story for you without permission. The resignations have since been taken down per our request, and the creator was very kind about it! I appreciate their efforts to bring light to the CJ of it all, but they were still shared without permission. Fife mostly keeps to herself. That doesn’t mean she supports anything CJ does. She has spoken out to CJ before about his behavior. CJ himself told others that he did not like Fife or myself because we were “too outspoken” and “didn’t respect him” enough. This is just one example of us questioning his behavior, where he then later told us he did not want us using reacts anymore because we were “ganging up on him”. Take this conversation how you will, but I think everyone should understand that not everything is simply black and white. I don’t like CJ, but I also don’t hate him. I just think he’s a fucking idiot. ————- Cloudmin - You can post this on the blog if you’d like, and I’m prepared to get some hate from it. However, I don’t think it’s right that people are making assumptions of her and her saying and lumping her in with people, like CJ, who have done actual harm. I asked fife for her permission to post this, but these are my words. Thank you for all that you do! ---------------------- Fife was contacted regarding this post and has confirmed her permission to Brillows. She also confirmed that she was hacked this week (unrelated to Santae) and that nobody in the Santae community has reached out for permission before this, all information about her time at Santae, including her leaked resignation, and anything regarding the GFM, was an assumption or spread without her consent. The owner of the Notion doc did remove the resignations when asked and apologized.

🌶️ --------- Pepper: There's been a very odd narrative being strung by a select few individuals. These were sent to Cloud (proof above) but never published to the salt blog. We waited at least 24+ hours, and see no reason not to post them now.

[santae-salt]

cj not understanding that the gfm was created when he didn't pay his staff months ago and justifying that it's wrong now because he paid when he saw fit is comedy gold. How tf do you survive in society? How are you a certified nurse if you are so twisted in the head or were you lying about that too?

☁️

[santae-salt]

this is what cj said to fritz and king. anon please

[images]

[santae-salt]

LatteDragon here again. Former artist (between February 2024 and May 2025), former art director (between June 2025 and July 2025). Long time staff member indeed.

CJ deleted all of the staff resignations from the staff discord (that I left a few days ago), and said it’s “inappropriate to post them in the main discord” (the same thing he said when staff walked out in March), ignored the main discord for days while DMing people, and still owes me $781.00 twenty nine days later. I don’t give a shit about my NDA and screenshots of private communication because you violated my contract on multiple occasions. But of course, you’re only upset about violation of contracts when it’s against your favor.

You want to talk about things that are inappropriate, CJ? Let’s talk about the way you treated me when I put in my resignation and thereafter.

I quit because I live with my 72 year old father who is developing Alzheimer’s and there is no more pay off (gratification or monetarily) any more for working here, and it was in my best mental health to leave.

The moment I became useless to you, you treated me like shit. After I’d been by your side since I was hired in February of 2024.

Friendship means nothing to you if you have no gain from it.

Do not work for this man.

(adding images here as well so I can add alt text. thank you again latte.)

[santae-salt]

On May 7th, I sent the following statement to CJ: "I am formally revoking any and all use of my character concept by any other person associated with Santae Entertainment."

Today, June 2nd, guess what CJ posted in the Discord? The character he doesn't have rights to. See for yourself, art I commissioned of my character over a year ago vs the art CJ posted (and then deleted).

Let it be known: CJ not only has used AI art, he also commits copyright infringement!

highwayphantoms /post/743137669444485121

cj banned this person, they revoked access to the character they had spent hundreds to have put into the game, cj went ahead and posted the character anyway.

...then deleted the post and immediately tried to divert server attention to shiny new regal designs instead.

[link]

(screens borrowed, thanks anon)

[santae-salt]

Hey, this is former artist (and briefly art director) Keshi. My anxiety over how I had to leave has prevented me from speaking up about anything, and has even prevented me from publicly interacting in Sancord or anyone affiliated with Santae (I really do miss a whole bunch of you though). With the current events, and the many times the teased breeding mechanic has been brought up, I’d like to finally break my silence, and share my experience.

First off, the situation CJ has put Ember in is horrifying, I do not wish to take attention away from this appalling selfish act with my post. I cannot fathom what would bring a person to do this to someone they call their friend. CJ should truly be ashamed of himself, this is going way too far. I never really got the chance to interact with Ember, but I am so sorry you are going through this and I hope things work out for you soon.

A little background on me, I have worked for Subeta and MisticPets in the past, and done commission work for various petsites and games. This experience is spread over the last 18 years, so I’ve seen my fair share of drama on these sites. I’ve never witnessed this level though.

I was willing to (and did) put a lot of time and heart into the egg and hatchling art. I was aware of the amount I’d need to draw, and was ready to commit to what I thought was a desired fun feature with really cute art. I had no idea that this mechanic was not wanted, that it had been stated it would never be a feature on this site. And while I know it wasn’t my decision to make this happen, I am so sorry that money was spent on me creating those images. I am saddened that the feedback on this feature wasn’t respected and listened to. At one point, the AI art incident was brought up during a discussion with CJ, and that the NPCs were being revamped. I am strongly against AI art, and I offered to help fast track the revamps by working on some myself. This was turned down, and I was only to focus on the breeding images.

