Former Nintendo Spokesperson Alison Rapp Was Allegedly an Escort

Alison Rapp, the former Nintendo Spokesperson who was fired by the company following an online harassment campaign, was allegedly an upscale escort, according to information in the Washington Post.

Since her dismissal, members of Gamergate, the online group who orchestrated notorious online harassment campaigns against various female figures within the video game industry last year, have been digging deeper to uncover more information on Rapp. The latest is an attempt to link photos of her to a Seattle based escort, Maria Mint, and claim that they are the same person.

According to The Mirror, this has come about after photos posted by Rapp on social media, and Mint on her website were inspected. It was found that they have slightly similar tattoos and physical features. However, Mint’s face is not visible in any of her photos. Maria Mint’s website has since been removed for maintenance.

The assumed link has been made based also on the camera and lens serial numbers being identical, according to an image on Kotaku in Action’s Imgur account (NSFW). It is important to note that there has been no confirmation as to the validity of these photos and until such time, they must be assumed false.

Rapp has been targeted by various online groups following her involvement with Nintendo’s Tree House, which is responsible for the localisation of video games from the Japanese market to the wider Western market, as cultural sensibilities and tastes differ. Her opponents have called the de-sexualisation of video game characters for the western market “censorship”, although Rapp has consistently denied any role in the decision making for this process.

As part of this process, Nintendo has made female characters less sexualised for American market in their recent game in the Fire Emblems series, and Rapp, a vocal feminist on Twitter, took the brunt of the criticism from members of Gamergate.

What followed was an extensive investigation into her personal life, which involved the circulation of her undergraduate thesis, titled Speech We Hate: An Argument for the Cessation of International Pressure on Japan to Strengthen Its Anti-Child Pornography Laws. The discovery of the academic thesis where Rapp wrote: “Criminalising the possession of a type of media – whether violent video games… controversial political or religious texts, or child pornography – is tantamount to criminalising thought, and should be above countries like the U.S. and Japan who have such strong freedom of speech protections,” has led to Rapp being labelled a “paedophile apologist”, and Nintendo was inundated with demands to have her employment terminated.

However, it was the revelation that Rapp held a second job – a job that displeased Nintendo – which was the reason for her dismissal. According to the following statement issued to IGN by Nintendo: “Alison Rapp was terminated due to violation of an internal company policy involving holding a second job in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture. Though Ms. Rapp’s termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and the broader video game industry and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs. We wish Ms. Rapp well in her future endeavours.”

Rapp addressed this on her Twitter account, stating that: “moonlighting is actually accepted at Nintendo. It’s policy.”

Moonlighting is actually accepted at Nintendo. It’s policy.

— smol pterodactyl (@alisonrapp) 31 March 2016

With the recent accusation, many now speculate that her mysterious second job was escorting, with Rapp stating in a tweet that “it was anonymous.”

In any case, the treatment Rapp has endured on social media looks to be a continuation of the Gamergate controversy last year. According to further tweets by Rapp, the harassment has extended to her family members, where she states: “doxing is currently affecting two of my family members’ lives in serious ways.”

I can’t give details rn for privacy reasons, but the doxing is currently affecting at least two family members’ lives in major ways.

— smol pterodactyl (@alisonrapp) 11 April 2016

The reaction to Rapp’s case is largely unjustified, and even if it were determined to be true that she had any power over the game localisation process; no one deserves to lose their job or have their family harassed because the function to make a video game character’s breasts larger has been removed. That the career of a young woman, who was set for a career in video game PR, has been ruined by this is a sad moment in gaming culture.

Opponents of Rapp believe that as a public representative of Nintendo, she should be held to account for the public decisions made by Nintendo. However, this ethos has been born out of a very large misunderstanding of Rapp’s previous role in Nintendo. Although if they want that logic to consistently apply, is it not time to leave Rapp alone? Whilst Rapp is still active on Twitter, she is no longer under the employ of Nintendo and is no longer in the position that many assumed she was, where she could decide to censor and cut features from video games.

Since the claim was made that Rapp and Maria Mint are the same person, Rapp has not addressed this on Twitter or anywhere else, and is yet to confirm or deny the accusation.

CORRECTION: The images did not originally appear on Imgur, but on Kiwifarms.