Ninja Takes Another Dig At Ninja Battles Fiasco
Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite continued this week, with players EmadGG, Commandment, and Bizzle ranking first place. Ninja took to his Twitter account to congratulate everyone who participated in the latest battle, but he also ended with some interesting words of wisdom.
Ninja made sure to give plenty of shoutouts to the winners of this week's matches. He also had some kind words of congratulations for his frequent collaborators Nadeshot and Reverse2k. Ninja also seemed very excited by the prospect of the new season of Fortnite premiering next week, which should switch things up quite a bit for the Battles series going forward.
However, Ninja also had some very pointed words to say on the nature of good sportsmanship. In fact, it seemed that Ninja's closing remarks were pointed directly at a former contestant of the Ninja Battles series.
"Just wanna give you guys one last quick piece of advice, to people who participate in this tournament, or participate in any tournaments, um, that you guys are invited to," Ninja said.
He appeared to take a moment to gather his thoughts and continued, "Whenever you have an opportunity like this ... to showcase your talent and who you are on a bigger platform ... You have a chance to show the world and an entirely new audience who doesn't know you: who you are, the type of player you are, how talented you are ... you just have to take full advantage of it. Right, just be respectful ... and make the future [version of] you ... look back and be like, 'I'm proud of that interview.'"
The first chunk of this quote could easily be taken as decent advice for any player looking to join the big leagues. However, it comes across as especially pointed if you're familiar with the controversy surrounding the first week of Ninja Battles.
During the inaugural episode of Ninja Battles, TSM's ZexRow was giving a post-game interview when he dropped some particularly offensive language on viewers. Not only did he swear up a storm, but his decision to call the people who ranked under him "dogsh-t and braindead" was seen as extremely unsportsmanlike.
Shortly after the interview aired, Ninja tweeted at ZexRow on Twitter regarding the incident. In no uncertain terms, Ninja informed him that he was banned from future Ninja Battles, writing, "Congrats on your first and last Ninja battles placement!"
Since then, ZexRow has faced further disciplinary action for his comments. He has apologized for swearing in front of younger viewers and parents, as well as for being disrespectful towards the other players. He also expressed to his Twitter followers that he would ask TSM to sever him from the team's roster.
However, TSM decided to go in a different route. On a post to TSM's Twitter account, team CEO Andy Dinh told fans, "We are extremely disappointed in the comments made by Anthony 'ZexRow' Colandro and take this matter very seriously. Effective immediately, he has been fined one month's salary. His behavior was absolutely inappropriate, and does not represent the values of TSM or our brand partners."
It's a pretty commendable move for Ninja to take the time to encourage the people participating in Ninja Battles, as well as though watching, to carry themselves in a more positive and constructive manner. Ninja is no stranger to controversy himself, so it also feels like he's taking the opportunity to speak from experience.
On another positive note, it was probably a nice moment for fans to hear Ninja giving props to Reverse2k, particularly since the two of them had a bit of an ugly split earlier this year. Following an argument related to Reverse seemingly throwing shade on Ninja's move to Mixer, the two parted ways and haven't been streaming together. In fact, Ninja's Fortnite Duos partner for the last few months has been SypherPK. In other words, it was a good sign that the two have maybe let bygones be bygones.
Ninja appears to be trying to create a more positive culture surrounding the Ninja Battles series. Hopefully that will last through the rest of the season. It's a shame that the series got off to such a rough start with the negative comments from ZexRow, but it sure seems as though Ninja isn't going to tolerate any further outbursts like that. At the very least, the parents of young kids watching the Ninja Battles series should be happy to know that comments like the ones made by ZexRow are being actively discouraged.
Fans seem to also be very pleased with how Ninja is running the Ninja Battles series. There are multiple comments from fans commending Ninja on his efforts. One person wrote, "these are way better than actual tournaments, no ones griefing and everyone's having fun."
Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite airs on Ninja's Mixer channel every Thursday at 12 p.m. PT.