On June 21, Brazilian video game streamer Gabriela Cattuzzo tweeted a since-deleted photo of herself on a mechanical bull with the caption, “I am riding the chat.” Another Twitter user responded with, “you can ride me if you want,” which prompted Cattuzzo to complain about how women are sexualized on the Internet. She ended her response with, “And this is why men are trash.”
After Cattuzzo’s tweet,Razer Brazilannounced that it would not be renewing its contract with the streamer. “As gamers, we face every type of preconception and stereotype from the outset, and we will continue fighting so that this type of situation doesn’t repeat itself.” Razer Brazil added that it, “opposes any type of discrimination - whether it be due to sex, religion, political party - or any type of intolerance or extremism.”
The situation has seen backlash on both sides. Some have criticized Razer for dropping Cattuzzo, as they argue she was just defending herself in her reaction. Others have criticized Cattuzzo, saying her comments were toxic. Ultimately, Cattuzzo issued an apology for offending people with her tweet.
“I reacted in a rude way to the guy who made a tasteless joke, and I ended up offending a lot of people in the process, and I apologize for this,” she said on Twitter. “I do not apologize for having defended myself. I will always defend myself.” Cattuzzo then explained that she did not mean to insult all men. She also went on to say that every day she posts photos and “the majority of the comments are offensive or sexualizing something that doesn’t have to be sexualized. The men who comment with interesting things or non-offensive comments here on Twitter are few.”
Cattuzzo then announced that she would be taking time off from social media andgame streaming. The reason being that since the situation has blown up, Cattuzzo and her family have receiveddeath threatsand continued harassment from people online. It’s unclear at this time when Cattuzzo will return to game streaming.
