Two speedrunners have been banned indefinitely from Games Done Quick events after evidence surfaced of the two gamers using offensive language that was labeled as sexist and transphobic.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The speedrunners are known as R. White Goose and Graviton and are the two who have now been banned from GDQ events after screenshots of a private Discord conversation were made public. Another speedrunner shared the tweets below which showed the two speedrunners talking about women and transgender individuals. Topics such as banning women from their Discord servers and ways to identify transgender people were included in the messages below, some of which contain explicit language.
Here we have the biggest nazi in speedrunning, @RWhiteGoose linking and quoting Jordan Peterson, then posting some hateful anti-woman propaganda along with famed GDQ Runner @graviton29 spewing extremely transphobic garbage in a safe-space nazi speedrunning discord pic.twitter.com/soO76NaeGK
โ ๐ด Antifa Andrea ๐น (@pizzaparty531) November 27, 2018
Here’s more from @RWhiteGoose (The Nazi) and @graviton29 (The Sub-Nazi) trash talking women for simply existing in “Gamer Spaces” with them as well as “””scientifically””” discuss “fertility” among women. pic.twitter.com/3UYL9zruvD
โ ๐ด Antifa Andrea ๐น (@pizzaparty531) November 27, 2018
Games Done Quick’s Initial Response
Not long after the screenshots of the conversations surfaced, the official Games Done Quick Twitter account tweeted to confirm it was aware of the situation and was investigating to see if the messages were real. A follow-up tweet shared afterwards condemned the statements made in the screenshots and said that they did warrant action, though only if they could verify the conversations actually happened. The company said it wasn’t possible to do so at the time, but welcomed more reports.
We are aware of the reports on a runner selected to participate at our upcoming #AGDQ2019 event. We are investigating to determine the authenticity of the reports and will act in accordance to our policies based on those findings.
โ Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) November 27, 2018
To be clear: the statements made in the reports are unacceptable. They do meet our criteria for action. But we cannot verify that the statements were made, or who made them, due to the private nature of where they were purported to have occurred. We welcome further reports.
โ Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) November 28, 2018
Games Done Quick Bans the Speedrunners
Within the same day, the Games Done Quick account tweeted again to say that more information had surfaced and said the two speedrunners would be banned “indefinitely.”ย The tweet announcing the bans of the two speedrunners said more information had surfaced which led to the company being able to confirm that the screenshots and the conversations within were authentic.
After receiving additional information on the situation that was brought to our attention today, we were able to confirm the authenticity of the screenshots we received. As such, the people in question will not be representing us at any GDQ events indefinitely.
โ Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) November 28, 2018
Games Done Quick Apologizes for the Situation
In one final tweet shared after the whole situation had taken place, Games Done Quick apologized for the way it handled the incident. When the company initially tweeted that it couldn’t verify the authenticity of the screenshots due to them being private in nature, people criticized the decision and said the speedrunners should’ve been banned as soon as the organization said the comments in the screenshots were ban-worthy.
โ Games Done Quick (@GamesDoneQuick) November 30, 2018
Banned Speedrunners Respond
After the two speedrunners had officially been banned, both commented on the actions of Games Done Quick. R. White Goose shared a lengthy statement where he said he understood the community’s response and Games Done Quick’s decision and rejected the language he used in the conversation. Graviton was less apologetic in his statement and said his “wrongthink” had gotten him more followers than a Games Done Quick run ever would have.
My response to the speedrunning community about current events and actions taken by GDQ. pic.twitter.com/eh4rMYdmeF
โ R. White Goose (@RWhiteGoose) November 28, 2018
When your wrongthink gets you more followers than your GDQ run would have got
โ Grav (@graviton29) November 28, 2018