Blizzard removed two NPCs from WoW that were meant to honor the streamer “Swifty.” This happened after allegations arose against him that he had behaved inappropriately in a relationship. This has now been criticized. Twitch streamer Asmongold says Blizzard acted hastily here and made the situation worse.
Which NPCs were removed from WoW? There are actually 2 NPCs:
- a young Pandaren, Swifty, in the Shrine of Seven Stars in Pandaria
- Alliance Captain John Swifty in Ashran
Both NPCs were removed on June 22 by a hotfix from Blizzard. However, these were apparently undocumented changes that did not appear in the patch notes but were registered by sites like wowhead.
The NPCs were placed in WoW in honor of the WoW streamer Swifty by Blizzard (607,804 followers).
Twitch Streamer Accuses Swifty – Blizzard Deletes His NPCs
Here’s the context: On June 22, Twitch streamer Takarita (48,668 followers) made allegations against Swifty, claiming he had been sexually aggressive towards her. Takarita was previously in a relationship with Swifty and is now separated from him.
Swifty reportedly wanted her to engage in a threesome or sexual acts with third parties – with various men and women. She resisted this suggestion. Swifty, however, demanded it from her vehemently. The relationship broke down over this, Takarita recounts.
In one episode, Swifty allegedly tried to convince her to have sex with one of his friends. Takarita refused but ultimately allowed herself to be blindfolded: A man had sex with her, whom she thought was Swifty. However, it turned out to be his friend, with whom she had expressly not wanted to have sex.
Takarita then describes that Swifty treated her poorly and how that affected their relationship and her life. The streamer describes a relationship she found hard to escape from because she was, according to her account, emotionally and financially dependent on Swifty.
Apparently, Blizzard removed the NPCs from WoW immediately after this story became known.
Four years ago, Swifty shared a picture on Instagram showing him with Takarita:
Like Takarita, several women have spoken out in recent days, making allegations against male Twitch streamers who have allegedly sexually harassed them.
The wave began on June 20 with allegations against the Destiny streamer “SayNoToRage.”
Swifty says: These allegations are false
This is how Swifty responds: He denies the allegations. In a statement from June 25, he says the allegations are false.
These allegations are against all his values, completely against his nature. He has never behaved like this. He does not want to say anything more about it.
Other members of the WoW community are also supporting Swifty. Streamer Mia Rose (83,737 followers) defends her friend and says Takarita has a drinking problem. She is the one behaving sexually aggressively, not Swifty. He is a gentleman.
Asmongold Criticizes Blizzard: Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
This is the criticism of Blizzard: The biggest WoW streamer Asmongold is back on Twitch after a break.
He sharply criticizes Blizzard for their reaction in removing the two NPCs from WoW.
Asmongold finds this reaction hasty. Blizzard seems to have acted on the principle of “Shoot first, ask questions later.” This is action purely based on suspicion (via YouTube).
Blizzard makes things worse by removing the NPCs and causing a presumption of guilt. One needs to talk about such things and give Swifty the chance to defend himself.
Asmongold says he doesn’t like the idea that people or companies immediately pull away from someone when such allegations arise. There is no investigation, one isn’t asked, one is simply thrown out.
According to Asmongold, he would sue every woman who spreads such false rumors about him and demand that they be banned from the platform. False accusations harm the cause; they harm women and men.
Even though he has heard that Swifty is innocent, he does not want to make a judgment and calls for an investigation before any consequences are drawn.
The streamer Asmongold often clashes with Blizzard. There was a great scene when Asmongold was in areas of Shadowlands with a group of players where he had no business being:
