CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- One of the creators of a popular and controversial card game is leaving the company, but not on good terms.
Max Temkin, co-founder of the popular card game Cards Against Humanity, is stepping down from the Chicago-based company after former employees came forward with allegations that he fostered a racist and sexist workplace.
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The website, Polygon, said Temkin, who helped created Cards Against Humanity, faced growth complaints about inappropriate conduct.
The Chicago-based company released a statement following the allegations, reading: "Starting on June 6, several of our former employees posted reports on social media about a toxic work environment in our Chicago office. Many of them centered on one of our eight co-founders, Max Temkin, who led that office. We immediately began an internal investigation..."
The statement announced that Temkin would be stepping down and will "no longer interact with staff" as of June 9. Temkin remains “a one-eighth shareholder,” but will not receive a salary.
Cards Against Humanity also announced that it will be hiring a specialist firm to review and improve all HR, hiring, and management practices at the company.
"Our goal is to make these practices more inclusive, transparent, and equitable," the company said in a statement. "An outside organization will lead workplace training for all partners and employees of Cards Against Humanity, focusing on communication and unconscious bias at work.
“As Cards Against Humanity rapidly grew from a hobby project in our parents’ basements to a company with 18 full-time employees, we made a lot of mistakes,” the company said. “We want to apologize to employees who were unheard or disrespected in our office. We are truly sorry. We also want to state unequivocally that we condemn harassment of anyone who has posted stories about their experiences at Cards Against Humanity.”
Both current and former employees said the company has maintained a racist and sexist culture.
In a statement, the company said “A few years ago, we reduced Max’s managerial duties in response to complaints from staff, but it is now clear that we did not fully appreciate the severity of the problem. We are incredibly sorry, and we know our apologies are not enough.”
Polygon spoke to 21 former employees and contractors and eight other colleagues with knowledge of the company and its culture, which they described as having been perpetuated by members of the company’s leadership in ways that trickled down throughout the office. Several employees described having been fired for confusing or unexpected reasons shortly after raising concerns about discrimination at work. Multiple former employees told Polygon that the lack of a human resources department was an open joke made around the office, which helped instill a culture of fear for Cards Against Humanity’s most vulnerable workers, often people of color, queer people, and women — specifically, black women and non-binary people at the company.
Cards Against Humanity issued statements on the allegations.