“Five Nights At Freddy’s” video game designer Scott Cawthon released a statement on the FNAF subreddit on Saturday that addressed the Twitter outrage generated by the revelation that he is a Christian Republican who gave money to several political causes.
Cawthon revealed that he had been doxed, and had received messages of of people threatening to come to his house while his wife was six weeks pregnant, but made clear that he would not be bullied into submission or apology by his antagonizers.
As National File previously reported, left-wing Twitter melted down after invasive records of Cawthon’s political donations were leaked online, despite the fact that Cawthon has an impeccable reputation in the FNAF community of being a considerate and charitable game developer.
After explaining his reasons for donating to various political candidates, including Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, Cawthon noted, “All of this explanation, I fear, is wasted, as people don’t want to discuss with one another anymore; they want endless apologies and submission. People who are expecting those from me will get neither.” Cawthon’s full statement on the FNAF subreddit can be read below.
This message isn’t specifically directly at the Freddit community; this is just the community that I care about the most and where I choose to post these things. I never cared much for Twitter anyway.
To say that the last few days have been surreal would be an understatement. I’ve debated greatly how best to address this, including not addressing it at all, but with so many people from the LGBT community in the fanbase that I love, that’s not an option. I’d like to think that the last seven years would have given me the benefit of the doubt in regards to how I try to treat people, but there I was, trending on twitter for being a homophobe, getting doxed, with people threatening to come to my house. My wife is six weeks pregnant and she spent last night in fear because of what was being said online. She has already been struggling with her pregnancy so seeing her so afraid really scared me. All this because I exercised my right, and my duty, as an American citizen, to vote for and support the candidates who I felt could best run the country, for everyone, and that’s something that I won’t apologize for.
For those who took the time to look, you saw that the candidates I supported included men, women, white people, black people, republicans, and democrats. I supported Kimberly Klacik in Baltimore because I believed that she really cared for the African American community there and wanted to pull them out of poverty. I believed she could have really make a difference in a time when so many black communities were struggling. She lost, unfortunately. I supported Tulsi Gabbard, a democrat, even though I disagreed with her on several issues, because I felt she would have been a good and fair president. And yes, I supported President Trump, because I felt he was the best man to fuel a strong economy and stand up to America’s enemies abroad, of which there are many. Even if there were candidates who had better things to say to the LGBT community directly, and bigger promises to make, I believed that their stances on other issues would have ended up doing much greater harm to those communities than good. All of this explanation, I fear, is wasted, as people don’t want to discuss with one another anymore; they want endless apologies and submission. People who are expecting those from me will get neither.
I’ve always been supportive of creators, and have tried to treat everyone fairly, and treat everyone with dignity and respect. I’ve never cared about anyone’s race, religion, gender, or orientation. I just treat people as people, everyone the same, and because of that, I’ve ended up with a very diverse group of people that I’ve worked with over the years. It wasn’t intentional. It just happened that way. I choose people who are best for the job; I treat everyone the same, and I ended up with people from all walks of life in my professional life and my personal life as well. That’s the way it should be. That’s the way I want it to be. That’s the way I will continue to be.
I’m a republican. I’m a Christian. I’m pro-life. I believe in God. I also believe in equality, and in science, and in common sense. Despite what some may say, all of those things can go together. That’s not an apology or promise to change, it’s the way it’s always been.
If I get cancelled, then I get cancelled. I don’t do this for the money anymore; I do it because I enjoy it. If people think I’m doing more harm than good now, then maybe it’s better that I get cancelled and retire. I would accept that. I’ve had a fulfilling career. Besides, most things that people can take from you are things that never had much value to begin with.
I have always loved, and will continue to love, this community and this fanbase, even if someday it doesn’t include me anymore.