Ninja bans ZexRow from Ninja Battles tournament for insults

Olivia Richman Published 29/05/2020

After swearing and insulting other competitors, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins decided to ban Anthony “ZexRow” Colandro from future Ninja Battle events.

Ninja announced his own Fortnite tournament series on May 28. The six-week online competition features an $80,000 prize pool each week. After only the first week of play, one pro player has already been banned from future editions of the event.

Team SoloMid’s ZexRow had 59 points at the end of the first week, making the 19-year-old the clear winner of the competition. With an audience of 15,000 viewers on Ninja’s own Mixer stream, ZexRow decided to use the platform to talk shit about his competitors.

“Everyone that didn’t place in top 10 can suck my dick. They’re fucking shitters. I don’t know why they talk shit. They’re actually dogshot and braindead,” ZexRow ranted.

The interviewers immediately cut the interview short after ZexRow’s outburst.

Obviously sensing the tension, ZexRow quickly took to Twitter to shoot out an apology of sorts.

“Aww shit. I forgot parents watch. I’m sorry,” ZexRow tweeted.

aww shit forgot parents watch I’m sorry ????
— ZexRow (@TSM_ZexRow) May 28, 2020

Ninja responded to the tweet almost immediately.

“Congrats on your first and last Ninja Battles placement,” Ninja replied.

It was clear that Ninja was unhappy with ZexRow’s behavior on his tournament and stream. Ninja has previously made clear that he’s changed his own behaviors and language to better accommodate the number of kids who consume his content, and ZexRow’s outburst wasn’t quite in line with that direction.

Fortnite community responds to ZexRow’s ban from Ninja’s tournament

After being banned from future Ninja Battles, ZexRow decided to issue a second statement on the matter, this time in the form of a TwitLonger.

“I want to directly apologize to Ninja and the tournament organizers for overshadowing what otherwise was a great tournament that was fun to play in with my immature actions,” ZexRow said.

He also apologized to TSM and to his fans for “disappointing” them, explaining that he wasn’t living up to the standards of a professional Fortnite player.

“This is something that I will take some time to reflect on to improve my future behavior,” ZexRow concluded.

about today and my actions…

Read: https://t.co/R3HeAtNgp5
— ZexRow (@TSM_ZexRow) May 28, 2020

The Fortnite community was quick to “cancel” ZexRow. Some even called for him to be dropped from TSM. His teammate Calc even made a public statement on the outburst, saying that ZexRow’s behavior was a bad look for the entire team since Calc has been trying to repair his own reputation.

Feeling the tension, ZexRow tweeted that he would ask TSM if he could leave, describing his actions as a “PR nightmare.”

Since you guys really want me to get dropped from tsm, I’ll ask them if I can leave. It was a big mistake but I’ve made a lot of those so at this point I feel as I’m 2 much of a pr nightmare, I just feel bad for tsm and all the hate they’ll get for this.
— ZexRow (@TSM_ZexRow) May 29, 2020

ZexRo’s other Fortnite teammate at TSM, MackWood, said that if ZexRow left the squad then he would as well.

Other members of the Fortnite community began to stand up for ZexRow in response. One fan explained that it seemed unfair that Ninja could sometimes swear and flame on his own stream, but ZexRow was being punished for using similar language. Other followers responded that Ninja swearing out of frustration on stream is different than insulting competitors in an interview after a tournament.

Ninja Battles second week will begin on June 4 at 12 PM PST.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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