BoardGameGeek has fired advertising manager Chad Krizan after almost 20 years with the company, after he cited his personal experiences of demonic possession as grounds for rejecting an ad campaign.

Krizan told Possess Me, Satan publisher Falling Whale Games that he couldn’t “in good conscience” approve ads for its Gamefound campaign as “the thought of displaying this subject matter makes me sick to my stomach”, according to an email exchange shared online by the publisher.

In the emails, Krizan says he has been “sitting on this one and praying about what to do in this instance”, adding that “as a follower of Jesus, I routinely help people suffering from demonic oppression, and more occasionally, possession, and it’s absolutely devastating the damage he does to peoples’ lives”.

Krizan wrote, “IMO, the responsible thing to do would be to pull the entire project, as there are *way* more people that suffer this than you could possibly imagine, putting on a good face (usually enabled by dissociation), but suffering terribly behind the scenes.”

When Falling Whale replied to question the decision to ban the game on religious grounds, and asking for confirmation of which BGG advertising policy they were breaking, Krizan responded:

“Keep in mind it’s not over religion, but reality. It’s the same reason I would say a game would be in very poor taste if it featured being a sexual predator, or something that would directly trigger someone that’s been harmed by the subject matter.

“It’s about keeping BGG welcoming to everyone, and since I’m privy to this subject matter, I know firsthand that this is not friendly content, and incredibly triggering, put in front of some of the population that visits BGG.”

Board game and video game news and reviews website Gametrodon reached out to Falling Whale for examples of the ads it was hoping to run, and has compiled the images it was sent here.

Falling Whale’s shared email blew up on Reddit, the BoardGameGeek forums and other social media yesterday, and within six hours BGG had fired Krizan.

A statement from BGG founder Scott Alden posted on the site’s forums said, “Due to a situation in which BGG’s Advertising Manager responded inappropriately in a business email to a designer, I have decided to let him go. His response does not reflect or represent our company or the way we conduct business.”

Falling Whale’s campaign for social deduction game Possess Me, Satan runs for another 30 days, and has currently raised just over $14,000 from about 250 backers.

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