The gaming clan “FaZe” is the largest e-sports organization in the world in terms of social media presence. But last week, there was a public clash within the clan. With Grace Van Dien (“Stranger Things”, “Greenhouse Academy”), a new member has been invited, but the long-standing shooter players of the team believe that the actress does not fit into the clan at all, even though she is successful playing Valorant on Twitch.
What kind of clan is that?
- The FaZe clan has always been focused on social media rather than e-sports. The clan originated in 2010 when it uploaded trickshot videos on YouTube.
- Over the past 13 years, the clan has steadily grown thanks to its star YouTubers, mostly shooter players, and has entered more and more e-sports titles like CS:GO, FIFA, Fortnite, or PUBG.
- In terms of “prize money” from gaming tournaments, FaZe is only ranked 10th (via esportearnings) – but they are huge on social media: They have 5.7 million followers on Twitter alone.
The company has long established itself professionally: The clan is known for its reach on social media and its successful marketing. In 2022, FaZe went public and is now trying to break into the mainstream with large productions reminiscent of TV shows.
Actress shows Valorant on Twitch, joins the FaZe clan
Who is the new member? A new member of the FaZe clan is the actress Grace Van Dien. She is 26, starred in the Netflix series “Greenhouse Academy” and in “The Village”; she was also seen in Season 4 of Stranger Things.
As “FlueFille,” the actress has been active on Twitch since May 2021, playing Valorant, 180 hours last year, and has about 1,700 viewers on average.
In March 2023, she decided to focus more on her streaming career, joining the FaZe clan on May 25, 2023.
Big streamers welcome actress, but men complain
Where is the dispute? The long-standing shooter influencers of FaZe publicly shot against her joining and criticized their own clan.
The FaZe clan only posted “friendly” tweets on Twitter on May 26 from people like Twitch streamer Pokimane, YouTuber Valkyrae, strategist Disgusied Toast, or Valorant boss Tarik.
But beneath the tweet, FaZe Rain (27) complained: “Oh, so you picked them.”
As Kotaku points out, among others, Censor, Banks, and Adapt have negatively commented about the actress. The consensus is:
- Her joining the FaZe clan has nothing to do with her performance in gaming
- FaZe only recruited her to benefit from her Hollywood popularity surrounding Stranger Things
- It is no longer “the FaZe of earlier times”
Even the “FaZe of earlier times” has repeatedly made negative headlines:
Where did the dispute really begin? When the FaZe clan published a statement on June 1 saying that they stand behind Grace Van Dien, one of the shooter players, FaZe Rain, wrote under the clan’s tweet: “Ratio, shut your dumb mouth, Cbass.”
A ratio serves to indicate “displeasure” with a tweet.
The dispute appears to be a continuation of problems that Rain has long had with the clan’s “Social Media Director”, CBass. On May 2, 2023, Rain threatened to leave the FaZe clan if they would not publicly oust Cbass (via dexert).
FaZe Banks also wrote that the “guys had lost their way.”
Dispute escalates until the actress cries
How did the dispute escalate? FaZe Rain apparently had the most problems with Van Dien. He said that the 26-year-old “is an innocent girl” who surely doesn’t even know what it’s all about. She is probably still playing with Barbies.
Van Dien, on the other hand, said in a video that Rain was known for his trick shots in the past, but she mainly knew him because of his drug problems, as he once overdosed while streaming.
Ultimately, they agreed to meet for a personal conversation.
“Are you getting emotional?” – Clarifying conversation escalates
The conversation went completely wrong. The two confronted each other during the meeting:
- Van Dien did apologize for the overdose comment, but confronted Rain about his sexist remarks
- Rain accused her of being unable to handle a comment. Apparently, she lacks self-confidence. Why does it even interest her what he says about her? He understands her, but he is just being honest. After all, she has also shot against him.
- The conversation grew increasingly heated. Van Dien told Rain that she didn’t like him; he is a terrible person. Rain calmly countered: That’s okay with him.
- At one point, when Rain noticed that she was getting teary-eyed, he asked her if she was about to cry – the streamer then broke off the conversation.
At the end of the meeting, Van Dien left the room sobbing and visibly upset, saying as she left that if a video of the conversation was published, she would leave the FaZe clan.
The video was criticized on Twitter for its sexism:
This is how it ended:
- Rain uploaded the video of the meeting on May 30 (via youtube).
- The actress later set her Twitter account to private. The channel is now public again, but the actress has deleted all references to her membership in the FaZe clan.
- FaZe, on the other hand, has transitioned on Twitter to enthusiastically celebrating their championship in Halo.
That was probably a lose-lose situation for all parties involved.
FaZe Rain has long been at odds with his clan. People have been very concerned about him due to his past with drugs. At one point, he was even thrown out of the clan house:
E-sport clan throws YouTuber out of the house after he talks about sensitive deals
