Epic Games has ended its collaboration with an Australian caster for the online shooter Fortnite . During a stream on Twitch, he referred to a player as a “loser”. The caster explains from his perspective what led to his dismissal and why he does not apologize for it.
This is the situation:
- A big tournament final took place in Fortnite on June 26, called the “FNCS All-Star Showdown Solo Finals”. The tournament series has a prize pool of 3 million USD. At the final in Oceania, the winner earned $20,000.
- One of the casters in Australia was fired from the official stream team after he called a player a “fucking loser”.
- The caster Shaun “AussieAntics” Cochrane later explained on Twitch how his dismissal came about and why he does not apologize for his behavior.
A knocked player deliberately targets the leader and kills him
Why was the caster fired? In the tournament in Australia, the player LunR was in the lead. He was on track to win $20,000 in prize money.
Another player was far behind and had no chance of winning. But he seemed to be deliberately hunting LunR. He “landed on him” and killed the leading LunR in a fight.
The caster, “AussieAntics”, who is friends with LunR, then began to complain about the other player for several minutes and direct the chat’s anger at him. He repeatedly called him a “fucking loser” and claimed that “nobody likes him”.
That was the consequence: Epic has dismissed the caster from the official stream team. He violated community guidelines.
How the decision was received: Most Australian fans did not understand Epic’s decision. They were upset that Epic fired one of their favorite casters.
Caster explains why he targeted the player
This is what the caster says: The dismissed caster AussieAntics explains the situation on Twitch from his perspective.
He says he has been friends with LunR for two years. He was the first professional player he met in person. LunR had the chance in the tournament to “earn money that would change his life.”
When the caster saw that a “kid” wanted to “grief” that player, he lost control.
The player who attacked LunR is not named by AussieAntics. He only refers to him as “The Kid”.
AussieAntics says: He called the kid a “loser”. He explained on stream that he just does not understand how someone can be so dull as to ruin another Fortnite player’s chance at so much money. To him, such behavior is clearly “griefing”, even if Epic does not like that word.
However, the caster states: He did not encourage the kid to send hate mail or threaten him on social media. Certainly, he did not urge anyone to send death threats to the player. He distances himself from that, saying he would never do that or condone it.
But Epic interpreted the situation as him using his position of power to direct “hate towards a player”.
The caster explains that he is currently banned from official streams but may possibly work with Epic again in the future.
He repeatedly emphasized that he does not want his community to badmouth Epic Games. Apparently, he wanted to keep the door open to work again for Epic Games, the operators of Fortnite.
Caster knows that an apology would be better for his career – Does not do it
Is the caster remorseful? No, he is not. He says he does not apologize for his behavior. In the past, he has seen how Fortnite players were harassed by griefers and later broke down in tears.
If people misbehave, he will clearly address that. That’s just how he is. And if that ruins his career, then so be it. He cannot change that.
He knows that someone in his position is expected to apologize and express regret. But he does not.
How did the tournament end? LunR actually finished only third. Instead of winning $20,000, he has to settle for $11,000.
Fortnite casters are responsible for explaining and commenting on the sometimes confusing gameplay in Fortnite. At the major Fortnite World Cup 2019, Epic Games enlisted some of its most popular streamers for that. But they have since distanced themselves from Fortnite:
The faces of the 2019 World Cup explain why they no longer play Fortnite
