Three Prominent Animation And Illustration Teachers Lose Jobs Over Sexual Harassment And Abuse Claims
In the past week, three prominent animators/illustrators, all of whom also worked as educators, have lost work as a result of multiple online allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Two of them, Daniel Krall and Don Poynter, have left their teaching posts at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of Visual Arts respectively. The third, Noah Bradley, has had his ties cut with the card game Magic: The Gathering, but no changes to his online school Art Camp have been announced.
Read on for more details, and full statements from the artists or their institutions.
Noah Bradley, an artist known for his work on the card game Magic: The Gathering, wrote a statement on Twitter acknowledging that he was a “shitty, creepy sexual predator.” The letter was released only after multiple women had taken to Twitter to accuse him of various inappropriate sexual behavior, including rape.
In response, the game’s publisher Wizards of the Coast announced that they had cut all ties with Bradley. The artist also runs an online school, Art Camp. At the time of writing, no statement has been made on its future.
Read his statement that confirms the validity of the allegations made against him:
Daniel Krall, an illustrator whose portfolio of clients includes Disney, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, wrote on Twitter that he had said “unkind” things and became “less than objectively close” with his students at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
A day later, he tweeted that he was resigning from his position there as professor of illustration. MICA confirmed his departure on Twitter, and added that it aims to improve its procedure for handling misconduct claims.
This letter from Krall (who is not to be confused with Dan Krall, the veteran visual development and production artist who works in the animation industry) followed a tweet by his former assistant, who accused him of “grooming” and “emotionally abusing” her. Others have since shared their own experiences of harassment and mistreatment by Krall.
Read his statement below:
Don Poynter, a longtime teacher in the BFA Animation Department at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, has been fired. The department made the announcement on Twitter, citing “the instances of sexual misconduct outlined so bravely in our students’ reports.” The statement also acknowledged shortcomings in the way earlier allegations of harassment had been handled.
In the days before Poynter’s firing, a document compiling student testimonials about Poynter’s misconduct had been circulating online. The hashtag #FuckSVA started trending on Twitter in connection with these accounts.
Read SVA’s statement below:
