Streamers Jeff Leach and NitroLukeDX have both lost their partnership with Facebook Gaming. They accused each other and threw dirt so much that the conflict escalated. The two streamers are associated with Call of Duty.
These are the two streamers:
- Jeff Leach is a comedian and streamer. He is also a voice actor for the “Call of Duty” series and voiced “Ghost”. He showcases games like Hood or Call of Duty: Warzone on Facebook (31,600 likes).
- Luke “NitroLukeDX” Pickering is also a streamer on Facebook (273,700 likes). There, he showcases games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. He also runs a YouTube channel for kids where he plays Minecraft.
Until recently, both were partners at Facebook Gaming, the live streaming part of Facebook. They could earn good money with their streams there.
The two had collaborated in 2020, but then a dispute arose. Leach accused NitroLukeDX of collecting donations and not forwarding the money to the charities. NitroLukeDX then had a legal notice sent to him, and the matter apparently escalated from there.
Mutual Accusations in Public
This is how the dispute unfolded: NitroLukeDX publicly accused Leach on Twitter on May 7 of making sexist statements. He also tagged “Activision Blizzard,” one of Leach’s employers.
He shared a montage of many statements from Leach, in which he spoke negatively and sexistly about women. This triggered a backlash.
Leach responded by saying that these statements were taken out of context. Leach also shot back and shared a tweet from a streamer showing a clip of NitroLukeDX making fun of the mother of one of his viewers. He hinted that he had slept with the mother.
This tweet also tagged Facebook Gaming, an important source of income for NitroLukeDX (via twitter).
Facebook Gaming Kicks Both from the Partner Program
This is the outcome now: The result is not pleasant for both.
Leach has lost his job at Activision Blizzard as a voice actor. Additionally, three major sponsors have severed ties with him.
Facebook has also responded. In a statement, they said:
We expect Facebook Gaming partners to be role models for good behavior. Effective immediately, we have terminated our contract with Jeff Leach and revoked his partner status with Facebook Gaming. We have done the same with NitroLukeDX, based on his behavior in previous streams.
Facebook Gaming
The case of the two streamers is reminiscent of the current controversy surrounding former national football player Dennis Aogo. He had published an SMS message from his colleague at Sky, Jens Lehmann, in which he called him a “quota Black.” Shortly thereafter, Aogo himself got into trouble for using the term “gas chamber.”
Recent discussions about sexism have repeatedly heated the debate in gaming:
The German Twitch scene discovers Rust, immediately triggers a sexism debate
