The FIFA esports community has reacted angrily to racist comments made by UK-based streamer Lewis Maynard AKA LAMaynard.
He posted a Twitter thread earlier this week exposing racism in the FIFA community and naming several players and community members who have publicly and privately engaged in racist behavior.
As detailed in his Twitter thread below, LAMaynard has received racist abuse in his Twitch chat from a fake account. The streamer, who has over 20,000 followers across multiple platforms, discovered who was behind the profile and has gone on to expose several other members of the community.
Lewis mentioned several members of the community in the thread, along with their racist remarks. @Vert7_, @xkaylebrink, @zgaaav_ (Gaav), @preezur, @hcrxig, @ykseven_, @xTomLs_, @RobbieWilsonn_, @rutgerkalmeijer, @msmulderss (Max Smulders), @msmulderss (Max Smulders), and @joshskillzy are among them.
Max Smulders, Preezur, xTomLs, and Joshskillzy have all issued public apologies on social media (whose mother attempted to defend him in a now-deleted post saying he responded inappropriately after receiving death threats).
In regards to the alleged death threats, Esports News UK understands that Joshskillzy was responding to Preezur’s abuse at the time, and that the apparent death threats came after Lewis had published the racist tweets, not before.
After removing one of the exposed players, Robbie ‘RobbieWilsonn_’ Wilson, from their team, LDN UTD issued the following update.
LDN UTD also has their UTD Against Racism initiative, which has previously included collaborations with Leyton Orient FC and the Rio Ferdinand Foundation.
Bundled, a Dutch organization, has yet to comment on the situation. Pro players and other community members also weighed in on the situation.
Harry Hesketh, a former FIFA player from the United Kingdom, retired from competitive play after receiving an EA suspension for making comments about another player’s mother.
FIFA game publisher EA announced in March 2021 that it had banned over 9,000 accounts due to racist and inappropriate content. After losing a FIFA game with a virtual version of former footballer Ian Wright, a FIFA player was banned for life by EA after sending racist messages to him on Instagram. EA previously stated that it would do more to combat racist content in FIFA and football games.