Fornite player Zexrow took home the gold in the first week of Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite, but thanks to a foul mouth rant in the post-show interview, he won’t be coming back next week.
TSM trio ZexRow, TSM MackWood, and Yung Calculator took the top spot in the first week of Ninja’s new Fornite tournament series. The 6 week invitational, called Ninja Battles, is hosted exclusively on Mixer and has a total prize pool of $480,000, or $80,000 each week.
In a post-tournament interview, ZexRow was asked if he had anything to plug. He decided to instead unleash the full force of his toxic gamer rage at the sh*t talkers below 10th place. Watch the explicit clip below:
Zexrow has since apologized for the use of foul language. In a twitlonger, Zexrow apologized to both Ninja and the tournament organizers for his immature actions. He also made a more general apology in a tweet, saying that he forgot parents were watching and that he’s sorry. Ninja responded by congratulating him for his first and last placement in the series.
It was a poor way to represent both the tournament and his team TSM, and could be used to hurt the legitimacy or the sport. Fans have been critical of Zexrow’s toxic remarks, and called for action not just from Ninja, but from TSM as well.
In response, Zexrow tweeted that he’ll be asking TSM to release him from the team. In a tweet, Zexrow calls himself a “PR nightmare” for TSM.
TSM’s CEO Andy Dinh made a statement earlier today condemning ZexRow’s behavior. Andy explains that TSM is fining ZexRow one month’s salary and that if he ever exhibits this kind of behavior again TSM will be forced to part ways with him.
ZexRow’s teammates have also weighed in on the controversy. Mackwood tweeted in solidarity with ZexRow, saying “If ZexRow leaves, I leave.” Later he tweeted that Stretch would be replacing ZexRow for the remaining weeks of the tournament series
Yung Calculator was a bit less supportive of ZexRow, tweeting that the whole thing damages the reputation of all three of them, something he has been working hard to repair.