Jagex CEO Jon Bellamy—appointed in March—drew fire earlier this year when an anonymous employee accused him of kowtowing to the Trump administration's assault on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives with a decision to dramatically scale back Pride Month celebrations in RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.
Understandably, that decision sparked ire, as did Bellamy's attempts to pitch the rollback of Pride events as a way of preserving the games' status as a safe haven for queer players. Pride content was, he told staff, "now controversial in a way it didn’t used to be and that controversy now brings more risk than it did previously, risk that I’m personally responsible to protect against." Some RuneScape players responded with a "No gay, no pay" protest campaign.
