Brandon “DM Brandon” Nance, a caster at Hi-Rez Studios has resigned after making controversial comments about suicide and verbally abusing a donor who found comfort in Brandon’s content on Twitch.
The donor tipped DM Brandon $5 while he was live-streaming Smite on Twitch. This resulted in the following message to show up on Brandon’s screen from the donor.
“I tried killing myself last August, discovered your videos once I was released, and Smite has become a positive outlet for me. Thanks.”
DM Brandon went on to abuse the donor and received extreme negative backlash for doing so.
“There are a lot of streamers out there that would appreciate that message. I’m just going to call you an a**hole.”
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“It’s a selfish, stupid thing to do.”
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“If you don’t like my opinion about that, you can find someone else to watch who’s gonna tell you killing yourself is okay. “Go f*** yourself, kid.”
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“This constant, ridiculous, self-pity bulls**t”.
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“Everyone has f***ing depression and anxiousness. Everyone has a hard time f***ing waking up, and still a lot of us do it without putting the burden on a lot of other people.
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“There is therapy. There are friends and there are people to help you. And if you decide you are going to end your own life or let this ridiculous debilitating disease ruin your life because you don’t know how to deal with it, well then f***ing good.”
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“It’s good we inspire you to be better people. But it’s not like we don’t have these same problems ourselves. When you say things like, ‘I was gonna kill myself’, why do I want to f***ing hear that? I don’t want to f***ing hear you’re gonna kill yourself. You’re putting a burden on me I don’t deserve.”
You can watch the clip below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-nUigOMRwc
DM Brandon has since resigned from Hi-Rez Studios and issued an apology.
My apology and a look into the real me.
Read: https://t.co/DH7HV0FlzH
— Brandon — Protest. Donate. (@juiceDiem) April 20, 2016
Hi-Rez also released the following statement to Eurogamer earlier today.
“At Hi-Rez, we care about our community deeply and we take topics like suicide, depression and mental illness not lightly. All our employees are free in their opinions, but when people don’t respect the values we stand for as a company, we treat it seriously.If any good comes from this episode, we hope it shines a light on mental illness issues, and the need for broader education, support and open conversation about how these devastating illnesses are perceived and discussed in our society. All of us have important people in our lives that have been touched by mental illness. How we talk about these diseases is important.”
If you or anyone you know is currently suffering mental health illness please seek support from the services listed below.
United Kingdom:
Rethink advice and information service (10am-1pm) – 0300 5000 927
Samaritans service (24 Hours): 116 123
Australia:
BeyondBlue support service – 1300 22 4636
United States:
Crisis Call Center (24 Hours)- 1-800-273-8255
