Pro streamer and face of Fortnite, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, has spoken regarding the torrent of women coming forward with allegations of abuse in the world of video games.
In the same vein as the Hollywood Me Too movement, which saw a number of actors and movie veterans outed for sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour, gaming’s Me Too moment is set on shining the same spotlight in video games.
A number of content creators, video game developers and countless people in games publishing have been named so far, with the list of allegations showing no sign of slowing down.
In light of the news, Ninja has used his sizeable platform to address the difficult topic. Sharing a video to both his Instagram and Twitter channels, Ninja said the following: “There are so many Me Too movements being posted in the gaming community right now. It’s f*cking insane. I had no idea that any of these people who have been outed and exposed were even capable of any of this sh*t.
“I’ve unfollowed so many people this week, honestly, it’s disturbing.”
He also thanked the women who’ve come forward with allegations, saying: “To the women who have shared these stories and exposed these people and their actions. Thank you. It’s so important that someone with a platform and someone who has this big of an audience does something like this and continues to do things like this. That they’re exposed and they’re stopped, they have to be stopped. That’s how you do it, right?
“You have to stop the f*cking madness. You have to expose these people because if you don’t, they’re winning and they continue to win and that’s not okay. So thank you for sharing and I can’t imagine what you went through, I can’t imagine, all the women, what you’re going through.”
Ninja also offered some advice to men, criticising those who don’t take no for an answer.
“To the men, it’s not f*cking hard,” he ranted. “It’s not hard to just f*cking understand that no means no. It’s not hard. It’s not difficult. When a women says no, when you’re trying to do anything to her when it comes to her personal space, it means no. Okay? It means no, it does. It’s pretty obvious…When she says no it means no. It’s not fucking hard. That’s it. That’s all I gotta say.”
He’s not wrong there. Check out the full video below.
Companies are now taking note of the movement, with a number of organisations taking action to support those speaking out.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/Ninja