Ninja Fires Back At Toxicity Claims

If you've tuned into one of Ninja's streams recently, you might have noticed a bit of a shift in the Mixer star's attitude. He's not quite as high on life as he used to be. You see less of the guy who played Fortnite in front of a live crowd, tossing Red Bulls down to fans in between matches. Now Ninja is decidedly more eager to trash whatever game he's playing, or make fun of those he's playing with.

Some fans have even started to say he's become toxic.

Ninja, for the record, isn't having it. In a recent broadcast uploaded by Dexerto, the streamer appeared to shoot back at a commenter who suggested Ninja was acting in a pretty unchill way toward his teammates.

"Toxic? Homie. Me and my entire group of friends make fun of one another," Ninja said. "It's what we do. We yell at each other. We insult each other. That's how close we are to one another. We're the only ones who can do it to one another."

Ninja added, "Listen man — if your friends don't like me, I don't give a sh-t."

Well okay then!

In another clip, Ninja went even further, going so far as to suggest the person in chat was being misinformed by other viewers, or perhaps other streamers.

"Anyone that thinks I'm toxic, man, like, I don't know. Like, you've been brainwashed dude," Ninja added. "I'd love to know the person you're watching, dude."

It's tough to argue that Ninja hasn't changed at least a little bit since his move to Mixer last summer. For one, the streamer has been far more willing to wade into controversy.

There was the whole "weak mindset" thing, in which Ninja insulted those who don't get upset about losing. There was Ninja's confusing defense of FaZe Jarvis, who was permanently banned from Fortnite after cheating. Ninja followed that up by taking issue with aim assist in Fortnite, likening that to cheating. Then there was that time Ninja threatened to buy a bank so he could foreclose on someone's house.

Oh, and who could forget that bizarre tweet Ninja sent out about NFL kickers? The Mixer star once expressed dismay at professional kickers missing kicks. Because surely professional gamers have never missed shots. If anything, the gamers have less of an excuse. There aren't eleven pro athletes racing toward them while they're trying to aim, though we'd pay to see that.

So yeah — as you can see, this behavior isn't anything all that new from Ninja. It's been going on for the past few months. If there's been a slight increase in saltiness from the streamer over the past two or three months, though, you have to ask yourself — can you blame him?

Ninja, like the vast majority of the population, has been cooped up at his house. A work-from-home situation can make it hard enough to establish boundaries, which makes it all the more important to get out and de-stress.. When you can't do that, however, little things start to annoy you a tiny bit more. Those little things can be the way your roommate sings in the shower — like Chewbacca in the rain — or they can be balancing issues in Fortnite.

That's not to explain away Ninja's behavior in any sense. The streamer reportedly has tens of millions of reasons to set a better example and not give his handlers at Mixer heart palpitations when they see his name in a headline. But if the popular Fortnite player is cracking a little bit due to lockdown fatigue, that's at least somewhat understandable.

So will you be seeing any big changes to Ninja's channel in the immediate future? The answer is probably no.

Ninja is still jumping around between playing Fortnite, Valorant, and Call of Duty: Warzone. He's still gaming primarily with the same close-knit group of streamers, such as DrLupo, TimTheTatman, and CouRageJD. And he's still talking a whole lot of smack to those friends, as well as anyone else he happens to team up with.

And though he's seen an uptick in the number of controversies he's been a part of, they've been pretty low-key in the grand scheme of things. Bashing NFL kickers and advocating for Fortnite cheaters isn't nearly as bad as other things certain content creators have done. In that light, maybe Ninja isn't so terrible after all.

We'll be on the lookout for any other interesting Ninja news to report. Should he climb back into the headlines, we'll be sure to let you know.