Streamer, comedian and voice actor of Ghost in Call of Duty, Jeff Leach, has been dropped by multiple sponsors following allegations of sexism.
On May 10, Activision told Dexerto that it would no longer be working with Leach after clips surfaced of the Facebook Gaming streamer allegedly being sexist to a fellow streamer.
This was in addition to claims made by Twitch streamer Natalie ‘ZombiUnicorn’ Casanova that they had been harassed and subject to sexist remarks from Leach in 2017, which resulted in his ban from Twitch.
Leach is now a partnered streamer on Facebook Gaming, but has been dropped by Activision for his role as Ghost, and Dexerto has received confirmation that he has also been dropped by key sponsors.
Sponsors cut ties with Jeff Leach
Two sponsors, Team Kitchen and Sneak Energy, have both ended their relationship with Jeff Leach. A third sponsor, AimControllers, said: “As a female-owned company, AimControllers US condemns any hateful or degrading speech towards any group, especially women. We will be taking this time to gather some more information on the matter to ensure appropriate measures are taken.”
Sneak Energy, a UK-based energy drink brand, terminated Leach’s contract with immediate effect. “We at Sneak don’t tolerate bullying, harassment or discrimination of any kind and apologise for any offence caused by one of our ambassadors.”
Leach responds to allegations
Leach has intimated that a full response to the accusations against him is forthcoming, but has addressed them on stream.
He said that the clips are taken out of context, and amount to a character assassination. He has said that he is pursuing legal action against NitroLukeDX, a Facebook streamer who posted the compilation of clips on social media.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“[NitroLukeDX] is presenting an out-of-context assassination of someone’s character. That’s what he’s done. It’s embarrassing for him and all his little trolls. I’m excited to speak to my lawyers and my Facebook partnerships manager and see what can be done about this.”
He threatened that it could be the “end” of NitroLukeDX, and that his lawyers were “already on his case.”
During a May 7 live stream, Jeff Leach claimed that he was banned from Twitch because ZombiUnicorn was dating a member of Twitch staff: “Because she was at that point dating someone within the Twitch eco-system, in terms of the staff of Twitch, my channel was permanently banned.”
ZombiUnicorn has told Dexerto that they were dating professional CS:GO player Alexander “Lex” Deily at that time, and that they have never dated Twitch staff. ZombiUnicorn also accuses Leach of transphobia by continually referring to them by ‘she/her’ pronouns despite not identifying as a woman.
During his May 7 live stream, Leach says that he told Facebook Gaming that the reason he was banned from Twitch was because Casanova was dating Twitch staff. He also says he told Infinity Ward and Activision the same thing, before he was given the role of Ghost.
Leach suggests that Casanova was disgruntled because he had rejected sexual advances, but Casanova denies this and says they told Leach that they were simply “friendly acquaintances.”
Update, May 13: Facebook Gaming has now terminated its partnership with both Jeff Leach and NitroLukeDX.
