Crunchyroll faces new allegations against its workplace culture, with a former employee coming forward to recount his experience.
A former Senior Software Engineer at Crunchyroll has come forward to recount an allegedly hostile workplace culture at the anime streaming service on LinkedIn, citing retaliation as the reason behind his firing.
Shawn Hoffman, who started working for Crunchyroll in March 2024, recounted that the alleged hostility he experienced stemmed from his request for an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) job accommodation, which he made after being diagnosed with Anxiety and Major Depressive Disorder. Hoffman described the year leading up to his diagnosis as his "hardest year," as he also struggled with what he described as one of the ‘most devastating’ challenges of his life: his mother battling with terminal cancer.
The US Department of Labor describes an ADA accommodation as “a modification or adjustment to a job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done during the hiring process.” Major Depressive Disorder is listed as a disability by the ADA, making the job accommodation request a “reasonable step,” as Hoffman puts it, that “should have been met with understanding and support.”
Hoffman related that an alleged manager he didn’t report to had cursed him out, and made an “extremely obscene gesture” by sticking his middle finger out during a workplace conversation. A screenshot of the incident was included in his post.
Hoffman had allegedly documented and reported the incident to Crunchyroll’s Human Resources Department, and furthered his claim by stating that instead of taking corrective action, he “noticed a shift” in how he was treated. Hoffman raised his concerns about workplace treatment, professionalism, and respect. However, Crunchyroll had allegedly made the decision to terminate him from his role due to a “policy violation.”
Hoffman further alleged that Crunchyroll had offered him severance in exchange for his silence regarding the matter. Hoffman alleges that “Leadership knew. HR knew. Yet this is how they responded.”
Crunchyroll’s alleged hostile work environment is nothing new
Crunchyroll’s workplace environment has been at the forefront of the company’s recent slew of issues. Just last year a voice actor who worked with the streaming platform came out with allegations of package thievery and abuse against the company.
The voice actor David Wald, who worked freelance and voiced characters like Gajeel from Fairy Tail and Hannes from Attack on Titan, took to X (formerly Twitter) on 26 October, 2024, to claim that Crunchyroll had allegedly opened his private mail, throwing away letters and giving away the items included as gifts to staff.
Wald then made an additional post to X, announcing that he would not return to voicing Gajeel or to the Crunchyroll studio, further stating that the company’s alleged abuses were “far too numerous” to list. He also stated that he was denying them of his services as "a result of years of abusive practices and a hostile work environment," accusing the company of being a “serious abuser.” Wald claimed that he isn’t the only one who received this treatment.
18 anonymous former and current workers in Crunchyroll also alleged that the company’s management was “out-of-touch” with the people working under them, according to a report done by Bloomberg. Crunchyroll was hit with allegations of mismanagement concerning senior vice president Markus Gerdemann, including two people who filed complaints regarding alleged sexist behaviour and the propagation of a hostile work environment. The complaints were investigated and cleared. However, seven people came forward to claim that Gerdemann had negatively impacted employee morale.
Crunchyroll was also accused of union-busting in 2022. Voice actor Kyle McCarley revealed in a YouTube video that he wouldn’t reprise his role as Shigeo Kageyama in Mob Psycho 100 Season 3, after Crunchyroll allegedly refused to negotiate a union contract with him and the rest of the cast.
Crunchyroll was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2021 through Funimation Global Group, LLC, and has undergone at least 3 rounds of layoffs since then. Employees interviewed for the Bloomberg report claim that Crunchyroll’s strategy is unclear, with only 39% of its workers stating that management has communicated a strategy that motivates them according to an internal poll.
Crunchyroll has yet to make a statement about Hoffman’s allegations.
