Split seems a long time coming
Kinda Funny co-founder Colin Moriarty announced his resignation today, “effective immediately,” in a Facebook post. This comes shortly after last week’s controversy when he tweeted a flippant, asshole-dad-level joke on International Women’s Day, using the “#ADayWithoutWomen” hashtag, which refers to the planned women’s strike meant to coincide with the global day of celebration, which actually has its origins as a socialist invention celebrating working-class women and the fight against capitalism.
Ah. Peace and quiet.#ADayWithoutAWoman
— Colin Moriarty (@notaxation) March 8, 2017
While a lot of people who share Moriarty’s particular sense of humor enjoyed the joke, many did not. Moriarty initially explained the joke was fine because his girlfriend thought it was funny, contrary to all the “humorless sacks of shit” who either thought it was 1) not funny, 2) mean-spirited with latent sexism, or 3) both. These “sacks of shit” included current and former colleagues from Kinda Funny and IGN, where Moriarty was a longtime writer before breaking away with Greg Miller and company to start Kinda Funny in 2015.
@itsrobbotic @notaxation @GameOverGreggy These are absolutely not the fans I want.
— Tim Gettys (@TimGettys) March 8, 2017
@notaxation Is this really the person you want to be?
— Justin Davis (@ErrorJustin) March 8, 2017
@notaxation The irony of this tweet is that not only do you work with no women, you work with some of the loudest men on earth.
— Brian Altano (@agentbizzle) March 8, 2017
Among the “sacks of shit” might also be Miller himself, though it’s impossible to tell if he thought the joke was unfunny or was just doing damage control when he issued a lengthy statement in a “sorry my teen son blew up your mailbox with firecrackers” tone.
About @notaxation‘s Tweet… pic.twitter.com/Tx5aDIdB7S
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) March 9, 2017
As Miller points out in the statement, it was on that day Moriarty chose, against Miller’s wishes, to not fly out to PAX East with the rest of the group. Moriarty, who manic TV personality Glenn Beck described as “Gamer, libertarian, conservative. Very smart,” tweeted once more after Miller tried to apologize on his behalf.
— Colin Moriarty (@notaxation) March 9, 2017
The Moultrie flag was flown in the American Revolution as the eventual USA divorced itself from Great Britain. According to the colonel who commissioned it, it “was the first American Flag displayed in the South,” and an inspiration for South Carolina’s state flag. Moriarty is also known for his Gadsen flag (or “snake flag” or “pwease no steppy” flag) Twitter avatar signalling his “libertarian, conservative” views that seem to have, increasingly, not aligned with the rest of the Kinda Funny crew.
“We’re super sad,” Miller said in a Kinda Funny stream. “We had a long conversation today. The long and short of it is, we’ve been moving in two directions for a long time. There’s no hurt feelings; we’re not mad at him, he’s not mad at us. We’re just going in two completely opposite directions in terms of what we want to do and that’s OK.”
Miller went on to note that Moriarty’s resignation “is not because of” the “tweet and the whole exchange last week,” but, “that is a symptom, if not the most public expression, that there was something happening in terms of us growing apart.”
In his Facebook explanation, Moriarty was adamant that, “that this was my decision,” explaining, “I simply want to reconnect with what’s most important to me. Politics, history, philosophy. Reading books.” Moriarty, who appeared on Glenn Beck’s radio show this morning, noted that, “opportunities are already popping up for me, bringing me in a new, different, and exciting direction, a direction that I feel makes perfect sense for me.” Perhaps Breitbart needs a new Tech Editor after forcing previous editor Milo Yiannopoulos to resign over his endorsement of pedophilia.
