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Popular Call of Duty streamer Nicholas "Nickmercs" has responded to criticism for his recent comments about the LGBTQ+ community. In his latest stream, the FaZe Clan member maintained that he did not want to offend or hurt people but defended his tweet, which has caused backlash from fellow esports professionals and streamers.
Yesterday, Nickmercs replied to a Tweet from MLG Puckett where the prominent esports broadcaster had shared a clip of the recent clash between gay-rights demonstrators and an anti-LGBTQ+ mob that ended with a physical interaction.
While Puckett's tweet lamented about the violence, showing support for the marginalized community, Nicholas tweeted that the "real issue" was not the violence but that students should not be taught things about the LGBTQ+ community in schools.
The streamer doubled down on his argument, maintaining that he didn't want to offend people but didn't want "things like that" being discussed in school.
"So, the video bothered me. I just don't think it's any place for a teacher or a school, I don't think it's the place to speak about things like that. And it's not that I think it shouldn't be spoken about. If that's what you got from that Tweet, you're just wrong. I don't have any quarrels with anybody here, I don't have any quarrel with people on the internet."
"It wasn't an anti-gay tweet": Nickmercs claims his controversial tweet was not anti-LGBTQ
Nickmercs started his response to the backlash by stating that he did not like the tweet he had seen and that watching people fight outside a school with kids "pissed me off."
"I'll say this, I saw a tweet and I didn't like what I was seeing man. I saw parents brawling in front of a f*ckign school with kids. I just didn't f*cking like it. I'm sure a lot of you will understand that would piss some people off, it pissed me off."
For those wondering what tweet the streamer is talking about, it is this one shared by MLG Puckett.
The streamer then claimed that ever since becoming a father, he has had a different perspective on life:
"Now, full transparency, how do I say this? Making a lot of people mad wasn't my intention. I mean listen, we, my wife and I just had a baby. Brand new father... We're seeing these kinds of videos, it's sad, you know. But she and I agree that we want to be the ones to talk to our kids about things like that."
Knowing that he was dealing with something delicate, Nickmercs stated that he was trying to keep it simple:
"I'm trying to keep it really simple just so that we don't have to get too crazy about it, 'cus there is nothing to be crazy about. It really is that simple. I think I just have a bigger perspective now after becoming a parent."
Timestamp: 00:22:53
Toward the end of the discussion, Nickmercs maintained that the tweet he had made was not anti-LGBTQ or anti-gay and that he doesn't hate anybody for being "a certain way":
"It wasn't an anti-gay tweet. That wasn't what it was. If you have issues with me or if you have issues with that tweet, we can agree to disagree. That's fine, but if you think I hate you because you're a certain way, that's not the truth. I've said things in the past, people grow that's the part of life."
Reactions to Nickmercs' response
Redditors of r/LivestreamFail were not very amused with the response, with many claiming his original tweet was homophobic.
Adin Ross also got in trouble for his recent comments about trans people while threatening HasanAbi. Read all about it here.
