Scott Cawthorn, creator of the horror video game, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” fired back at critics after coming under fire for making “several thousand dollars” in donations to prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump.
Video game news site GameRant bemoaned Cawthorn’s political positions in a report Monday, claiming that fans of the popular game franchise “are concerned and hurt to find out where the money Cawthorn makes from the popular horror series is going.”
“Fans who searched for Scott Cawthon on Open Secrets, an index of public political contributions, noticed that the developer has made significant monetary contributions to a number of conservative politicians such as Senator Mitch McConnell and former president Donald J. Trump,” the outlet reported. “With the huge popularity of the Five Nights At Freddy’s series, a significant portion of the fanbase have taken to social media such as Twitter and Reddit to voice disappointment for Cawthon’s donations, and as a result both he and ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ have been trending topics on Twitter for the past several days.”
Cawthorn also appears to have donated to Trump but also to Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, whom Cawthorn’s critics labeled, “transphobic” and “homophobic.
“the most damning piece of evidence against Scott Cawthon imo is that he identifies as a proud republican and yet donated a lot of money to a single democrat: Tulsi Gabbard. y’know, one of the most openly transphobic and homophobic democratic politicians,” one Twitter user complained. “why would a staunch republican give money to a democrat unless it was a democrat whose policies and ideologies aligned with their own? even the people who are somehow looking past his financial support of fascists can’t deny that that’s pretty fkn clear.”
But Cawthorn, after staying silent over the weekend, weighed in on the controversy early Monday morning in a post to the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” subreddit, refusing to apologize for his beliefs — or his donations — and calling out his social media critics for their intolerance.
“I’d like to think that the last seven years would have given me the benefit of the doubt in regards to how I try to treat people, but there I was, trending on twitter for being a homophobe, getting doxed, with people threatening to come to my house,” he wrote. “All this because I exercised my right, and my duty, as an American citizen, to vote for and support the candidates who I felt could best run the country, for everyone, and that’s something that I won’t apologize for.”
“For those who took the time to look, you saw that the candidates I supported included men, women, white people, black people, republicans, and democrats,” he continued.
“And yes, I supported President Trump, because I felt he was the best man to fuel a strong economy and stand up to America’s enemies abroad, of which there are many. Even if there were candidates who had better things to say to the LGBT community directly, and bigger promises to make, I believed that their stances on other issues would have ended up doing much greater harm to those communities than good,” Cawthorn added.
“All of this explanation, I fear, is wasted, as people don’t want to discuss with one another anymore; they want endless apologies and submission. People who are expecting those from me will get neither,” he said.
Cawthorn then stood up for his beliefs.
“I’m a republican. I’m a Christian. I’m pro-life. I believe in God. I also believe in equality, and in science, and in common sense. Despite what some may say, all of those things can go together. That’s not an apology or promise to change, it’s the way it’s always been,” he said.
Sensing that refusing to apologize might stoke the ire of his social media critics, Cawthorn suggested that he’s willing to be canceled for his beliefs.
“If I get cancelled, then I get cancelled. I don’t do this for the money anymore,” he said. “I do it because I enjoy it. If people think I’m doing more harm than good now, then maybe it’s better that I get cancelled and retire. I would accept that. I’ve had a fulfilling career. Besides, most things that people can take from you are things that never had much value to begin with.”
The latest addition to the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” series, “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach,” is due out later this year. Although some fans have said they will boycott the franchise now that they are aware of Cawthorn’s political leanings, “#istandwithscott” trended on Twitter over the weekend, with a number of new fans noting that they will be buying more completely into the franchise.