Video game developer and ex-CEO of Tripwire Interactive John Gibson opened up about being silenced and ousted by his own company for tweeting out that he was pro-life and supported the Texas Heartbeat Act on Fox Nation’s “Tucker Carlson Today.”
“Words can hardly convey how crushed I was,” he told Tucker Carlson.
On September 1, 2021, the Texas Heartbeat Act (Senate Bill 8) went into effect. The law not only bans abortions at the point when a fetal heartbeat is found – generally around six weeks of pregnancy – but it also allows anyone to file lawsuits against doctors preforming abortions or those assisting women in receiving abortions.
A few days later, Gibson tweeted his approval of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affirming the Texas law.
Shipwright Studios, a gaming co-development company that worked with Tripwire for over 3 years, was critical of his announcement and replied to his tweet stating, “We cannot in good conscience continue to work with Tripwire under the current leadership structure.” Shipwright also claimed they would begin the process of terminating their contracts with the video game developing company “effective immediately.”
Gibson received criticism from his co-workers after publicly stating his support of the Texas law. Tripwire announced on their website that Gibson would no longer be CEO and that his statement does not reflect the values of the company. They appointed Alan Wilson to Interim CEO, just days after Gibson’s tweet.
The former CEO explained “social terrorism” is what he experienced from his peers. He described it as “an effort to use fear and intimidation to cause people to change – either hide or pretend that they’re not what they are really, so that they can keep their jobs and keep their status.”
Although others in the company took a similar stance to Gibson on abortion, only one woman, who Gibson described as being “fairly senior,” openly opposed how other employees of the company were treating him. His female co-worker, however, didn’t stand a chance since there were a vast majority of employees who held contrary views of abortion.
“They’re afraid to speak up. They don’t want to be next,” he said. “I had one of the other owners of the company — politically we’re very, very aligned. He thinks cancel culture is bad. He thinks abortion is bad. And he said, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to be canceled next.’”
McKayla Wolff left and Karen Wolff, joined hands as they rallied for abortion rights at the capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday July 17, 2022. (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
(Jerry Holt/Star Tribune)
The ex-CEO informed “Tucker Carlson Today” that he had a hard time coping after spending over 20 years working alongside others in the company he founded and loved and making not only the public happy, but also his employees.
Gibson revealed to Tucker Carlson what he told his wife: “I just want to die because I don’t want to live… I don’t want to live in a world that’s this unjust.”
He further explained the negative impact the outcome had on him after he left Tripwire.
“I got depressed. I got, of course, angry, suicidal, not wanting to leave the house,” Gibson said. “It destroyed me, and I have lived through 13 months of hell.”
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