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Activision removed a Nickmercs’ recently released skin from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone following controversial comments the streamer made on the LGBTQ+ community.
The skin was taken down overnight, which was noticed by popular Call of Duty fan account CharlieIntel. Just minutes later, the official Call of Duty Twitter account responded with an official statement on the matter. “Due to recent events, we have removed the ‘NICKMERCS Operator’ bundle from the Modern Warfare and Warzone store. We are focused on celebrating PRIDE with our employees and our community.”
The recent events in question appear to be related to a tweet the streamer made in response to a video posted by MLG executive Chris Puckett of a brawl outside of a school in the US (consider this your content warning for this link). The Faze clan member’s response appeared to take issue with children being educated on LGBTQIA+ issues in schools. “They should leave little children alone. That’s the real issue.”
His comments drew ire from much of the Call of Duty community, including many streamers and CoD e-sports players, especially with the timing during Pride Week. Those pushing back even included the original poster Puckett himself who said “Who is this they and what terrible act is everyone afraid of? I think/hope the goal of most of “them” is to reduce child suicides. This is done through acceptance and removing the stigma of feeling/being different. As a dad, I’m struggling to see the harm.”
Nickmercs would take to his Twitch the following day to attempt to explain his actions, as per Dextero, claiming that he “didn’t mean to upset anybody” but said he stood by his tweet, saying “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. It’s not that I think it shouldn’t be spoken about. If that’s what you got from that tweet, then you’re just wrong.”
It seems that Activision disagreed with Nick’s assessment, and the bundle – which originally went live alongside a similar operator bundle for TimTheTatman just last week on May 31 – is now no longer available from the Call of Duty store on Modern Warfare 2 or Warzone.
Speaking of MW2 and Warzone, Season 4 of the shooter is set to launch next week, including a brand new map and the return of 10 v 10 matches.
If anyone is in need of LGBTQIA+ support, The Trevor Project offers hotlines in the US, and Switchboard is for the UK.
