Last week, Fortnite mega-streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins told Polygon that he doesn’t play with women on his Twitch channel. After receiving a loud, polarized response from fellow Twitch personalities, social media users and numerous other outlets, however, Blevins clarified his comments on Twitter.
“I wanted to take a moment to address the discussion around the article that came out over the weekend,” reads his tweeted statement, referring to his interview with us, in which he explained why he won’t play with women. “While I understand some people have implied my views mean I have something against playing with women, I want to make clear the issue I’m addressing is online harassment, and my attempt to minimize it from our life.”
By “our life,” Blevins is referring to both his wife, Jessica “Jghosty” Blevins, and himself. His intention behind keeping his channel female gamer-free is to protect his relationship from the rumor mill, he told us.
“It is something that affects all streamers, especially ones that make their relationships public,” he continued. “I wanted to bring attention to this issue and my comments should not be characterized as anything beyond that.”
Many of his fans and fellow streamers pledged their support for Ninja’s comments, arguing that harassment and gossip run rampant on Twitch, and this is one way to avoid that. Yet among the responses to his initial comments include those who argued otherwise: that Ninja, intentionally or not, is promoting an exclusionary viewpoint. With a platform as large as his, to shut women out of his channel is to do a disservice to them and misuse the influence he wields, argues a sizable contingent.
“We are fans of all kind of streamers and gamers — curvyllama, julia_tv, and halieatisuto are a few or our favorite and we encourage others to check out their channels,” he wrote toward the end of the letter. Each of these channels are hosted by women, and Ninja has publicly interacted with both curvyllama and halieatisuto on Twitter before.
He ends his statement on a more inclusive, if unspecific, note:
“I look forward to the opportunity to meet and play with all kinds of Fortnite players in future tournaments and events.”
Read the full letter below:
Please read. pic.twitter.com/egfplBQFYD
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 13, 2018