With the game finally released; there has been a lot of talk surrounding Hogwarts Legacy streamers and their decision to engage in the marketing arm of a franchise owned by JK Rowling. Apparently, we even made some cry!
That’s right, Hogwarts Legacy streamers have been reported as breaking down in tears after being harassed by their chat for playing the controversial game. With even comments from the likes of HasanAbi having said its “not worth getting bullied” for.
“The only reason why I’m not playing this game and I know a bunch of other people are not playing this game. Is because we know that it’s not worth it to get f***king bullied endlessly and called transphobic endlessly when we have massive queer communities and audiences. That’s it.”
HasanAbi has even suggested playing the game as a charity stream in order to raise money for trans charities. Why he can’t just play a different game and raise money for trans charities – we may never know.
Other Hogwarts Legacy streamers to have been written about include Twitch and YouTube duo; Girlfriend Reviews. A channel I was personally subscribed to and enjoyed, especially after the heat they took regarding The Last of Us part 2. For those who don’t know, GFR were super cool allies when that game was released and received a lot of hate, in part due to its inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters.
So a clip posted by Dexerto captioned “Twitch chat bullies streamer for playing Hogwarts Legacy to the point of making his girlfriend cry“ with an accompanying article headlined; “Twitch chat berates streamer to tears for playing Hogwarts Legacy on launch day” about some of my favourite streamers was heartbreaking to see!
Twitch chat bullies streamer for playing Hogwarts Legacy to the point of making his girlfriend cry pic.twitter.com/bod3A5DvMz
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) February 7, 2023
At least until I watched the VOD on their Twitch channel. The first 6 minutes is genuinely gut-wrenching to watch and includes lines like “maybe get off the internet and get some fresh air, do some research where your iphone or your nikes come from“, “you’re being a fucking weirdo” and other saltiness. You’d expect from the headlines this was the chat, but no this was the Hogwarts Legacy streamers themselves.
While Shelby attempted to calm the situation by arguing the benefits of doing the thing we’ve all said we don’t want them to do, often clumsily; at one point shouting “DIE ON THIS HILL!” Matt instead berated the justifiably upset audience almost from the offset. Even at some points going as far as to invoke the crap they got for being supportive during TLoU part 2 as a reason he “doesn’t want to hear it” that they are being bad allies by advertising this game.
matt is saying "im not gonna hear it" because he's gotten in trouble for being an outspoken ally of marginalised people before
but also maybe being an ally *IS* hearing it when the community tell you how they feel about things????
— no unique traits, only gay (@notCursedE) February 7, 2023
I have even had a personal taste of all of this Hogwarts Legacy streamers crap via Twitter too. I noticed another of my favourite video game content creators, Call Me Kevin, had uploaded a video about Hogwarts Legacy. So I took a screenshot of the fact that I told YouTube not to suggest me his videos any more and posted it. According to the comments I’m bullying Kevin and also the reason people don’t like the trans community!
thats a shame @CallMeKevin1811 pic.twitter.com/9IUvhDv1oG
— no unique traits, only gay (@notCursedE) February 7, 2023
I now have supposed allies, long-time followers and friends, regurgitating this bile as if it isn’t the exact same narrative and framing we’ve heard from transphobes a thousand times before. “Trans people are uniquely bastards” is the headline they want to write but instead dress it up by claiming we made Shelby or whoever else cry; completely removing the blatant antagonism from Matt throughout the first minutes of the stream to once again paint cis people as the victims of trans people.
Its the exact same horse-crap we are served up with regards to JK Rowling herself. Rowling can participate in an active moral panic that demonises transgender people and is causing the rates of hate crimes against us to increase year in year out. But that isn’t what ends up being reported on is it? What ends up being reported on is some anonymous Twitter account with 157 followers posting a meme about pipe bombs.
So no. I reject the narrative in its entirety. Trans people aren’t bullying or harassing Hogwarts Legacy streamers. Trans people criticising cis people for failing one basic act of solidarity which is to literally just not advertise things that benefit those who hate us. The cis people failing that act of solidarity do in fact deserve that criticism not least when they are so adamant about how much of an ally they are.
Oh and no, you can’t offset buying or being part of the marketing for this video game by donating an equivalent amount or even more to trans charities, causes or people. You’re welcome to try though by clicking here and here. Thanks.