When it was made aware that Whixy was to sadly step down, I was surprised to be offered the position to take over. I probably triple checked that there definitely wasn’t another artist who had been there longer, who wanted to role, and was reassured no one was interested. I accepted the role, and was excited to be closer to the team and feel I was actively contributing more to current events and features. With access to the calendar and full trello, I could see how many events were planned, the artwork we needed, and that we were, in my eyes, quite behind schedule. I want to preface that this was in no part, Whixy or the previous and current artists fault. They are all amazing, and were doing the best with what they could. I expressed my concerns on how much we needed in a short time. I had offered that I could help get us ahead by working on some items, but I was reassured that we were doing fine and once again the breeding artwork was to be my focus. (Despite this claim, CJ then proceeded to assign/reassign tasks last minute to various artists, and I was informed after the decision was made. So I can only imagine what staff members like Ember, Whixy and Ermineleader would have been through during their time, so much respect from me there)

After realising how much CJ continued to mismanage the site and staff, and witnessing his public conduct in front of users on the discord server and beyond (just in the 2 months I was there), I knew I couldn’t align myself with him. I finally looked into this blog and read the staff letter+ the statement on toyhouse, and my heart was heavy. This, along with many long days/late nights dedicated to drawing for the site, and working on my new art director roles, my body and mind kind of gave up. I won’t go into detail, but it was a sign I had to leave. I know I chose to work as much as I did, but I’m a chronic people pleaser/overachiever (and I also needed the extra income).

The art team was not informed that I had left, and it took almost a week before I had the strength to come back and let them know. I still feel some guilt, like I let everyone down during an already rocky time. I’m so sorry I couldn’t help more.

I have my fears in talking openly about this, but I’d love to lift this weight off my shoulder and finally move on. I know my experience is a small fraction compared to what others have endured, but thanks for allowing me the space to share it. An emotional breakdown over a virtual petsite was not on my 2025 bingo card. I hope everyone left on staff, and those negatively affected by the site both past and current are doing okay.

💜 Keshi

☁️

[santae-salt]

Jitterbug here, stop trying to claim other people in here are me. I've never changed my tumblr account from last time. Only my blog name. I figured since you guys are itching for the truth, I can probably tell you my side of the story. Yes, I was made a "secret" admin. Unintentionally. It was never meant to be secret. CJ told me he'd let the others know and said Crumble was fine with me being an admin behind the scenes to keep an eye out on tickets since staff numbers were dwindling. Turns out he didn't tell anyone. That wasn't the plan. It wasn't meant to be secret. The admin account wasn't made for me. Crumble wanted an admin and mod account for the others so they could stay anonymous to give them peace of mind with security since during the time, CJs socials were being hacked and the other staff were worried about being targeted. Even Crumble didn't even know even though he said he'd been talking to her about it. She had no idea. Something we'd been trained on since the start was removed, an admin audit log. CJ removed it to hide stuff, which everyone picked up on. And when questioned, he told everyone we weren't supposed to ever see it. Even though we've had access to it since the start and were trained on it. So even though I was trying to help the others work through that period, they weren't even told. I just assumed they knew until I messaged Crumble about a glitch in the admin log that needed checking out, Crumble was confused. Informed me basically no one knew. I got upset, Crumble got upset, everyone didn't like that, everyone decided fuck it, that's the time we all leave. Because of the lies and lack of communication. And everyone was just done believing that anything would get better. It won't. I was stupid for being compliant for so long or believing I had a friend. I'm so done sticking up for him when he has thrown me under a bus so many times to save his ass. I was trying to be loyal. I never meant to hurt anyone here, I know it's a bit late (it really is) but there's so much more to this. And the apology on the news post? I was forced to do that. I was writing up another long apology before that, which I was told to just do something then and there because the news post goes out in 5 minutes. So my apology on the news post was made FOR that post by which my wording was changed anyway by him, even after I wrote something genuine and heartfelt and he made to look like a corporate shit show. And then he labelled it as drama, which it wasn't. It was a genuine fuck up on my part but turned into something it wasn't. I'm probably the biggest idiot in the history of Santae, and I regret being a part of it. The former staff really wanted what was best for you all. We'd gather feedback from salt blog and bring it up to CJ by which we'd be told it's his site. The amount of times he's talked shit about it and then decline any changes that we even felt were valuable, it was alot. I wanted to help because I thought I could help make things better and change his ways. I was disguised as a good friend but I was just another corporate punching bag. I believed alot of what he told me. I'm not even sure why. I didn't read the warning signs. I was told I was important for once. I'm no different from everyone else. I was influenced and told to do or say things that even I didn't believe in. Cloudmin, you do an awesome job with the salt blog. Keep up the good work. Everyone else? Keep fighting for what you believe in. I know many of you hate me, and it's fair. I deserved the hate. But I want as much the same thing as you do. I want to see staff get paid beyond the gofundme, it shouldn't be up to you to pay the artists, that's your own money you need for bills. I can't believe it's even come to that. And CJ needs to stop with the project and have over total reigns to someone else. To those I've hurt, I'm so sorry. I tunnel visioned hard. I don't ever expect forgiveness, fuck it, I just hope that everyone finds peace from this hell. If you have any questions, feel free to message me. I'll answer truthfully. Thanks.

☁️