General manager of Microsoft Studios, Shannon Loftis, has always been outspoken, but especially so on the social media service Twitter. Recently the GM of Microsoft Studios engaged in a heated exchange with another Twitter that spawned from a thread started by NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch.
The conversation started off after Loesch responded to someone asking for a ban on military-style weapons. Fred Guttenberg, one of the parents of the victims of the Parkland shooting, jumped into the thread to reproach Loesch. Then a guy going by the handle of Hunter responded to Guttenberg with the following tweet.
That equates to 3 rounds a minute.. I do better with a single shot rifle..
— HUNTER🤟🏻🔥 (@hunter_dhunterb) May 31, 2019
And then on May 31st, 2019 Shannon Loftis – after lurking the thread – leaped in to claim that she (and her followers) reported Hunter for his tweet.
[Update: Loftis has removed the tweets but multiple archives are still available of the original exchange]
Reported. You are sick.
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) May 31, 2019
This elicited a response from user Emme Olivera, who checked Loftis on attempting to get Hunter’s account banned for simply replying to Guttenberg with stats. Loftis replied telling Emme to “shut up”.
Shut up, Emme. It wasn’t math in this context, it was a vicious taunt to a man that lost his daughter to exactly this weapon. Be a human being for one second.
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) June 1, 2019
Loftis then told Emme to re-read Guttenberg’s tweet and then comment, or “shut up”. Emme calmly retorted, which resulted in Loftis becoming more incensed, eventually insulting Emme, calling her “obtuse” and later engaging in fat shaming by saying that her words will bite her on her “fat ass” some day.
Really, the only words you should be saying right now are “I am sorry” to all the parents of Parkland students.
Save your so-called questions for a thread on a day when the entire nation isn’t mourning yet another fucking mass murder by someone who should never have had a gun.
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) June 1, 2019
You’re being an obtuse ass.
That hunter bastard literally said he could have slaughtered the children of Parkland faster.
You might have run toward Parkland but you didn’t. So, shut up, Emme.
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) June 1, 2019
Your casual cruelty *will* bite you in your fat ass some day.
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) June 1, 2019
This isn’t the first time that Loftis has been caught using her social media account to engage in polemics. Previously she helped pressure THQ into deleting their tweets about having an AMA on 8chan.
Loftis was also monitoring Tim Soret’s tweets during his E3 2017 presence, where Soret originally made some comments that angered SJWs. Loftis chimed in on Soret’s Twitter thread, but didn’t say much. Later on publisher Raw Fury had Soret apologize for his statements. Two years later his project was in dire straits and in desperate need of funding.
There definitely seems to be a pattern cropping up with Loftis wanting to suppress certain ideas or behavior that the Microsoft Studios GM doesn’t like. Many of those ideas fall on the Far-Left ideological side of the scale, as evident with Loftis wanting guns banned and also helping Microsoft bolster their virtue signaling for Pride.
Celebrate #Pride with us! https://t.co/AwcIz5CtaN
— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) May 31, 2019
But the real irony is that just before berating Emme and calling her a “fat ass”, Loftis had tweeted out that she would be putting on her best behavior for E3 season, and that she would be “behaving” while on Twitter just weeks before Microsoft rolls out their upcoming line-up of software for Xbox and PC.
It’s the time of year when I have to try real hard to behave well on twitter.
Can’t wait for E3!!! #XboxE3 https://t.co/ls3FRgUbQm— Shannon Loftis (@shannonloftis) May 30, 2019
Not everyone was a fan of the way the general manager of Microsoft Studios handled the interaction with someone who had diametrically opposed views to her. Some Xbox fans alerted us about the issue after reaching out, sending over the archives of the tweets. Dancing in the pit of social media polemics can definitely rub some people the wrong way, especially when you represent a major, global brand that reaches people all over the world.
In some ways this little blow-up from Loftis doesn’t seem entirely far-fetched when you look at her past pattern of behavior. The scary part, however, is if this attitude carries over into how she handles studios and content curation at Microsoft. If there isn’t some sort of filter on allowing personal politics to dictate the way the business operates, then I can very easily see why certain franchises have turned out the way they have.
(Thanks for the news tip Mike121212)
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