Streamers, like other humans who for some reason choose to not spend most of their day on camera, have to eat. Most streamers casually snack or have meals while streaming, which adds to the feeling that viewers are watching a regular person go about their daily routine.
However, for Twitch’s headband-wearing money king Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, eating became a problem earlier this week due to Ramadan. “Bruh,” said one viewer in chat. “I’m fasting.” Others chimed in with similar messages shortly after.
Those messages were sent on the first day of Ramadan, May 6. Ramadan is a Muslim holiday that celebrates the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad. It lasts a month — this year running from May 6 to June 3 — and includes a daily fast from dawn until sunset. It’s no cakewalk.
And so, when Ninja started eating on stream on the first day of Ramadan, Muslim viewers couldn’t help but experience some hunger pangs. Moments after the messages began to pour in, Ninja turned off his face camera, leaving only Fortnite on screen.
“Sorry to the people who are doing Ramadan,” he said. “I’ll make sure to hide my screen when I eat for the rest of Ramadan.”
So far, he’s kept it up. Today, while Ninja was playing Fortnite with fellow popular streamers Dennis “Faze Cloak” Lepore and Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo, the two asked him what he was eating. With his face cam off, Ninja refused to answer their questions.
“Don’t want to talk about it,” said Ninja. “Dude, Ramadan is going on right now. I don’t want to talk about food. It’s why I’m hiding my cam.”
He’s received a flood of support from Muslim fans for the gesture, with people in chat and on Twitter thanking him profusely.
“Mad respect,” said one fan earlier this week. “I don’t care if he is the best player or not. He has to be the best streamer right now. I know it doesn’t bother a lot of Muslims if he eats or not. We stan Ninja.”
“This is so awesome to see that he took this into consideration,” said another today. “Most people wouldn’t even think about this.”
Ninja’s track record is far from spotless, having rapped a slur (for which he apologised) and controversially refusing to stream with women. Still, this is an undeniably admirable gesture from the world’s biggest streamer.
Comments
33 responses to “Twitch Star Ninja Is Turning Off His Camera While Eating Throughout Ramadan”
Most people wouldn’t think about it because eating food shouldn’t be seen as insensitive.
Can’t wait for the next article where someone changes their religion purely not to appear insensitive… Then for Kotaku to dust off their article template where they praise the person for it, while also linking back to something from the person’s past for no other reason than the fact that the author personally disagreed with it.
Why eat food on stream at all? That shit’s annoying, like listening to someone eating on the train.
I actually agree with you there – but this article heaping praise on him for something so ridiculous seems more like a publicity stunt and puff piece rather than any legitimate issue, which the author seems to try to paint as being something significant.
That’s more what I’m commenting on – that the author felt the need to make a point of something that nobody should care about. That strikes me as somewhat disingenuous… and I’d have more to say about it, but Kotaku removes comments that criticise authors, so…
That’s what you get when those moderating constantly conflate criticism with harassment… Those definitions be hard out here in 2019.
He drew attention to a nice thing a streamer did for his fans that shows a bit of cross-cultural sensitivity. I don’t see a reason to make it into something more sinister than that. There are plenty of articles where Grayson does have an evident agenda but this ain’t it.
I can see that but it’s such a non-issue. If I’m eating in public and somebody comes up and says “Bruh, it’s Xenu’s day, I’m fasting” then maybe they shouldn’t watch me eat? E.g:
No, they wouldn’t, because they shouldn’t have to. I just find it a silly thing to praise or even write an article about, because it’s not an issue if you’re eating and somebody chooses to watch you while they’re fasting for whatever reason.
I think that says more about the culture of entitlement. Expectation that others should modify their behaviour to suit one’s personal tastes is rampant these days.
He also felt the need to add that last paragraph. Couldn’t have an article of just praise without unnecessarily bringing up something negative from the past. It’s a twitch article, after all!
No, its an ‘Internet Celebrity’ article. They do it with everyone who has some kind of fame as if no one ever makes mistakes.
What I want to know is why he is not participating in it. Where the petition to tell him to do it? LOOL
Eating food isn’t insensitive. I was at a friend’s house this weekend. He’s fasting but his wife isn’t (she’s pregnant). He was talking about having some snacks and stuff. I said we could wait until after sunset, but he said it isn’t a big deal. E.g. young kids don’t fast but they aren’t ‘insensitive’ for eating in front of people who are fasting. Same with non-muslims eating.
People who complain about others eating in their presence are generally just being selfish pricks.
Refusing to stream with women isn’t a controversy no matter how badly you want it to be one, it’s his choice, we wouldn’t be berating a female streamer for refusing to stream with men.
Anyway why would you want to stream yourself eating in the first place.
Meanwhile, berating a female streamer for refusing to stream with men is probably a pretty solid way to get Grayson to write an article about you that berates you for your evil ways.
The controversy wasn’t about his decision, it was about his reasoning. He justified his decision by effectively saying that streaming with women – any women – is more trouble than it’s worth. He’d have been better off not talking about it at all, really.
Becuase people might start to assume that there is something going on between them, which is completely understandable and justified, uncorroborated rumour can quickly turn into unsubstantiated “fact”.
No one needs that kind of crap in there life when they have a family, like you said “more trouble than it’s worth”
I don’t agree that it’s justified to tailor behaviour around gossip-mongers, who will come up with something to gossip about regardless. Plenty of Youtube and Twitch collaborations are between men and women and they’re not fussed over. Treating it like it is something unusual to be worried about drives gossip far more than just treating it like it’s normal behaviour – which it is.
Yeah like Liam Neeson. Poor bugger.
That is a nice gesture and I’m glad it’s not being exaggerated to make out eating would be wrong in the first place.
Bit of an easy win if anything, keep eating, gain some viewers.
So what is he going to stop drinking any liquids while streaming too?
This is just dumb, go take a break and eat for 10mins instead ya weirdo
taking a break means he loses viewers to other channels. This is the best way to be mindful of some of his fans without impacting the rest.
Yea mindful my ass
Yeah, I guess he might risk only being a millionaire instead of a gazillionaire if he took a break 😛
gotta respect the hustle
Don’t see any post praising him for not taking drugs on stream, so as not to offend any recovering addicts??
What about him having a meal with no meat to appease his vegetarian viewers?
Gee whiz, looking forward to when schools start cancelling lunchtime during Ramadan, so as not to offend those who choose to fast during that time.
@nuffman you joke… right? Because honestly, I reckon we are seriously close to that sort of sh*t.
careful on that slippery slope there
Muslim market would be huge.
Ninjas personality offends me, not even joking.
Ninja does a stupid thing: The same people in the comments section as always defend him for not bowing to “SJW outrage culture” or something.
Ninja does a nice thing with no apparent agenda: The people who always denounce “outrage culture” are outraged.
So much rage about a guy just doing a nice thing.
*guys tries to snack while playing vidya games*
internet: “some of us are fasting”
Ninj: “oh, i’ll try to be considerate”
internet: OUTRAGE!
News before – humans on the moon
News now – person turns off webcam
Pretty decent of him to choose to do this.