NICKMERCS Pride controversy explained: What did he say & why did CoD remove his skin? Instagram: NICKMERCSNICKMERCS posted a response to a Pride Month protest, which resulted in both backlash and support for the streamer, and eventually, Call of Duty removed his skin from the game. Here\u2019s everything that happened. NICKMERCS is one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, regularly pulling in more than 20,000 viewers on any given stream. He is best known for playing shooter games and battle royales like Call of Duty and Apex Legends. A skilled player and an excellent entertainer, he has amassed a large following, with millions of loyal fans, dubbed MFAM (mercs fam). It\u2019s fair to say that he has never been a particularly controversial streamer, but this changed on June 7, when he made a short but notable tweet. Contents What did NICKMERCS tweet? – How did he respond? – CoD removes NICKMERCS operator – Nick breaks silence on Operator removal – TimTheTatman requests his skin is removed – Nick\u2019s following increases – Nick returns to streaming – What did NICKMERCS tweet about Pride Month? Responding to a tweet about Pride Month being recognized in a school, which had resulted in a brawl and three arrests, NICKMERCS said, \u201cThey should leave the little kids out of it. That\u2019s the real issue.\u201d The backlash to this comment was swift, with many in the gaming community calling him a \u201cbigot\u201d and labeling the tweet \u201canti-LGBTQ.\u201d Their argument is that Pride is important in schools and that NICKMERCS was parroting dangerous rhetoric that implies teaching children about sexuality is akin to grooming. However, many others took NICKMERCS\u2019 side of the debate, citing that he has just had a child, and arguing that it is for parents to choose how and when to have those conversations with children, rather than teachers. How did NICKMERCS respond? On his stream the next day, Nick took a few minutes at the outset to address his tweet. He said that he had not intended to hurt anyone, but recognized that he had. However, he stopped short of apologizing for the tweet, and said he stood by what he said. \u201cI don\u2019t have any quarrel with people on the internet. It wasn\u2019t an anti \u2014 I guess \u2014 gay tweet. That wasn\u2019t what it was. If you think that I hate you because you\u2019re a certain way, you couldn\u2019t be any more wrong.\u201d Nick did apologize to esports caster Puckett however. Puckett\u2019s tweet is what he had initially replied to, and Nick felt bad for causing chaos in his replies, and having those who took Nick\u2019s side insult him. Call of Duty removes NICKMERCS operator A matter of hours after Nick\u2019s response to the controversy, players noticed that his operator bundle was no longer available in Call of Duty, in either Warzone 2 or Modern Warfare 2. Activision soon confirmed that they had removed the skin, \u201cdue to recent events.\u201d \u201cWe are focused on celebrating PRIDE with our employees and our community,\u201d they concluded. Players who already owned the skin can, at least at the time of writing, still use it in-game. In response, some CoD players suggested they would uninstall the game or simply stop playing it in protest of Activision\u2019s decision. Others, though, applauded Activision for taking action in the face of the backlash. NICKMERCS breaks silence following his operator being removed The day after his Operator was removed from the in-game store, NICKMERCS put out a statement on Twitter that didn\u2019t directly address the situation. Rather, he thanked those who had his back through the controversy. He spoke fondly of those who stuck with him, and claimed that \u201cfriends are created in good times, but families are built through adversity.\u201d And, while he didn\u2019t double down on his initial tweet here, he also didn\u2019t retract it. TimTheTatman requests CoD remove his skin too In a move of solidarity with his friend, TimTheTatman publicly requested that Call of Duty remove his skin from the game too. He said that they had been added together, and that he didn\u2019t feel right having his skin while Nick\u2019s was removed. Call of Duty obliged, and neither operator bundle is available in the store, for Warzone or Modern Warfare 2. NICKMERCS following shoots up amid controversy As of June 12, NICKMERCS gained around 50,000 new Twitter followers, in the fallout of the controversy. Although some people also said they were unfollowing the creator, clearly the attention has earned him some new fans too, as well as perhaps some who just want to see what all the fuss is about. Whether or not NICKMERCS\u2019 Operator skin comes back to the in-game store remains to be seen. He is yet to stream since his last broadcast on June 9. NICK announces return to streaming After more than 10 days away from social media, NICKMERCS returned on June 18, posting a father\u2019s day message, and confirming when he would be streaming again. On Instagram, he plainly stated, \u201cstreams are back tomorrow, cya soon gang.\u201d This means he\u2019s due back on Twitch at some point on June 19. Whether he addresses the controversy again, or proceeds as if it\u2019s all behind him, remains to be seen. We\u2019ll keep you updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NICKMERCS Pride controversy explained: What did he say & why did CoD remove his skin? Instagram: NICKMERCSNICKMERCS posted a response to a Pride Month protest, which resulted in both backlash and support for the streamer, and eventually, Call of Duty removed his skin from the game. Here\u2019s everything that happened. NICKMERCS is one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}