Luminosity Fortnite streamer Destroy under fire for sexist comments
Many in the Fortnite Battle Royale community have been calling for Luminosity Gaming streamer Alex ‘Destroy’ Benabe to be punished by Twitch and possibly released by the organization for making sexist remarks live on his channel.
Controversy has struck the Fortnite community once again, this time surrounding Twitch partner Destroy, who is on Luminosity’s long roster of content creators and pro players.
Late in the evening on December 29, clips surfaced on Twitter of Destroy making sexist comments while playing wager matches against a female Twitch streamer ‘Demisxxual.’
Destroy pictured after raising $5,000 worth of toys for charity.[ad name=”article1″]
“It’s already tough being a girl in the gaming community,” she tweeted, tagging LG and their founder Steve Maida. “I play the game for fun and play wagers to get better. I played this streamer that has been so toxic to me in the past. I’m getting called a ‘b*tch’ and was told to go ‘cook’ him a sandwich over a game.”
There were two clips that contained damning evidence. In the first, which was before the match started, he was trash-talking against the opposing team, and had some harsh words regarding Demi.
“Are you playing with that clout-chasing f**k?” he said. “Are you playing with that d*ck-rider? I ain’t losing to no b*tch.”
Its already tough being a girl in the gaming community. I play the game for fun and play wagers to get better. I played this streamer that has been so toxic to me in the past. I'm getting called a "Bitch" and was told to go "cook" him a sandwich over game. @Luminosity @stevemaida pic.twitter.com/Nu2PaACCHT
— demisux (@demisxxual) December 30, 2019
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The second clip, which was also tweeted out, was captured during the wager match, and Destroy can be heard making the sexist comments that Demi alluded to in her initial tweet.
“I’m going to be honest with you love, you’re a beast but you honestly have no chance,” he said. “You should be in the kitchen. Go cook me a sandwich, sweetheart.”
This guy is representing your org? Very unprofessional and sad to the fortnite community @luminosity @stevemaida pic.twitter.com/6AH6z7CbUT
— luvstruck (@luvstruckgurl) December 30, 2019
Fortnite community reacts to Destroy’s comments
There has a wide range of reactions to Destroy’s remarks since these clips were first posted on Twitter. Some have expressed that they’re genuinely offended by the whole thing, while others have chalked it all up to just in-game trash-talking.
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That then brings up the question – should he be punished by Twitch? Well, according to the platform’s very own Community Guidelines, he’s broken two rules in the “hateful conduct and harassment” section.
1. Hateful conduct is any content or activity that promotes, encourages, or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment, or violence based on the following characteristics, and is strictly prohibited:
- Race, ethnicity, or national origin
- Religion
- Sex, Gender, or Gender Identity
- Sexual Orientation
- Age
- Disability or Medical Condition
- Physical Characteristics
- Veteran Status
2. Bullying, such as repeated name-calling or attempts to embarrass someone, with the intent to harm.
Furthermore, as most have already pointed out, this situation is almost identical to the one involving former Overwatch pro Dellor.
Earlier this year, Dellor was suspended by Twitch for 30 days and had his partnership revoked for telling a female opponent to “go cook me a sandwich,” among a series of hateful comments.
1st of all @Destroy_215 shouldn’t be banned over this or dropped from @Luminosity! It’s gaming trash talk.
However @dellorlol lost his Twitch partnership for the same thing , so now if he’s not punished @Twitch looks dumb again. https://t.co/bwxShcozy0
— KEEM ? (@KEEMSTAR) December 30, 2019
That said, not everyone has immediately rushed to side with Demi on this, especially after she admitted that she’d herself engaged in some trash-talking prior to the match against Destroy.
“Anything I’ve said to him was about in-game stuff, which EVERYONE does,” she tweeted. “He took it so personal because I called him ass. I’m ass, no reason to call me a b*tch or a clout-chaser to be sexist towards females over a video game.”
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Popular Twitch streamer ‘TrainwrecksTV’ suggested that by leaving out her end of the trask-talk, she had attempted to skew the evidence in her favor while trying “ruin” someone else’s life and career.
>starts the trash talk, but conveniently leaves it out of the clip
>man trash talks back
>can’t take the banter
>posts it on twitter & goes straight for the jugular with cancel culture & ruining his life/career
Here’s a real recap of 2019 https://t.co/bAI1W8n56D
— Trainwreck (@Trainwreckstv) December 30, 2019
Destroy has issued an apology and admitted to being wrong, claiming that what he said was “out of character.”
Yes, I was wrong. Instantly apologized for what happened. Completely came out of character. Trash talk just going to far.
— LG Destroy (@Destroy_215) December 30, 2019
With all of the evidence now out there on social media, and undoubtedly reported to Twitch, the ball is now in their court to decide whether or not Destroy deserves punishment, and if yes, how severe it should be.
As always, we will continue to update this article with the latest news as more information becomes available.
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December 30 update: Luminosity has issued a statement regarding Destroy’s comments, imposing an “undisclosed but meaningful fine” onto the player which will be donated to charity.
“These comments were discriminatory in nature and don’t accurately represent our values as an organization at Luminosity Gaming. We’d like to apologize to anyone affected by these comments and to our fans.”
— Luminosity Gaming (@Luminosity) December 31, 2019
Destroy replied to the organization’s statement, saying “I accept full responsibility for my words. Regardless of the circumstances, trash talk or not, I need to hold myself to a higher standard.”
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