Evolve community manager fired over Sterling comments

Josh Olin, who we first got to know as the community manager at Treyarch for their Call of Duty titles (see with below where we talked to him about Call of Duty: World at War), has been fired from his most recent position as community manager for Turtle Rock Studios' {Evolve}.

Olin posted a few comments on his Twitter, where he said:

"Here's an unpopular opinion: Donald Sterling has the right as an American to be an old bigot in the security of his own home. He's a victim."

Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA team L.A. Clippers, was caught on tape lamenting his girlfriend for bringing "black people" along to the games. The NBA subsequently banned him for life, and work is in progress to force a sale of the franchise.

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who supports the decision to serve Sterling with a lifetime ban mirrored Olin's thoughts (via NY Daily News):

"Shouldn't we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media? Didn't we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen's privacy in such an un-American way?"

Clearly the subject is very controversial. But it should be kept in mind that Olin did expressively say he did not agree with nor condone Sterling's opinions.

"The irony of my Donald Sterling tweet(s) was I was raising an issue with sensational media. Expressly not defending his remarks or actions," Olin later commented on Twitter.

Either way, Turtle Rock issued the following statement, also on Twitter:

"The comments made by our former community manager stand in stark contrast to our values as a game development studio. We sincerely apologize for his remarks and in no way endorse or support those views."

Sadly, what we have here is yet more evidence of how explosive social media is. It's not really about what you mean to say - it's about how it's being perceived and while Olin may not have had any intention of supporting Sterling's outrageously racist remarks - that's how it was perceived by many. And this forced an action from 2K Games and Turtle Rock.