>DC Entertainment has addressed harassment issues at the company, following multiple incidents that have recently become public. In a statement released to CBR, the company expresses that it takes allegations of discrimination and harassment "very seriously," and that expanding employee training on the topics is planned, along with the review of existing policies. This follows an all-staff meeting on Friday afternoon led by DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson.
>DC Entertainment's statement follows in full:
>>DC Entertainment strives to foster a culture of inclusion, fairness and respect. While we cannot comment on specific personnel matters, DC takes allegations of discrimination and harassment very seriously, promptly investigates reports of misconduct and disciplines those who violate our standards and policies.
>>As part of our ongoing effort to provide an equitable working environment, we are reviewing our policies, expanding employee training on the topic and working with internal and external resources to ensure that these policies and procedures are respected and reinforced across the company.
Nah, nothing will happen. It just an PR piece. It'd be cool if Berganza is gone
Owen Cook
never cared about the situation, but that is just a puff piece. They literally don't mention any changes happening, it's just PR to calm down tumblr.
Justin Hill
BErganza's already being taken off projects. Pic related
John Scott
Once you get past the PR speak this basically says that they're not doing anything but if something happens in the future maybe punishment will be harsher than it was before (which, if you believe the rumors, is private sensitivity training and internal demotions).
Joshua Gonzalez
More than likely Berganza and whoever the other dude was, will be demoted out of the way and possibly pressured into leaving with full severance packages.
It's not easy to fire someone who's been with a company for 20 years.
William Evans
Was Berganza previously the editor for Earth-2?
Cameron Evans
What's the whole story with this?
Logan Peterson
He's already gotten demoted once so that's not looking too good on DC's part.
Joseph Davis
Eddie Berganza is known to harass female employees, got called on his shit multiple times. DC is attempting to make it looks like they're doing something about it without actually firing him
Adam Cox
Eddie Berganza has a well known past of sexual harassment and has been disciplined and demoted for it in the past.
When Shelly Bond's position was eliminated, people started asking why it was fine for a veteran and well-respected member of the company to be canned, and not Berganza who in addition to being a creep, is also single-handedly responsible for some of the worst abortions DC has ever put out.
Whether or not you agree with the leap in logic, Berganza SHOULD be shit canned for the fact that he's a garbage editor and a reportedly shitty individual.
Grayson Barnes
That might just be general editorial juggling due to Rebirth coming up. Like we know WW is under Doyle. That's not necessarily him being removed from things immediately.
Noting really new. There's a lot of stories about Berganza in general and there was some public outcry about it recently after DC fired a good editor (one of the Vertigo people) and people pointed out that they're letting go of talent but Berganza is still around.
Colton Rivera
"We're gonna do jack shit about Berganza, but there will be CLASSES please don't hate us"
Juan Gutierrez
It is telling that the only noteworthy stories where Berganza is credited as any kind of editor are those written by creators that basically do not get edited like normal ones. And I guess Sinestro too but I consider that a cosmic fluke all around.
Ryan King
>but Berganza is still around. I wonder what kind of pulls and leverages does he have.
Isaiah Cruz
He was, but he was off before Shelly Bond was fired (and thus, before the whole "Berganza is a creep" thing reignited).
E2 Society #10 was the last one he was the group editor for. #11 came out on April 13.
Bond wasn't fired (or, at least, it didn't become public) until April 20.
Jordan Moore
Are there still zero formal accusations made?
Michael Nelson
If Berganza is fired, they will probably do so quietly and leak it through like Rich Johnston.
It's worth noting that California is not a right to work state, so just rolling up to Berganza and saying "You're fired." is not that simple. He was disciplined in the past and went through the company's HR guidelines to retain his job, so he can't be fired for it at this stage.
Daniel Gonzalez
Seen rumors Rucka made a deal to not work with Berganza
Nathan Perez
What do you consider formal? Supposedly DC has just been handling it privately and there has been legitimate paperwork done and some lawsuit stuff too. I would consider that formal even if it's not publicly accessible.
Brandon Cruz
The accusations were made in-company and handled by DC's human resources wing. There is literally zero doubt that he didn't do it, because he did and no one involved, including Berganza, is saying he didn't.
Evan Ross
I don't know how it works in murica, but I suppose formal is when you or a lawyers has actually talked to the authorities.
Brandon Cruz
His books make money so quality is irrelevant.
