A Destiny 2 player must pay almost $500,000 in damages to Bungie after being found guilty of targeted racial harassment towards a Bungie community manager that began in June 2022.
The results of the case were first shared by Kathryn Tewson, an individual who helped Bungie identify the source of the harassment.
According to released court documents, the defendant targeted an unnamed employee after they shared the work Detrick ‘Uhmaayyze’ Houchens, a Black creator, on social media. These attacks involved obtaining the community manager’s personal information, leading to the employee being called and left “hideous, bigoted” voicemails. The voicemails included requests for Bungie to “create options in its game in which only persons of color would be killed.”
The harassment would continue, per the employee, with racist texts and voicemails to the employee’s wife.
“[Defendant] spent hours that day carpet bombing the [employee] with racist text and voice messages,” the court documents state. “Not satisfied, he decided to show the employee that he knew where they lived and could assault them there.”
Because of the harassment and threats of violence, Bungie sought legal counsel for the employee and ultimately identified the culprit.
After being found guilty of the racial harassment charges against him, the Destiny 2 player has to pay $380,189.22 in damages as well as $25,000 in statutory damages, $83,806.30 in attorneys fees, and $200 in statutory attorneys fees. That brings the total damages to $489,195.52.
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