Kinda Funny’s Colin Moriarty Resigns After Targeting Women In Joke; Insists It’s His Personal Decision

Correction 3/14/17 4:01 p.m.: The previous headline and version of this story inaccurately described a joke tweeted by Colin Moriarty as racist. It was not. The article has been changed to reflect this.

Colin Moriarty is severing his ties with Kinda Funny, the entertainment and video games company he co-founded. He has already announced his resignation via social media and even explained his decision of doing so. His departure comes after he got major flak from fans for targeting women in a joke he shared on Twitter a day after International Women’s Day.

On Monday, Moriarty took to Facebook to reveal to his fans that he has resigned from Kinda Funny and his decision is effective immediately. He admitted at the start of his post that it is “with a heavy heart and great sadness” that he is leaving the company he also built with his friends.

And just to be clear of his decision, Moriarty explained that the reason behind it was the different direction the company is planning to take. “[I] feel that, with our separate visions for the future and for the direction of the company, it’s time to go our separate ways. I want to be clear that this was my decision,” he wrote.

As for what he plans on doing next, Moriarty stated that he wants to reconnect with the things he considers important to him, like politics, history, philosophy and reading books. He did not mention video games though and instead stressed that the aforesaid disciplines “are most impactful and essential for a person like me.”

He pointed out that never did he imagine that he’ll go this far in professionally writing about games. “When I started writing about games professionally in 2002 as a freshman in college, never, ever, did I think I’d reach the heights I did. I owe a great deal to an audience that generously sustained me, supported me, and followed me, and I also owe a lot to those who gave me opportunities to begin with.”

In the end, he assured his fans that they have not heard the last of him yet. “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. Obviously, you haven’t seen or heard the last of me. Far from it.”

Last week, in the wake of the International Women’s Day celebration, Moriarty caused a huge stir online for a joke he shared on Twitter. Kinda Funny fans and other people condemned Moriarty. Even his peers and former colleagues at Kinda Funny and IGN also called him out on social media, as per Polygon.

After receiving backlash for the controversial tweet, Kinda Funny co-founder Greg Miller released a statement apologizing to their subscribers on their YouTube channel and their fans in general. He also announced at the time that Moriarty would no longer be attending PAX East this past weekend, according to Kotaku.