Another day, another mishap to do with streaming culture. With streaming games continuing to climb in popularity in huge part to the growing Twitch and YouTube communities, it seems that so to are the number of streamers that don’t understand that when in the public eye expectations are a little bit different. We all trash talk (lord knows I do), but there is a line of professionalism and decency that must be toed when putting oneself into the media spotlight. In this particular case, yet another streamer has been put back into a less than flattering spotlight, this time resulting in a ban for using a racial slur mid Fortnite stream.
The streamer in question goes by the name of ‘Tfue’ and he is part of the FaZe pro Fortnite team. In the video above, you can see him chasing after a player calling out “Coon,” which is a racist slur against the African American community. This action resulted in a 30 day ban from Twitch, which prompted the streamer in question to release a video, seen here, in explanation.
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According to the streamer, he “didn’t know better” and was saying the term to reference a raccoon because of the player’s sneaky play style. He also mentioned that the player was donning a Twitch Prime skin that “kind of resembles” the animal in question. He mentioned that he simply shortened it and that he didn’t “mean” to say the term in the context that was perceived and that he didn’t want his allegedly misspoken words to affect him professionally.
There is a thread on Resetera that is currently discussing the ban and it seems that the community is once more divided. While some feel that his apology wasn’t really an apology “sorry for anyone’s that’s offended,” others felt that his mistake was a genuine error. The split was fairly divided between those that supported the ban, and those that thought it was unjustly doled out.
Regardless of his intentions, it does continue on the topic of community standards. When one is at a job, usually, there is a certain level of decorum expected. What flies in “every day life” doesn’t fly in a professional environment. With paid streamers, especially those on a pro level such as the one in question, that professionalism is expected. It seems that no one quite knows exactly where this industry medium lies on the scale – from language, to dress codes, to overall behavioral patterns – but as with anything in life, it’s better left to keep race, religion, and lifestyle derogatory commentary out of the equation; intentional or not.
What do you think about this player’s ban? Do you side with those finding it an appropriate reaction, or do you feel like it was a genuine error? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below.
