This morning, popular Magic: the Gathering artist Noah Bradley admitted that he had sexually harassed women at art industry events and workshops.
“I was terrible to women,” Bradley wrote. “I preyed on them. I ceaselessly hit on them. I pressured them into sex. I got too drunk and did all manner of dumb things. Yes, I was one of those shitty, creepy sexual predators you hear about.”
“I am deeply sorry for everything I did,” he continued. “I apologize for the selfish, cruel, insensitive way I acted. It’s no way for anyone to act. I’m so sorry.”
A screenshot of Bradley’s statement. He has since been deleted the original tweet.
Bradley’s statement came the morning after concept artist Betty Jiang posted accusations on Twitter about a “bald headed crusty assed ‘well known’ artist who went around groping female devs,” saying that she hoped “to never see you and your shitty v-neck shirts at any workshops or conventions.”
“Stay far far away from my industry,” Jiang concluded.
The tweet brought forth an outpouring of stories from other women about their experiences with sexual harassment in the art industry. It also resulted in people coming forward with other examples of problematic behavior from Bradley; however, none of his victims have spoken out and we have not been able to confirm any specific allegations.
UPDATE (6/22/20): Wizards of the Coast has parted ways with Bradley.
Bradley “engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with members of the Magic and artist community,” Wizards said. “His actions do not reflect the values of Wizards nor the Magic community and, accordingly, today we are cutting ties with Noah—we will no longer commission artwork from him, and we will remove reprints of his work from our products.”
There is a “long time frame between commissioning art, the manufacturing of printed products, and that product being available for purchase,” they continued. That “means that some of his artwork will appear in products still scheduled to be released.”
Bradley has illustrated 114 released Magic cards since 2012, beginning with Core Set 2013. The final set to contain his work will be released in February 2021.
In addition, his promo art for Squire will be removed from the April Fool’s Secret Lair drop. Due to COVID-19-related delays, the product has yet to be printed but will eventually be sent to local games stores free of charge.