NICKMERCS’ Call of Duty skin was removed from Warzone on June 8. That has led many to ask f he is banned as well.
It is a valid question too. This is a unique situation and I found myself asking the same question because of the unusual nature of a popular Twitch streamer having their in-game skin removed from a game in such a public manner. So in this article, I will give you the rundown about whether Nick has been banned, as well as what he said that led to his CoD skin being removed by Activision.
Was NICKMERCS banned from CoD and Twitch?
As far as I can tell, NICKMERCS has not been banned on Call of Duty. He has not said anything about his account being banned despite his skin and the bundle being removed. When the official Call of Duty Twitter account announced the developers had removed Nick’s skin, it did not say he was banned from the game.
I can definitively tell you that at the time of writing, NICKMERCS is not banned on Twitch. His channel is completely accessible and normal, although he hasn’t gone live since June 8, before his CoD skin was removed.
What did NICKMERCS say?
On June 7, Chris Puckett, a well-known esports broadcast talent who is currently the Call of Duty League’s desk host, reacted to a video of anti-LGBTQ+ protestors purportedly attacking pro-LGBTQ+ demonstrators in Glendale, California, amid a schoolboard vote about whether it should recognize June as Pride month. Puckett seemingly showed empathy for the LGBTQ+ community and specifically the demonstrators who were attacked. He said “Americans are in a sad place right now” and that everyone should “let people love who they love and live your own life.”
NICKMERCS responded to Puckett’s tweet:
“They should leave little children alone. That’s the real issue,” Nick said.
Nick faced heavy criticism for the tweet, which repeated a sentiment many conservative politicians have expressed when accusing LGBTQ+ people of either “brainwashing” children into a “gay agenda” or disproportionately sexually assaulting children. On his stream, Nick said that while he did not mean to harm anyone with the tweet, he does not believe a school is a place to “speak about things like that,” presumably meaning sexual orientation and gender identity.
He also said he would not apologize to anyone besides Puckett and stands by the tweet’s message. He reiterated that he does not hate gay people but that he and his wife want to discuss “stuff like that” with their child when the time is right.
Hours after Nick explained his stance on his Twitch stream, Activision removed his skin from Warzone. TimTheTatman, who received a Warzone skin at the same time as Nick, asked Activision to remove his skin from the game as well. Activision obliged, leading some fans to wonder if creator skins will ever return in Call of Duty after this debacle.
