Gamers Demand Boycott After Streamer Punished For Saying ‘Leave Children Alone’

Activision, the company behind the popular “Call of Duty” game series, is facing a boycott from gamers after it removed a product connected to popular streamer Nickmercs after he dared to suggest that children should be protected from radical gender ideology.

Nickmercs, whose real name is Nicholas Kolcheff, made the comment in response to a misrepresentation of the ongoing protests in Glendale, California — where parents demonstrated outside of a school board meeting against the school district pushing radical gender ideology and “Pride Month” celebrations on elementary school children.

While the left claims that conservatives and parents are fighting against the rights of LGBT people, the real issue these groups are concerned with is the constant push to teach children about things that are not appropriate for their age — including explicit material in books and the insistence that children can change their gender. Parents at the Glendale school board meeting were especially angry about the school district refusing to provide an option to opt out of these lessons for their kids.

However, the leftist that Nickmercs replied to on Twitter suggested that these protesters were against letting people “love who they love.”

“Americans are in a sad place right now. Let people love who they love and live your own life,” the Twitter user wrote, sharing a video of a brawl between the parents and radical pro-transgender Antifa activists with an incorrect caption that claimed “Anti-LGBT protestors attack Pro-LGBT demonstrators outside of a Glendale, CA schoolboard meeting.”

In response to the tweet, Nickmercs pointed out the “real issue.”

“They should leave little children alone. That’s the real issue,” the popular streamer replied.

While the simple comment was far from being bigoted or offensive, developers responded almost immediately by removing the “skin” that allows gamers to play as a character resembling Nickmercs.

The “skin” was part of the streamer’s in-game bundle from “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” and “Warzone 2.”

“Due to recent events, we have removed the ‘NICKMERCS Operator’ bundle from the Modern Warfare II and Warzone store. We are focused on celebrating PRIDE with our employees and our community,” Call of Duty announced.

Nickmercs responded to the company’s decision — but refused to apologize or back down.

“I didn’t mean to upset anybody, I know that I did. I’m not apologizing about the tweet, because I don’t feel like it’s wrong. I’m going to stand by what I said, I’m not going to delete the tweet I just want to make sure everyone understands the point I was trying to make by tweeting my response,” he said, according to Fox News.

He also commented on the issue on Twitter, writing: “Friends are created in good times, but families are built through adversity. Appreciate all of you that have my back, understand my position as a new father & recognize the love I have for all. Ain’t no hate in this heart.”

Gamers are now fighting back against the company’s move, with some declaring the Call of Duty game “the next Bud Light” — referring to the ongoing boycott of Bud Light for partnering with controversial transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which caused the company to lose a significant portion of their market value and their sales numbers to plummet.

Several prominent Call of Duty players have since uninstalled the game in a show of solidarity with Nickmercs, and people have begun standing up for the popular streamer on social media — causing the hashtag #IStandWithNICKMERCS to trend on Twitter.

“This is where I uninstall all Activision & Call of Duty games/products. #MFAM #IStandWithNickmercs,” said another streamer, RICKMA.

SantanaTheGuy, another streamer, condemned the video game company for focusing on politics rather than working on the game itself.

“When a video game decides to start taking political sides instead of fixing the game you know well that ain’t right!” he said.

Former Call of Duty developer and popular streamer Dr Disrespect also spoke out against Activision’s decision to punish Nickmercs for speech — calling the company “pathetic” and questioning their decision-making.

“Who’s running Call of Duty PR and Marketing now? Same people from the purple snakes? Pathetic,” Dr Disrespect tweeted, using his nickname “purple snakes” for the streaming platform Twitch and its management team — who are also facing backlash for recent decisions made by the company.

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