Inappropriate Comment Results in Dismissal of EA Senior Director

By Liz Lanier

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – A senior director at EA was dismissed after allegedly making a comment about his genitalia to a female colleague, Irish news site Independent.ie  reported Thursday.

Phillipe Grenet, the former director of global delivery service for EA Ireland, allegedly said he would not “pull [his] d**k out and put it on the table” in front of a second female colleague “to see who has the bigger d**k,” according to the Irish Independent.

Grenet denied making this comment, which allegedly occurred during a video call on Nov. 9, and claims that what he actually said was “I don’t want to compare the length of my d**k” with his colleague.

Grenet has since been granted a temporary injunction, as of Thursday, which will restrain his dismissal on the claims that EA’s decision to dismiss him was done without following fair procedures, such as an investigation or less severe disciplinary actions. What this means is that EA Ireland will be unable to appoint another to Grenet’s role until the matter is resolved by the court.

The former senior director acknowledged to the court that the comment was “ill-advised” according to the Irish Independent, but expressed that what he meant by the comment was that he “did not want to challenge” his colleague on a specific matter. Grenet also claimed in an affidavit that the complaint was made due to the originator of the complaint being unable to obtain the role which Grenet was appointed to, as she had apparently expressed interest in the role beforehand.

Legal representation for Grenet claims that their client also has a language barrier, as English is not Grenet’s first language. Grenet is from France. In addition, Grenet’s lawyer stated the lack of fair procedures leading up to the termination, according to the Irish Independent.

Variety reached out to EA, who said it’s confident the incident was investigated and handled appropriately. “We have expressed our concern that media coverage that included the name of the employee who reported the incident is both inappropriate and unnecessary as it undermines the individual’s privacy on a sensitive matter,” it said. “We will continue to support our employees and uphold our commitment to creating a safe and inclusive workplace that is free of harassment of any kind.”