Fourteen days‘s latest event, Rainbow royale, is supposed to be a festival for the LGBTQ + community. But elsewhere, developer Epic Games decided not to suspend a popular creator for more than a few hours after discovering a story of homophobia. Although the influencer has been reinstated, the situation underscores what some see as the difference between what the big company claims and the actual actions it will take to uphold those beliefs.
Rainbow Royale introduces a range of free rainbow-themed items in both Battle Royale and Creative Modes. Several tracks from LGBTQ + musicians, including Lil Nas X and Big Freedia, have also been added to the in-game radio.
The well-known Fourteen days Player involved in this situation (the Kotaku not naming because of their young age) is known to create one of the game’s most popular user cards. They first landed in hot water with a since-deleted comment lamenting the Rainbow Royale event on Twitter. When pushed, they doubled in size, saying, “I’m not a fanatic but this is against nature,” apparently related to the LGBTQ + theme of the event.
The influencer did not respond to a request for comment.
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Ben Walker, senior writer for the YouTube channel Top5Gaming, pointed out that Fourteen days The creator also liked a picture posted by another Twitter user in response to the event that said, “Fuck fagots, all my homies hate LGBT.”
Although Epic has not made a public statement on the situation, Twitter chatter suggested that the Creator’s Map is a popular battleground, highlighted by Epic only during last month his cosmic summer event– was eventually deactivated. The Creator also had his Support-A-Creator Membership was banned, meaning they could no longer earn a percentage of a particular sale if fans used a unique referral code in the item shop
This prompted the creator to make two apologies, one contained a single tweet and a slightly meatier mea culpa uploaded to Twitlonger. It seems the Twitlonger is a response to the criticism of the former, of which we have fully incorporated the latter below:
“I’m sorry for everyone I said about the Rainbow Royale event and the Lgbtq community. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, I was trying to express my opinion on the event. I understand that it is hurtful to the community and everyone I have hurt is deeply sorry for them. The reason for this was that it is against my religion and that is how I grew up. I will try better in the future and try to keep trying as a Creator. I have a lot to learn and correct. I hope you will give me a second chance, like everyone should. “
A little over an hour later, the creator claimed that Epic had both its card and its Support-A-Creator code (the Kotaku confirmed), which caused a sharp outcry among those who found his apology unsatisfactory and the punishment too lax.
“Simply disappointed that a company found a top-class and highly affine” Fourteen days Creator – who tweeted anti-gay rhetoric and liked puffy tweets – with a slap on the wrist for a couple of hours, ”Ben Walker wrote on twitter. “Just disappointed.”
“Disappointed with Epic Games at the moment,” Tiny, another featured Fourteen days Creator, added. “It touched my heart to see the Rainbow Royale event live. But now I feel laughed at. Do it better.”
“[I]It seems that Epic cares too much about his card’s moves to do the right thing. ” wrote Echo, a third creator. “Disappointing stuff.”
An Epic representative declined to comment.
Clarification 5:14 p.m .: The heading has been changed to better reflect the theme of the story.
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