Jackpot Controversy and Major Competitive Splatoon Organizations

[angelicakuma]

Context: For those unaware, recently members of Jackpot among others have been said to have made racist comments. Members of Jackpot have made statements regarding racist comments, please view those statements on the Twitter (aka X) pages of the Jackpot members.

My concern is why many some Splatoon competitive organizations have not made public statements even affirming that those organizations want to promote an inclusive community. Especially as the winners of the latest Splatoon World Championships, Jackpot had become important influencers of the competitive Splatoon community as top players, and each even had regular audiences on Twitch and thousands of followers on each of their personal Twitter pages.

Due to the nature of those comments being associated with highly influential members of the Splatoon community, there has been a lot of discourse surrounding racism in the fanbase lately.

Key words: “highly influential.” Any platform with a large following has capability to make impact in a community. Given that the controversy is of major importance at this moment, I am disappointed to see that major Splatoon organizations (at least the ones I’m aware of) have not made statements reaffirming their desire to support and foster an inclusive and diverse community. I personally believe that major competitive Splatoon organizations should be making statements in support of an inclusive/diverse community given that members of Jackpot have grown to prominence within those communities and likely have used those communities’ resources to rise in skill also.

TL;DR for the previous paragraph only: I urge all competitive Splatoon organizations like LUTI and others to publish statements affirming support for an inclusive and diverse community where players of all identities, including but not limited to of all racial identities, are welcome.

Personally I am very peripheral about the competitive scene: I have few connections to it and don’t actively participate as a competitive player, yet do pay attention to various situations that go on within it. So I am wondering about why many competitive Splatoon communities have not yet posted a statement in support of an inclusive/diverse community—could somebody please explain to me?

 

[isaac4]

It could be that they think that it's in their best interest to stay out of it and not address anything unless they have to.
I don't agree with that mindset at all but I also don't know much about them so maybe there's another reason I'm just not seeing.

 

[Masked_Katz]

It's hard to voice an opinion on this since I am not someone that Jackpot's actions were directed at; I think people of color should be choosing what's right or wrong in this situation if anything. Personally, I don't think anyone who isn't associated with Jackpot should be obligated to involve themselves in this, and those who choose to should ideally be those who are truly concerned or affected by the situation. I have seen many people on social media who aren't but speak out anyway and I feel like that does more harm than good.

 

[angelicakuma]

I have seen many people on social media who aren't but speak out anyway and I feel like that does more harm than good.

Thank you for your perspective on my post Could you clarify what you mean by this portion of your comment I quoted? I’m not sure what context you mean by a post speaking out doing more harm than good

 

[Masked_Katz]

Could you clarify what you mean by this portion of your comment I quoted? I’m not sure what context you mean by a post speaking out doing more harm than good

Thanks for asking, I should have been more specific. I directed that at those on social media who make jokes or memes about the situation, wish harm upon Jackpot and call them slurs back, or otherwise spark further conversation when the poster isn't genuinely wanting to see or make any change. I think all these posts are inevitable with any large-scale community controversy, but I still find it's in poor taste considering how safe the Splatoon community usually strives to be.

 

[angelicakuma]

Thanks for asking, I should have been more specific. I directed that at those on social media who make jokes or memes about the situation, wish harm upon Jackpot and call them slurs back, or otherwise spark further conversation when the poster isn't genuinely wanting to see or make any change. I think all these posts are inevitable with any large-scale community controversy, but I still find it's in poor taste considering how safe the Splatoon community usually strives to be.

I agree that commentary that does not contribute anything meaningful and in good faith (such as people who make jokes or memes about the situation) does more harm and good. To be clear, more of the harmful commentary is not what I am interested in seeing more of.


I also agree that those posts are unfortunately inevitable. I think those posts are another way that we can see that Splatoon community (a community that usually strives to be safe an inclusive) still has people in it who are capable of posting with ill intentions.