Ninja addresses controversy over Polygon interview and his stance on streaming with women

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is addressing critics on Twitter who are accusing him of sexism toward women on Twitch.

Polygon published an article this past weekend titled “Ninja explains his choice not to stream with female gamers,” and Ninja has received endless criticism from the Twitch community over the past couple days. Blevins, who celebrated his wedding anniversary yesterday, told Polygon that “the only way to avoid [gossip] is to not play with [female streamers] at all,” so that he can protect his marriage.

Ninja emphasized that people misconstrued his words almost entirely, and that his marriage is something that he values greatly. The “gossip” that he’s trying to prevent is meant to stop the internet from assuming he’s flirting with other female streamers. Fellow Twitch streamers Ali “Myth” Kabbani and Imane “Pokimane” Anys have fallen victim to endless clickbait and rumors over a romantic relationship that is unclear to the public eye.

“While I understand some people have implied my views mean I have something against playing with women, I want to make the issue I’m addressing is online harassment and my attempt to minimize it from our life,” Ninja said on Twitter today. “It is something that affects all streamers, especially ones that make their relationships public. I wanted to bring attention to this issue and my comments should not be characterized as anything beyond that.”

He went on to promote other notable female Twitch streamers later in his statement. “I look forward to the opportunity to meet and play with all kinds of Fortnite players in future tournaments and events,” he concluded.

Earlier this week, Ninja addressed trolls on Twitter to defend his stance on the matter. “I see nothing wrong with wanting to limit as much drama in my relationship as possible,” he said. “Especially where every little thing I say is turned into a clip and clickbaited on YouTube… I say nothing negative about female streamers… [I’m] a married man who has everything to lose and the internet never helps.”