On Thursday, a prominent online video game streamer was punished by Call of Duty over comments he made in response to a video about Pride. Nicholas Kolcheff, better know by his YouTube name Nickmercs, had his bundle removed from two of the game's most popular versions, Warzone and Modern Warfare II, after suggesting people should “leave little children alone.”
Kolcheff refused to back down, and soon released a video responding to the controversy in which he stood by his statement and explained that it did not come from a place of hate.
The comment that ignited the controversy was posted on Wednesday morning in response to a video showing the violent clash between parents and leftists outside a school board meeting in Glendale, California over LGBTQ-related issues.
“They should leave little children alone,” Kolcheff responded. “That's the real issue.”
The tweet quickly gained traction, and has been seen over 11 million times. On Thursday, it caught the attention of Call of Duty, who announced that they had taken action against Kolcheff.
“Due to recent events, we have removed the ‘NICKMERCS Operator' bundle from the Modern Warfare II and Warzone store,” they said. “We are focused on celebrating PRIDE with our employees and our community.”
Call of Duty was slammed by many on Twitter, including Tim Pool, who referred to the game as “Call of Groomers.”
Pool said Kolcheff's comment was “based.”
Following the news, Kolcheff took to YouTube to offer his thoughts on the matter.
“I saw a tweet and I didn't like what I was seeing,” he began. “I saw parents brawling in front of a f*cking school with kids; I just didn't f*cking like it.”
Kolcheff explained that he and his wife just had a baby, and that being a father had revealed to him that he wanted to live in a world where they, as parents, were the ones talking to their children about issues related to sex and gender.
“I just don't think it's any place for a teacher or a school– I don't think it's the place to speak about things like that,” he continued. “It's not that I think that it shouldn't be spoken about, and if that's what you got from that tweet, you're just wrong … It wasn't an ‘anti-gay' tweet, that wasn't what it was.”
He concluded by telling those who took issue with the tweet that he was “down to agree to disagree,” adding, “if you think I hate you because you're a certain way, you just couldn't be any more wrong.”
