Boycott starts as Call of Duty removes Nickmercs skin for anti-Pride comment
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Fans have started boycotting Call of Duty after Activision removed the virtual skin of popular streamer Nickmercs. The publisher removed his skin bundle after he tweeted about a Pride incident that was interpreted as anti-LGBTQ+.
Nickmercs, (Nick Kolcheff) a celebrity streamer with 15 million followers,got his own skin in Warzone’s Season 3.5 launch on June 1.
The controversial tweet was reply to esports commentator Chris Puckett, who was commenting on a brawl between pro-LGBTQ+ and anti-LGBTQ+ activists. The fight started over a Pride Month controversy at a California school board hearing.
“Americans are in a sad place right now,” Puckett wrote regarding the brawl footage. “Leave Our Kids Alone” t-shirts taking swings at pro-LGBTQ+ activists. “Let people love who they love and live your own life.”
“They should leave little children alone,” Kolcheff replied, “That’s the real issue.”
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>They should leave little children alone. That’s the real issue.There were comments both in favor and against the removal. Dr. Disrespect, another popular streamer with millions of followers, said he would uninstall Call of Duty in response to Activision removing the skin.
Activision removed of the Nickmercs bundle from both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2. The company added, “We are focused on celebrating Pride with our employees and our community.”
In a livestream, Nickmercs said it “wasn’t an anti-gay tweet.” He said the video bothered him as he didn’t think it was a “thing for teachers to talk about.” As new parents, he said that he and his wife “want to be the ones to talk to our
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