Games Done Quick, a charity video game speedrun marathon, has banned two speedrunners for prejudiced comments. A Discord conversation between several speedrunners was brought to GDQ’s attention, which later implemented the ban last night after earlier hesitation.
A speedrunner named Andrea posted a Twitter thread yesterday that contained a number of screenshots of the Discord chat between R. White Goose and Grav. R White Goose, Grav, and several others. It contained some sexist and transphobic comments, and made references to Nazi Germany rhetoric in regards to Jewish people.
Games Done Quick initially did not take action, saying the group could not verify the screenshots. Members of the GDQ community began calling the organizers out, and saw to it that GDQ reversed their decision. One Twitter user said, “I haven’t missed a GDQ in years, and I don’t want this to be the first, but a complete lack of action on your part on this issue is making it really hard for me to justify watching.”
Following the community’s response, the organization released a statement.
“After receiving additional information on the situation that was brought to our attention today, we were able to confirm the authenticity of the screenshots we received,” the statement read. “As such, the people in question will not be representing us at any GDQ events indefinitely.”
R White Goose posted his own statement on Twitter following the ban, saying that he no longer agrees with the stances he made in the leaked screenshots. He ended his apology with, “I completely understand GDQ’s decision regarding this matter.”
On the other hand, Grav tweeted “when your wrongthink gets you more followers than your GDQ run would have got” in response to the ban. Less than 15 minutes before that tweet, Grav tweeted “gay,” which was also likely a response to the ban.
It should be noted that the speedrunner Andrea who brought these screenshots forward is not without her own controversies. Andrea, also known as cyberdemon531, and on Twitter as pizzaparty531, was banned from GDQ after wearing a MAGA hat during her Mega Man X6 speedrun at AGDQ 2017. Andrea has also been banned from Twitch, and had her cyberdemon531 account banned from Twitter. Her personal website has a FAQ regarding these bans, and others, although no information is given there.
In any case, Games Done Quick continues to make strives in being a positive force in the video game community, raising millions for charity over the years.
Image Credit: AGDQ
