Update: More and more allegations are coming out daily against Ryan Haywood. There are so many that people have had to start compiling them together. These are some harrowing and disgusting recountings of a serial predator. Ryan issued another response condemning the harassment of his family, but only further incensed the hatred against himself.
Original Article:
Two prominent hosts for Funhaus and Achievement Hunter, brands within gaming and animation company Rooster Teeth, have been fired from the company. Rooster Teeth staff Adam Kovic and Ryan Haywood have both left the company after both had inappropriate photos leaked online, which led to serious claims against them both. The company announced they had parted ways with Haywood and Kovic in a post on Twitter, attempting to deal with the situation.
Photographs of both Haywood and Adam Kovic were leaked to 4chan, leading to the first allegations against the two. The original post has been disputed, as it alleged both men had been grooming fans and engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct. The allegations appear not to bear any merit against Kovic in that regard. But there are still serious problems here.
Kovic was apparently “catfished”, meaning that he had been tricked into sending many explicit photos to someone pretending to be someone else. Haywood also suffered the same scam. The photos of Kovic included him engaging in sexual acts at the Funhaus offices, where he worked. It’s likely that this conduct was the crux for his firing. It’s also alleged that Kovic shared photos of his wife without consent, although this is unconfirmed.
In a (now locked) Twitter post Kovic stated he’d been the victim of “an unbelievable breach of privacy.” He also apologized for his behavior and to his wife.
Ryan Haywood suffers the more serious allegations of the pair. Haywood has now been accused by multiple fans of Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter of sexual misconduct involving female fans, including multiple accounts of sexual acts with underage fans. There have now been multiple fans who came forward with evidence—including inappropriate messages and photos—to prove their claims.
The first of these allegations came out earlier this week when Tessa Graves alleged that she had been seduced by Haywood into exchanging sexual images and messages. Haywood was also apparently ignorant of her age at the time when she was in fact 17, Graves had lied to Haywood and said she was 18. This was just the first of multiple allegations against Haywood. Haywood would have been 36 at the time of his encounter with Graves.
Another group of fans has since come out against Haywood, alleging a pattern of targeted exploitation and abuse from the former online personality. Some claims included messages and photos being solicited by Haywood.
The lid was blown off the controversy entirely when another fan stepped forward with similar claims. Ryan Haywood had asserted in a Twitter response that “I do want to say emphatically that I never did anything illegal. ” That response has now been widely criticized as new allegations have come out. Haywood also revealed that his wife and children had been threatened and harassed, which is absolutely terrible, and only makes things worse.
Another fan came forward alleging that she was 17 when Haywood began messaging her. Her full video can be seen here. Fair warning, that video contains messages from Haywood with very clear sexual intent, steer clear if that’s not something you want to be exposed to.
And just to pour salt in the wound, it looks like Haywood has a long list of victims. Another fan has come forward with allegations that clearly show gaslighting and other manipulation tactics in practice. Ryan Haywood is looking more and more monstrous as these pile on. This allegation includes screenshots and photos of the two together. The messages shown include tons of gaslighting, so steer clear if you’re sensitive to that.
As of now, both men have effectively left the internet. Fan reaction has been understandably outraged, although some fans were more sympathetic to Kovic given that his problems appear to not involve behavior as serious and disgusting as that of Haywood. The future of these two is pretty uncertain, but it’s pretty clear that Rooster Teeth is going to have to clean up after their mess, and the fans and staff impacted by these actions will need time to heal.
