Creator of popular 'Five Nights at Freddy's' video games announces retirement after woke mob goes after him for donating to Republicans

The creator of a popular video game series announced his retirement this week after a woke cancel culture mob attacked him for several political donations he made to public officials viewed as hostile toward LGBT people.

Scott Cawthon, who made the hit indie horror game "Five Nights at Freddy's" and its sequels, announced on his website that he will be retiring from the series, handing it over to a different video game developer while he spends more time with his family.

"I've had a blessed, fulfilling, and rich career," Cawthon wrote. "I've been shown great kindness and I've tried to show great kindness in return. I've tried to make some good games (let the debate ensue), and I've witnessed the creation of possibly the most creative and talented fanbase on the planet."

"But here on the seventh anniversary of the first game's trailer, as I realize that I was in my mid-30s when I created the series and now I'm approaching my mid-40s, I realize that I miss a lot of things that I got to focus on before FNAF became such a success," he continued. "I miss making games for my kids, I miss doing it just for fun, and I missing making rpgs even though I stink at it. All of this is to say that I am retiring. I have been shown tremendous love and support over this last week, a lot of which has come from the LGBTQ community. The kindness shown to me has been surreal."

While Cawthon's statement doesn't mention the controversy over his political donations, last weekend he was harshly criticized on Reddit and Twitter for making several financial contributions to various politicians, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), former President Donald Trump, and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. All together, Cawthon made over $42,000 in campaign contributions to mostly Republican candidatesm and as a result he was accused of being racist and anti-LGBT.

On Saturday, before announcing his retirement, he directly addressed his critics in a Reddit post and refused to apologize for being a Christian, a Republican, and someone who has always treated all people fairly and equally no matter who they are.

To say that the last few days have been surreal would be an understatement. I've debated greatly how best to address this, including not addressing it at all, but with so many people from the LGBT community in the fanbase that I love, that's not an option. I'd like to think that the last seven years would have given me the benefit of the doubt in regards to how I try to treat people, but there I was, trending on twitter for being a homophobe, getting doxed, with people threatening to come to my house. My wife is six weeks pregnant and she spent last night in fear because of what was being said online. She has already been struggling with her pregnancy so seeing her so afraid really scared me. All this because I exercised my right, and my duty, as an American citizen, to vote for and support the candidates who I felt could best run the country, for everyone, and that's something that I won't apologize for.

For those who took the time to look, you saw that the candidates I supported included men, women, white people, black people, republicans, and democrats. I supported Kimberly Klacik in Baltimore because I believed that she really cared for the African American community there and wanted to pull them out of poverty. I believed she could have really make a difference in a time when so many black communities were struggling. She lost, unfortunately. I supported Tulsi Gabbard, a democrat, even though I disagreed with her on several issues, because I felt she would have been a good and fair president. And yes, I supported President Trump, because 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. All of this explanation, I fear, is wasted, as people don't want to discuss with one another anymore; they want endless apologies and submission. People who are expecting those from me will get neither.

Cawthon said that if he gets canceled for his views, he would be at peace with it. "I don't do this for the money anymore; I do it because I enjoy it," he wrote.

"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."

In the post confirming his retirement, Cawthon explained that the "Five Nights at Freddy's" series would be handed off to "someone of my choosing, and someone that I trust."

"I have SIX kids now (although one of them is currently the size of a blueberry.) I love them dearly; they are my whole world and my whole universe," he said. "I want to focus my attention on them, focus on protecting them, and spend my time making things for them. I only ask that my fanbase respect my decision."