Scott Cawthon, the developer of the iconic video game "Five Nights at Freddy's," is standing firm in the wake of his identity being revealed as a benefactor to conservative parties, including former President Donald Trump.
As highlighted by GameRant, fans who looked up Scott Cawthon on Open Secrets, a database of public political donations, discovered that the developer has given large sums of money to conservative leaders including Senator Mitch McConnell and former President Donald J. Trump.
A major chunk, if not all, of the series' fandom has reportedly gone to social media sites like as Twitter and Reddit, expressing their displeasure at Cawthon's political giving. For the last few days, Cawthon and the video game "Five Nights at Freddy's" have been hot topics on Twitter.
On Twitter, the current Cawthon-related trend is "#istandbyscott," with the tag page populated by both upset fans airing their concerns and unaffected admirers supporting Cawthon's generosity.
Although his name was trending on social media over the weekend, according to CBN's Faithwire, Cawthon would "not back down." After stating on Reddit that he would not apologize for his political stance, he has come out forcefully against cancel culture.
"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," he said unapologetically. "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."
"If I get cancelled, then I get cancelled. I don't do this for the money anymore. 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," he added.
Aside from that, he addressed his support for then-President Donald Trump.
As he put it: "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."
Cawthon asserted that he supports creators irrespective of their background, and that he had worked with "a very diverse group of people."
While the first response to Cawthon's post on Twitter was very critical, the response to the same article on Reddit has been quite the opposite.
Numerous fans on the internet praised the "Five Nights" games, as well as Cawthon's response to fans, and though there have been some comments of dismay, there seems to be little to no interest in "cancelling" him.
"Security Breach," the newest "Five Nights at Freddy's" game, is scheduled to be released in the late 2021, according to PC Gamer.
