Posted in: Comics | Tagged: amelia thompson, shon bury, space goat

Space Goat Founder Shon Bury Accused Of Sexism And Abusive Behavior

Space Goat Productions is the publisher of Evil Dead 2 comics as well as several creator owned, crowdfunded series, amongst other services. Founder and president Shon Bury is the subject of a Twitter thread by former employee Amelia Thompson, who started at Space Goat in 2016 and is still listed as Community Manager on the company's website, alleging that Bury treated Thompson and co-workers "terribly," including through what she describes as "aggressive jokes" and saying "violent and disgusting" things.

Thompson asked for others to share her Twitter thread, which you can read below:

Not only are people sharing the thread, but it seems to be having a ripple effect amongst others associated with the publisher, including Cal Moray, one half of the creative team of Moonlighters, another series previously published by Space Goat, who added claims of late payments to the mix:

The other half of Moonlighters' creative team, writer Katie Schenkel, also chimed in, boosting Thompson's thread:

The creative team of Monster Elementary, another comic Space Goat has published, also supported Thompson and echoed Moray's comments about allegedly late (and sometimes allegedly nonexistent) payments.

As for Space Goat, the company's Twitter account responded apologetically:

Though a deleted Tweet from a day earlier shows a different approach:

Reached for additional comment, Thompson told Bleeding Cool:

There are two things I want people to know.

The first, I have the full support of both of my past Space Goat supervisors. They helped me edit every tweet for grammar and clarity. My ex-coworkers have been immensely supportive through all of this, two even resigning after I collected my things on Monday, Nov. 27. They expressed that the way I was treated after my resignation was unacceptable.

The second, I'm taking some time to recover and handle this media explosion while out of a job. If supporters wanted to aid me beyond just retweets, my paypal is on my twitter. I'm worried about making bills the next couple months but I just couldn't let my friends or myself be hurt any longer.

We've reached out to Space Goat for comment, and received the following statement from Shon Bury:

I can't apologize enough for this entire situation. I deeply regret that I fostered an environment where a smart person like Amelia felt uncomfortable working under my direct management–and that she felt even less comfortable bringing up her concerns until she resigned. It has been my design since I opened the doors at Space Goat 12 years ago to create a workplace where smart, talented, young people can come to work and learn the craft of comic books. Amelia is exactly the type of capable young employee publishers should be looking to bring into their organization and to build up. I had thought I had created that environment for my staff, but the daily stress of running a graphic-novel and board-game publishing company at the tempo we have been running became visible to all around me over the last several months. This isn't on anyone else in my organization but me. This is squarely, 100% on me.

My inability to regulate my frustration during this period poisoned the very environment I had set out to create. I behaved poorly and I failed miserably at one of the core tenets of why I even want to be in business. I will always deeply regret losing Amelia, and am ashamed of how poorly I handled her resignation. I am taking immediate action to resolve this flaw within myself starting today with counseling and anger-management classes. Nothing is more important to me than the culture and community we are trying to create. I won't let anyone stand in the way of achieving those goals. Not even myself.

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