When Ubisoft announced that Rainbow Six Siege’s new Operator Flores is openly gay, some fans weren’t pleased. G2 Esports’ Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodriguez and pro player Niclas ‘Pengu’ Mouritzen are among a host of personalities to hit back at the outrage.
[jwplayer RTGFN5k4]
When it comes to Rainbow Six Siege there has always been the internal issue of toxicity and flaming. While most players jump into game and don’t bother their teammates, there’s always that one person who feels the need to ruin everyone else’s fun.
The effect that this has on players is no more apparent than in the situation of caster Jessica ‘Jess’ Bolden, who has chosen not to stream the title again due to threats of severe sexual assault and racial slurs.
It appears that the toxic sector of the community has reared its ugly head once again, as homophobic reactions to new Operator Flores have caused some of the title’s most famous faces to slam the Rainbow Six fandom.
R6 pros and casters hit back at fans
Ubisoft’s official biography for Flores notes that “every night he calls home to talk to his husband,” revealing to the world that the character is openly gay.
The announcement, while welcomed by many fans of the game, has sparked mass outrage among some of the title’s players. Taking to Twitter and Reddit to attack the decision with homophobic slurs, some of Rainbow Six’s biggest stars have condemned fan comments.
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G2 Esports CEO’ and internet troll ocelote is one of these. Taking a break from memeing, the esports legend wrote “are people really raging at a Rainbow 6 character being gay? The f*ck is wrong with you people?”
https://twitter.com/CarlosR/status/1362714213043552257
Pengu, one of G2’s pro Rainbow Six players also shut down abusive fan comments. Commenting that the “new operator in Siege is gay. And I f*ck with that. And if you don’t then kindly f*ck OFF” he slams toxic fans by stating “Siege was a far more enjoyable game on a community level with less players around, I wouldn’t mind you guys leaving.”
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https://twitter.com/G2Pengu/status/1362515424252985344
A final tweet from caster Peter ‘Interro’ Mackay hammered home that the R6 community doesn’t condone the actions of a select few toxic players. He proclaims that “representation matters. It’s really cool to see so many people be happy that there’s a gay character in Rainbow 6.”
Rainbow 6's newest Operator, Flores, is gay – the first openly gay character in the game. Whether you care about lore or not, plenty of people do. Representation matters. It's really cool to see so many people be happy that there's a gay character in Rainbow 6.
— Parker Mackay (@INTERRO) February 18, 2021
Rainbow Six’s Creative Director responds
In response to the overwhelming outrage sparked by the announcement, Rainbow Six’s Creative Director Leroy Athanassoff took to his own Twitter to hammer out a very important message.
“Just to be super clear: We want EVERYONE to be able to relate with this game. Games (like sports) should be for EVERYONE.”
“So yes the cast of Ops is going to be more and more diverse until everyone had someone they can relate to. So you’re in for a long ride. Better get used to it.”
Just 2 be super clear: We want EVERYONE to be able to relate with this game Games (like sports) should be for EVERYONESo yes the cast of Ops is going to be more and more diverse until everyone had someone they can relate to So you’re in for a long ride Better get use to it pic.twitter.com/GjHr7Rwcjl
— Leroy Athanassoff (@fromL) February 18, 2021
It’s pretty clear that the devs aren’t too bothered by the toxicity. Instead, they’re making their stand right here and now to ensure that everyone can feel included in the Rainbow Six universe.