Former pro Gears of War player Nick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff received his first ever ban from Twitch after using a transphobic slur during a recent stream, commemorating another Pride Month with his annual anti-LGBTQ+ bullshit.
“Banned for using the word ‘Tranny’ on Twitch,” he tweeted on June 28. “Apparently that’s a derogatory term. That’s on me. Next time I’ll use mental health disorder.”
During 2023's Pride Month, the FaZe Clan member criticized transgender rights protesters in Florida, tweeting, “They should leave little children alone.” It was a transphobic dogwhistle with roots in the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” movement which pushed to ban people from acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ+ people in schools. Activision pulled Kolcheff’s in-game skin from Call of Duty as a result.
While Kolcheff has claimed not to be bigot in the past, he recently said on one of his Elden Ring streams that “there’s no such thing as trans people.” And just a week ago, he attacked MrBeast contributor Ava Kris Tyson, who is a trans woman. She quote-tweeted a video of Kolcheff defending Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm from newly surfaced allegations that he “sexted” a minor on June 22. “’Protect the kids crowd’ when someone is a loving parent vs when their boy is currently facing SA accusations,” she wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Kolcheff responded. “Leaving behind your wife & child, to play pretend. One day you’ll wake up, and realize what you’ve done.”
MrBeast supported Tyson, calling her a great parent, while others dunked on Kolcheff for being a disingenuous loser. Kolcheff later backpedaled his support of Beahm when his fellow Call of Duty streamer admitted to exchanging “inappropriate” messages with an underage Twitch user. Kotaku reached out to Twitch for comment regarding Kolcheff’s ban and will update this story accordingly.
Update 7/8/2024 3:36 p.m. ET: In his return to Twitch following the ban, Kolcheff claimed he wasn’t aware that slur was a “derogatory” term. “They were saying it’s like the fucking n-word, I didn’t fucking know that,” he said during the recent stream.
Kolcheff didn’t deny spouting intentionally transphobic remarks elsewhere during the stream. “I stand by everything I said,” he told his followers.