Gamer and Twitch streamer Ninja has come under fire by fans accusing him of implying a mental health crisis before promoting his return to streaming.
The Fortnite player, whose real name is Richard Tyler Blevins, made a name for himself on the streaming platform Twitch and has since set records for the amount of fans he's garnered on streams.
He is known for having played Fortnite with Drake and has racked up more than 18 million followers on his Twitch channel, but on 1 September he suddenly quit his game of Fortnite and announced a seemingly impromptu hiatus.
"Can’t do anymore dude, I can’t," he said at the time. "I’m f*cking sick of this, dude. I’m sick of these f*cking players spamming rifts. I’ve had enough, man. I’m leaving.”
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Ninja later took to Twitter to tell his followers he needed a break from streaming, and caused further concern when he dropped his partner verification status on Twitch.
Fans were left questioning what was to become of the gamer, but yesterday (8 September) he made a sudden return with the announcement that he would no longer be streaming to Twitch exclusively, and would now be available across a range of platforms.
Starting today, Ninja will return to streaming across Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. It's a big change for the streamer, but a lot of internet users have slammed the way he went about the announcement.
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Ninja's abrupt exist from streaming, announcement that he needed a break and news that he didn't know when he would be returning prompted many to believe he may be struggling with his mental health, with some noting that the news came at the start of Suicide Prevention Month, which takes place in September.
As a result, fans have been frustrated to learn his break was actually an apparent PR stunt, with one person writing: "You made a post like this, which insinuates that you're going through something with your mental health. Only to use it as an advertisement tactic that you're going to multistream now."
Another frustrated Twitter user agreed, writing: "I thought it was something super serious when he made that tweet on the first day of 'Suicide Prevention Month'. To find out it was just a PR stunt disgusts me."
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Ninja does not appear to have publicly responded to the criticism at the time of writing, though he has acknowledged some Twitter users who expressed excitement for his new streaming plans.
UNILAD has reached out to Ninja for comment.
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Emily Brown