The famed Twitch streamer, Ninja, has added another feather to his cap as he became the first video game player to be on the cover of the ESPN magazine. He even took to Twitter to show how the cover looks and fans and fellow streamers congratulated him on his achievement. However, not everyone is happy about it, as a popular feminist critic also expressed her sentiments over on social media.
Anita Sarkeesian has recently taken notice of Ninja’s tweet about his magazine cover and expressed her dislike of it. In her tweet, she pointed out that Ninja is the guy who said that he won’t play Video Games with female Twitch streamer, adding that ESPN is elevating the status of a misogynist.
Sarkeesian made a follow-up tweet on this, stating that the streamer’s idea of refusing to play video games with women because of the fact that he’s married and doesn’t want to be involved in any form of internet drama, is the most bonkers logic that she’s ever heard. That said, these sentiments have caught the attention of both Ninja fans and netizens.
In Ninja's defense
Well-known YouTuber John Scarce also covered the story and defended Ninja’s logic of playing with female streamers. He didn’t even want to describe who Sarkeesian is in his video. He pointed out to his viewers, that Ninja is not who the feminist thinks he is. The YouTuber added that he does understand Ninja’s standpoint as the streamer just doesn’t want to be involved in any drama.
He went on, saying that such a viewpoint does not mean it has something to do with Ninja hating women.
The journalist Tim Pool (@Timcast) also gave some good points in his response tweet to Sarkeesian. He stated that the streamer is also trying to protect his family from being harassed online. He also recalled Ninja saying something about there being thousands of videos attacking his wife.
So excited to the first professional gamer to be featured on @espn the Magazine. Cover and profile will be shown on Sports Center tomorrow in the 7 AM EST hour. pic.twitter.com/gzlSJihroM
— Ninja (@Ninja) September 18, 2018
wait wait wait isn't this the guy who said he won't play with women? cool cool cool way to go @espn elevating the status of a misogynist. https://t.co/yG6izQIgJC
— Anita Sarkeesian (@anitasarkeesian) September 19, 2018
Didnt he say he didnt want his family to get harassed tho?
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 20, 2018
I think he said something like there will be thousands of videos attacking his wife
The Kimmel roast
In line with this, Ninja’s ESPN cover also got roasted by the late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
The streamer pulled that specific clip in his recent stream and he watched it alongside his fellow gamers. He can even be heard saying, “please don’t make fun of me, please don’t make fun of me Jimmy.” However, Kimmel fired away with the comedic jabs. Ninja’s wife – JGhosty can also be heard on his stream revealing that all of her husband’s sponsors told her that being made fun of by Kimmel is almost as good as being made fun of at “SNL,” adding that it’s like a “you made it moment.”