A Spanish speedrunner who was helping to raise money for the speedrunning charity Games Done Quick (GDQ) has been banned from its annual Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) event after Twitter users and journalists complained about his criticism of “feminazism.” Games Done Quick were raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
Before Luzbelheim started his speedrun of Final Fantasy VIII at AGDQ, Twitter users dug through his Twitter profile and complained about his bio, which says “I hate feminazism,” and a tweet that supported the economic policy of right-wing political party VOX. VOX is a Spanish political party and Spain’s third most popular party in terms of vote share.
Luzbelheim has clarified that he’s using the term to describe “pseudofeminists” and that he doesn’t hate feminism. He added that the people criticizing his tweets know “nothing about Spain politics.”
Regardless, once the Twitter thread started to gain some traction, The Gamer and The Daily Dot published articles amping up the pressure on GDQ by claiming that Luzbelheim is “a far-right ultra-nationalist” and a streamer with “bigoted views.” The Daily Dot even contacted GDQ directly and said in its article that “it’s baffling that the vetting process it has in place allowed Luzbelheim to make it to stream.”
Luzbelheim responded to the articles saying that they were lying and being willfully ignorant but shortly after they were published, Luzbelheim was given an 18-month ban from AGDQ.
People have rallied behind Luzbelheim in the wake of the ban.
“GDQ bans just seem like reactions to callout posts rather than well thought out decisions based on a consistent set of criteria,” said one user.
https://twitter.com/wooferzfg/status/1215688339610836992
Another user described the ban as “stupid” but “not really surprising.”
Others responded to the ban with a sense of sarcasm: “This just in: GDQ should start screening all runners by making them declare their political party. Any registered republicans are hereby banned from the event because this is now a political event, not a charity speedrunning marathon.”
While GDQ hasn’t publicly commented on the ban, the timing suggests that it’s another example of a creator getting canceled in response to online complaints.
Public figures are increasingly speaking out about the dangers of cancel culture. YouTuber and podcaster True Geordie said he had suicidal thoughts when an online mob tried to end his career. Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard also said that cancel culture creates a “culture of fear.”
Despite these warnings about the impact of cancel culture, many still actively embrace and encourage the idea that people should be canceled for having different ideas of opposing opinions.
