INTERVIEW: Local Woman Cancelled/Fired from Apex Company for "Transphobic" Twitter Activity

Last month, it was revealed that a local woman, who goes by Kara Lynne online, was fired by Apex company Limited Run Games after she was the target of a cancellation campaign by a trans activist for her twitter activity. The objectionable behavior highlighted in the cancellation attempt consisted of two rather mild trans-skeptical tweets, and the fact that she followed “transphobic” accounts. However, Limited Run Games didn’t wait even a whole day before letting Kara Lynne (and the public) know that she was terminated from her position as “community manager”:

Limited Run Games @LimitedRunGames

LRG respects all personal opinions, however we remain committed to supporting an inclusive culture. Upon investigating a situation, an employee was terminated. Our goal as a company is to continue to foster a positive and safe environment for everyone.

Although the story has been covered all the way from Tucker Carlson to the Daily Mail, I haven’t seen any coverage in local media. This week, after Kara Lynne put out a statement on the situation, I sat down with her virtually to ask a few questions about this local story. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

This Week in the Triangle: Were you given a specific reason by your bosses when they gave you that call to terminate your employment?

Kara Lynne: I really don't think it was like a specific reason. I think it was more along the lines of the negative publicity that the tweets that were being directed at the company were getting.

TWitT: Can you explain a little about the Limited Run Games business and your role was as a community manager?

KL: Limited Run Games is a video game publisher that focuses on creating physical products; so games that are typically digitally released only, or older retro games, bringing them to physical form, like in disc or cartridge form, and sometimes even creating collector's editions and such.

My role there was the community manager, so I oversaw the social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and the discussion forums like Discord and Reddit, I handled the live streams on Twitch...

TWitT: Were any of the comments at issue made on the company's accounts?

KL: No, I was always very professional when speaking or doing replies from the social accounts like Twitter, Facebook, and even in the Discord. That kind of stuff, I was always trying to be a professional.

TWitT: As someone who has been the target of a cancellation campaign, how should companies handle situations like this?

KL: I feel like it's a lose-lose situation for companies that are put in that kind of ordeal. Either way; you have the very loud minority that is going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing, and then whenever they do finally cave into it, then you have the silent majority that are just like, "Hey, that isn't cool." They come out of the woodworks and share their support.

So honestly, I feel like if they would have either just ignored it, or just made a statement saying that I wasn't going to be the community manager anymore, I think that would have probably solved the issue. I was actually stepping down as community manager already.

TWitT: You've noted that since NC is a right-to-work state, you have no legal recourse. Do you believe their should be legal protection for an employee's political views?

KL: I believe so, yes. I think that is important, because not everybody is going to have the same same personal opinions. If you aren't going through and spouting that on the main page of social media, I don't think that should be something that should be dictated by the public.

I don't think the public should have as much power in an HR situation as they do, and I think there should be some protection against that.

TWitT: Your story has been covered widely, all the way from Tucker Carlson to the Daily Mail in the UK. Are there any inaccuracies in the coverage that you could correct?

KL: The main thing I think I've really seen is that there are some people who are saying that I got fired for liking Harry Potter, which isn't correct. I believe that the person who started the witch hunt saw a recent tweet of mine being excited for it, and then kind of did a deep dive from there. I think that's the main thing that I've seen that's been incorrect.

TWitT: Do you have any future plans or projects you'd like to share?

KL: Right now I'm just kind of going with the flow. I'll probably get back into content creation on my Twitch channel here within the next few weeks. If you want to go follow me on Twitter, I'll make sure to share any fun projects or any future endeavors there.

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This Week’s Highlighted Stories

• VP Harris visits Raleigh for a forum on small & Hispanic-owned businesses (N&O, WRAL)

• 2 men killed in Durham mass shooting (ABC11, N&O, WRAL)

• Duke Human Vaccine Institute receives $11M grant to manufacture “pan-Coronavirus” vaccine (ABC11)

• Amid housing shortage, Wake County introduces incentives to preserve farmland (WUNC)

• Durham deputies failing to serve protective orders (9th St Journal)