Ryan Flores
But you don't have proof that he did anything only hearsay
John Morales
They really don't.
The Superman line has been under performing quite dramatically. Books like Cry for Justice COULD have been sales successes, they had tons of hype leading into it, but they ended up being pretty tepid. Not at all worth the internal embarrassment and stained reputation that came alongside it.
Nolan Brooks
Why don't they just fire him?
Wyatt Ross
It really depends. There are some employment contracts where you sign away the right to independently sue or seek true outside help beyond mediation. We don't know how DC's contracts work. And often in settlements there's NDAs and shit.
I think generally most people would only escalate to the public sphere if the company itself has done something illegal.
Aiden Thomas
He's innocent
Bentley Young
He's the guy in charge of the Superman line? In that case, that's false, for 4-5 months in a row, the first Superman title in the sales chart was at #47.
Batman makes money, Superman sort of coasts by.
Chase Green
see >It's worth noting that California is not a right to work state, so just rolling up to Berganza and saying "You're fired." is not that simple. He was disciplined in the past and went through the company's HR guidelines to retain his job, so he can't be fired for it at this stage.
He should be fired based on output at this point.
Justin Fisher
Everything's been underperforming.
Brayden Bennett
He did it, my dude.
Colton Harris
Get off Sup Forums, Ed's mom.
Blake Gutierrez
Thanks omnipresent god, you always have my back.
Owen Wilson
Batman line does just fine.
Berganza hasn't overseen a sales success since Johns' Green Lantern, and it's pretty much the only reason he still has his career.
Jace Sanchez
No arguments and no proof
Charles Cook
We need to get Doyle to save the Superbooks like he's saving WW
Leo Martin
I bet you defend Woody Allen too.
Carter Cook
Because it's Batman. And if Berganza has to be fired for an underperforming Superman line, then everyone that's not Batman and Superman should also be cleared out.
Kayden Walker
Could it also be because the allegations are a little older and they decided to handle them in-house back then, instead of letting him go? In the sense of, they should've fired him THEN, but since they didn't, they can't do it belatedly no matter how mad people get? Though I suppose if they really wanted to, they could let him go for some other reason.
Charles Clark
>Doyle will never edit everything ;_;
Get rid of Harras too and make Doyle EIC
Noah Reyes
I think the better question is what reason does DC have to keep Berganza? When was his last big sales success? Everything he's edited since Blackest Night has hugely under performed and has been hated by fans.
Charles Cruz
Who did he rape?
Juan Gray
I'd be fine with that. Only Doyle and Khouri seem to have good books.
Xavier Evans
>Interested something will actually happen, berganza still works there... Berganza hasn't harassed anyone in years, he came out of the closet as a really troubled gay guy and apparently his harassing women was some overdrawn attempt to seem masculine
William Jenkins
I thought it was the Dark Horse rapist who was gay?
These rumors are hard to keep up with
Jeremiah Rivera
The vast majority of employees are mediocre and Berganza is one of these.
Cooper Cook
Berganza isn't rumored to be gay
But yes the DArk Horse editor is the one who groped dudes
Gabriel Howard
The vast majority of employees aren't Group Editors that should have the most fingers pointed at them for why books aren't selling.
Isaiah Adams
Why did DC let Idelson go? Did he just not want to move to California?
Jason Bailey
I liked Truth before it became a boring Superman vs Vandal Savage crossover and I imagine it ended that way because the fans were all "not muh Supes" so...
Eli Martinez
Man I love many of their books, but DC's PR department is all sorts of terrible.
Evan Mitchell
>Berganza isn't rumored to be gay He is gay.
Blake Richardson
Why hasn't DC gotten rid of Berganza? Does he have something on them? Other companies have fired more important people for less serious transgressions.
Brody Campbell
>Could it also be because the allegations are a little older and they decided to handle them in-house back then, instead of letting him go? In the sense of, they should've fired him THEN, but since they didn't, they can't do it belatedly no matter how mad people get?
DC's HR recommended he be demoted and retrained rather than fired, firing him after this for the same incident would be illegal in California. He has to be fired for something else. More than likely, DC will just pressure him into leaving, and Berganza will probably do so since he'll likely become a pariah in the industry and in the offices.
