The esports community may have all-but condemned Semmler for going on a sexist rant in response to the GGForAll's all-female Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league. But that doesn't mean the industry itself has paid much attention to the toxic behavior. In fact, even more prominent figures in the esports realm have felt comfortable aggressively standing up for Semmler due to a lack of consequences, including analyist Thorin.
Around December 22, Semmler took to Twitter to dramatically question the reason behind GGForAll's all-female league. He questioned the skill level of the women involved and even asked when an all-male CSGO tournament would exist (because apparently there haven't been any of those ever). He later called GGForAll discrimination and toxic.
While many felt that Semmler was missing the entire reason behind female-focused esports events, some agreed with Semmler that creating female-only spaces was harming the CSGO scene. This was a sentiment shared by Thorin, a well-known analyst who has decided to also use his social media platform to go on a slightly unhinged tangent.
"'Women in the industry actually address your points and don't just upload their baggage and issues with men onto you' challenge," Thorin tweeted.
This was followed by an even more bizarre tweet that attempted to claim that the esports industry was wrongfully saying that people are sexist after they react to toxic behavior by women. But his tweet came across illogical, confusing, and toxic to many people.
If you are one of the many people blocked by Thorin without even ever interacting with him, the tweet states: Moron goes to a restaurant wearing 'save the whales' shirt, drops trousers, and sprays shit everywhere. Owner has them kicked out and blacklisted. The moron was a woman. Esports industry: 'Yikes! Can't believe the owner hates whales and harassed a woman!'"
Thorin's series of tweets attempting to stand up for Semmler had the esports community baffled and upset. But what had people even more shocked by Thorin's behavior was his decision to unblock women in the industry, quote tweet them with an insult, and then block them again.
Overwatch journalist Liz Richardson was one of those women. On December 22, she tweeted that Semmler had called an Overwatch League player fat while watching employee walkouts. Thorin responded that Richardson was a "sack of shit" who publishes private comments online. He then blocked her.
Another Nerd Street esports employee screenshot Thorin unlocking her to mock her tweet after he attacked a Game Changers winner. She tweeted that Thorin was "going around blocking, unblocking, quote retweeting," and then reblocking women who decided to respond to his Twitter rant and behavior.
At this point, many women responded that Thorin had blocked them as well. This baffled some esports employees who stated that they had never interacted with Thorin before. Some noted that they were blocked for just being friends with someone who Thorin had argued with or called out. It was pointed out that Thorin has some automated blocking on that identifies certain phrases, causing many to point out how scared Thorin seemed of the backlash.
While many women have continued to call out Thorin, Semmler, and others for their toxic behavior after the reveal of the all-female CSGO event, no official companies or organizations have made any statements. Thorin and Semmler have faced no consequences for their social media meltdowns as they continue to target women in the industry. Even if some agree with their opinion on the situation, the behavior has many questioning what counts as inappropriate behavior for a professional in the industry.
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