Former Rooster Teeth employee Kdin Jenzen has shared allegations of subpar working conditions, poor pay, and transphobic behavior, beginning all the way back in 2013.
Founded in 2003, Rooster Teeth rose to prominence in the early 00s with their Red vs. Blue web series. They would go on to amass over a total of 37 million subscribers across several YouTube channels.
Last year, predatory allegations were levied against former Rooster Teeth personality Ryan Haywood, resulting in a Twitch ban during an attempted comeback.
Now, further allegations of misconduct, transphobic behavior, and abhorrent work conditions have come to light from ex-employee Kdin Jenzen.
Rooster Teeth’s Kdin Jenzen details transphobic behavior and more across a decade
Kdin Jenzen, an ex-employee of Rooster Teeth, shared their story of a decade’s worth of misconduct while working for the Warner Brothers subsidiary. In a Twitlonger post, Jenzen explained that “from February 2013 until November 2013, I went entirely unpaid for all of my contract work. I was never given the payment promised for anything I did.”
“Within a few weeks of working at Rooster Teeth I was given a nickname, that nickname was a slur. Every day I came into work I was called “F*gg*t” – but they could not use that name in content so when anyone was recording I was called “Fugz” instead,” continues Jenzen.
In 2016, the nickname was dropped after Jenzen came out as Trans which then incited further “transphobia harassment.”
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Jenzen detailed that the company would enforce “15 hr work days” and became so isolated in their workload that “people even IN the company forgot I worked.”
Purportedly, Rooster Teeth did not “properly support medical insurance coverage” and was “forced to move to LA or get laid off. RT never paid moving costs. COVID forced remote jobs thus SAVING my job.”
For the “2021 Anniversary Stream Event” Jenzen had “LIFE SAVING surgery, majority work stolen by coworker and blamed production failures on me during MEDICAL LEAVE.”
Efforts to raise awareness for the LGBT community were pushed aside, as Jenzen alleges that the company stated “we’ve done enough for the queer community.”
“I still struggle regularly with the emotional, mental, physical, and financial damage that was done to me over those years. There are good people still working there, I’m friends with them, and I wish them the best,” Jenzen added.
Warner Brothers and Rooster Teeth respectively have yet to officially address the recent allegations.