Dominic Ward
>It's not easy to fire someone who's been with a company for 20 years. But they got rid of Bond and she's been at DC for over 20 years
Connor Sanchez
No company wants to give in to every little bit of social media pressure, it might set a precedent.
Xavier Jackson
That was more of a layoff than a firing.
Logan Rivera
They had to literally restructure the entire company and eliminate her position in order to fire her. That's not something you just do to get rid of one person.
Benjamin Perez
>he'll likely become a pariah in the industry and in the offices.
Not likely. Look at Scott Allie. Berganza'll be alright as long as he has his connections to people like Johns and Loeb.
Owen Green
Who's Berganza and what the fuck happened?
Luke Hall
bob HARRassment
Chase Foster
Doyle is almost assuredly going to be EIC. DC had to have made him a sweet deal to convince him to move to Burbank after he had already said no.
Parker Campbell
see He's a group editor
Austin Martin
Berganza predates Johns though
Ryder Stewart
The latter
Blake Murphy
Afaik, you literally cannot sign away your rights to report a FELONY.
Austin White
So is there any auctual evidence of any of these people auctualy doing anything
Christian Allen
Internally yes but it's all sealed
Carter Bell
Is he really gay? If that's true it's obvious why nothing's happening.
Hunter Bennett
Nothings going to come from this, the same way nothing came from Scott Allie's accusation. Until you start seeing creators showing solidarity towards one another publicly and making statements to that efect on this issue, its all just smoke.
Ian Phillips
And then there was the Wondercon incident a few years ago which probably led to his demotion back then...
Liam Garcia
I could at least partially understand keeping Berganza on a few books. But -- and this is especially true sales-wise -- there's no reason he should be a group or executive editor. It's honestly unclear why he's STILL so powerful in DC, where his name appears in such a large number of titles.
It seems obvious that DC is afraid of touching him. I imagine that his move from executive to group editor was the most they could do before he threatened to sue or drag the company through dirt.
I mean, sure, there's the fact that he went through HR. There's the fact that, just by how many books he edits, he's still about to have some of the best selling DC books (which doesn't mean much: the 10th best selling DC book on a given month might be 45th overall).
But DC is backed by WB, and even if DC is considered the annoying/ugly child company, they can still afford good attorneys to fuck Berganza in the ass if they want to.
He must have something BIG on some powerful players.
Mason Richardson
How do you know they have evidence?
Ryder Nelson
There was at least one public incident as mentions with witnesses
Colton Scott
Boys will be boys.
Josiah Cooper
Can we send Scott Allie your way then?
Carter Sullivan
I'm really, really wondering about this at this point.
Daniel Ross
Who are the witnesses? What did they see?
Jace Hughes
Didn't a bunch of Dark Horse employees rally behind Scott? Sounds like he's a likeable guy who made some mistakes.
Nicholas Williams
Berganza kissed and groped a freelancer's girlfriend at Wondercon 2012
Matthew Sanders
Do you really need to be spoonfed this badly? He pushed himself up on some girl dating another DC person and there were a bunch of people there who saw him acting like a fool. This was the specific reason why he was demoted to group editor.
Jace Wilson
No, quite the opposite. The editors banded together against Allie but upper management wouldn't fire him. All he got was a demotion and a bunch of the editors who forced him out of the e-i-c spot were forced to resign.
I guess he's hoping this is just some kind of conspiracy and people blindly believing things without evidence despite the fact that it's not news and has been commonly known before this SJW stuff started in recent years.
Anthony Hall
Mysogynist Sup Forums poster probably
Cameron Hill
You can't prove the most basic shit but you keep making these threads and attacking people with rumors this mattress girl type stuff just annoys me
Ryan Davis
Seriously, Berganza being a total creep has been a poorly kept secret for like the better part of a decade.
Jack Ortiz
Some girl dating another DC person you don't even have names and you want to fire a guy
Justin Scott
Oh so you want every single woman he has harassed over the years to publicly identify themselves instead of letting them and the situation be handled privately by the company and HR. Even the freelancers who can get not hired by anyone else as a result.
Austin Mitchell
The name is probably ot there if you care enough to find it but I don't really.
I want him fired because he's a bad editor. I don't really care about the rest but I at least know the gist of rumors like that. You came in here with apparently zero knowledge at all but for some reason it seems like you have a strong opinion about his guilt and I'm not sure why.
Benjamin Cox
You keep saying he harassed people but you still have no proof
