PCGamesN Apologizes For Framing Richard Lewis As A Toxic Esport Personality
On 30 November 2017 PCGamesN published an article titled “The esports industry has a problem with who it is choosing to represent it.” written by Hannah Dwan. the article tries to showcase the problem with Esports and claims that the personalities and talent who represent Esport to the world are misogynist, racist, homophobic, and/or transphobic views and are even violent.
In the article, Dwan gives examples of known figures like Richard Lewis and Duncan “Thorin” Shields both of whom are celebrated Esport casters, journalists, and analysts. she claims both of the casters harbor racist, sexist and violent views.
The article received massive backlash from the community with negative feedback on their twitter page.
this is a pathetic attempt to ignore years of hard work over what amounts to minor incidents for both. unlike most people who hide their flaws by never voicing any opinions, you actually do know what these guys think, and it doesn’t seem all that wrong to me.
— lurppis (@lurppis) November 30, 2017
the irony is that duncan and richard have more integrity in their own work and content than the “journalist” that decided to try to hide her own personal perceptions and opinions as a journalistic piece. this article is straight garbage with obviously no research or work done
— Jason O’Toole (@OnFireMoses) November 30, 2017
No one in esports has feuded with @RLewisReports and @Thooorin more than me, including time I wasn’t allowed to talk. On all things esports; journalistic ethics and sociopolitical issues. Battles no one else will take. And I think the PCGamesN article is trite and misleading.
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) November 30, 2017
That @PCGamesN hit piece was complete bullshit. @RLewisReports is legit a giant teddy bear, pulled me out of the depths of esports hell and helped me get treatment for all my mental and medical problems that everyone else in esports ignored. Don’t publish trash, he’s a legend
— Maria (@idolMariya) November 30, 2017
But even during the backlash instead of thinking about what is wrong with the article PCGamesN deputy editor Julian Benson said that he is proud of the article.
I’m extremely proud of @PCGamesN that it can be a place where we publish pieces like this https://t.co/D8okRCCoKF pic.twitter.com/x3Kv6wT4Gn
— Julian Benson (@jBenson) November 30, 2017
Well, Richard Lewis was not happy about the article and took legal steps against PCGamesN and they had to release an official apology to Richard Lewis. you can check out their official statement below
On Friday we published an article regarding representation in esports. The article made mention of esports journalist Richard Lewis, citing actions in his past.
We have come to accept that there was ambiguity in the language we used, and that the incidents we cited with regards to Mr. Lewis are not sufficient to constitute a ‘violent past’. There was also never any intention to label Mr. Lewis racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or transphobic.
We apologise for the ambiguity and any difficulty that this has caused
One thing to note is that they never apologized to Thorin and CS:GO community on Reddit is certainly not happy with the PCGamesN approach. many claimed that they only apologized because they felt the pressure of defamation lawsuit.
The beef between Lewis and PCGamesN may have ended for now. but Lewis in his tweet has clearly mentioned that if anyone tries to smear him with lies he will deal with them in a similar manner.