While everyone here at G4 had a very nice Blizzcon, enjoying very elaborate costumes, cool tournaments, concerts and the general good fellowship of fellow gamers at the show, a performance by "band" Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain and a video shown to close out Blizzcon 2011 had a decidedly different, sinister vibe.
The video shown toward the ending of the show is remarkable in its offensiveness and stupididy. In it, George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, member of the band Cannibal Corpse as well as Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain, has some choice words for The Alliance, describing the World of Warcraft faction with dripping anger and slurs against homosexuals.
While the curses were bleeped at Blizzcon, the video still offended members of the Alliance, gay people, and anyone who has a functioning human brain. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a guy named "Corpsegrinder" is offensive and stupid, but still, click the cut for the entirely NSFW video.
It's not just the video, either. Members of the Alliance report being physically intimidated at Blizzcon, and even being assaulted for their choice of faction.
I understand it's kind of fun to pretend that the "rivalry" between Horde and Alliance is real, but this guy (and other guys like him) is just ridiculous. I think he really takes it seriously. And who at Blizzard thought showing this was a good idea? Or asking this guy to perform? Like gay people don't have enough trouble without people like the meathead above hurling insults at them? Like anyone who plays a video game needs to feel like crap because the prefer the look and lore of the Alliance over the Horde? Even if you try to excuse it by saying you're "just kidding."
Anyway, because of the uproar, Corpsegrinder has apologized by issuing a statement reading:
"Hey guys, we read and heard all the feedback from BlizzCon this year. The Corpsegrinder bit was never intended to be taken seriously. We are sorry that we offended anyone; everything at our shows is just meant in fun. Thank you all for speaking up. We’ll definitely keep this in mind for future shows. Our humblest apologies, Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain."
As a former member of the Horde, I'm embarrassed. I always considered the Horde faction to skew slightly older and more intelligent than the Alliance, but I haven't played WoW in a couple years. Maybe things have changed?
On a related note, when I was a teenager, I used to like punk rock and hate heavy metal, even though both forms of music sound very similar, and both groups dress in unconventional ways. Once someone challenged me on this, and I really thought hard about the difference between the two musical forms. Here's what I came up with:
Punk rock is smart people acting stupid, while heavy metal is stupid people acting smart.
There are plenty of exceptions on both sides, but the video above proves my basic point.
Update: Just kidding, metal-heads; you guys are awesome.
All of the best people are following Stephen Johnson's twitter feed. Also, email me if you wanna.
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hang10wannabe
While I do agree that it was in poor taste that Blizzard decided to air this piece at Blizzcon for all to see, I don't think people should take what the guy said as anything more than the rantings of a stoogy "over-enthusiastic" WoW player. With now 7 billion people out there in the world, there are a lot of idiots.
"As a former member of the Horde, I'm embarrassed. I always considered the Horde faction to skew slightly older and more intelligent than the Alliance, but I haven't played WoW in a couple years. Maybe things have changed?'
Common Stephen Johnson... Don't paint a whole faction of about 5.5 million players (horde players) with the same brush as Mr. Fisher. Just because a vocal group on XBOX live players seem to hate my mom doesn't lead me to believe every XBOX live player hates my mom. WoW has always had a lot of jerks who play it, nothings changed.
Alien_Number_Six
Why cant I see the comments?
Alien_Number_Six
Why cant I see the comments?
SeanTheArtist
This is a very fine line to walk here.
While i hate when f'n moron's say things like this, i also feel at the same time, why let it bother you? while i get after a period of time, hearing these sorts of stupid comments can be a lot to deal with, also their coming from REALLY ignorant people.
I feel in part, this should not be allowed, though stereotypical metal man is allowed to voice his opinion. But to a point? thats what blogs are for.
I donno, im VERY pro-gay and yet, im very pro-free speech. i just think there should be some common sense here.
gamergeek00
Once again, a video that a majority of people would find funny is now ruined by the minority that didn't find it funny. I am definitely not a hater of gay people at all, but I will admit that I laughed at this video. Just as probably a majority of people laughed in the 40-Year-Old Virgin when Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen jabbed at each other with "You know how I know you're gay?" lines, but yet you don't see people calling them "stupid" or "inconsiderate". People need to lighten the eff up and not take everything too seriously. Just because I call Justin Bieber a *insert slang word for gay person* doesn't mean I actually think he's a gay person, we all know he could get laid by any girl he wants. And I'm not even gonna start on the last comment by the author where he pretty much contradicts everything he previously stated. Ugh!
crocodilius
If it makes you feel better Steve i liked the Ramones movie.
It's like...a guilty pleasure whenever it pops-up on tv.
l.c.bongers
Why people be offended by a ugly looking piece of s..t like him?
Of course he is horde lol
Grimparrot
I think its pretty much endemic to the pseudo "bro" culture in some communities of these games. Its all these people who didn't get a chance to get all that testosterone out of their system playing whatever sport "manly men" butt heads and chest bump each other, smashing beer cans on their foreheads, etc , bringing it into possibly one of the nerdiest activities of all time, and generally making the idiot of themselves they never could before because they were too busy being stuffed in their lockers in high school. And Blizzard likes it because Blizzard dreams fuzzy dreams of "E-sports" and people making as large a fool out of themselves, and spending the corresponding money upon, their video games, as idiot jocks spend on their gladiatorial games. I wish we weren't this stupid as a community, but, alas stuff like this proves me wrong.
mrphy42
I think people are kind of missing the point here. Who cares what some moron from a terrible metal group that has managed to suck and yet continue touring for over a decade has to say. It wasn't exactly the state of the union or anything.
The problem isn't that a brain damaged idiot made a moronic statement. The problem is that Blizzard, a company that is asking for our money decided it was ok to endorse his hate filled and foolish comments. If it was just some garbage a fool spewed out, fine, but to actually endorse those comments? That is a whole different ballgame.
When you choose to take a recording like that, and play it directed at your fans and consumers, it says something. It says "Yeah, we agree with this guy!" It wasn't like it was live and he took up a mic and started spewing garbage, they took a clip, watched it, and said "Yes, we want this to represent us. Hey players, watch this! We love this guy!"
mrphy42
I think people are kind of missing the point here. Who cares what some moron from a terrible metal group that has managed to suck and yet continue touring for over a decade has to say. It wasn't exactly the state of the union or anything.
The problem isn't that a brain damaged idiot made a moronic statement. The problem is that Blizzard, a company that is asking for our money decided it was ok to endorse his hate filled and foolish comments. If it was just some garbage a fool spewed out, fine, but to actually endorse those comments? That is a whole different ballgame.
When you choose to take a recording like that, and play it directed at your fans and consumers, it says something. It says "Yeah, we agree with this guy!" It wasn't like it was live and he took up a mic and started spewing garbage, they took a clip, watched it, and said "Yes, we want this to represent us. Hey players, watch this! We love this guy!"
thesilentmole
As a gay person, I'm not really offended by this. Stupid people saying something stupid, HOW TERRIBLE! The fact that everybody flips the eff out when somebody uses the words (which nobody seems to care that South Park has been doing it for over a decade now), just shows how much power stupid people still have. It won't be until the rest of us grow up, stop being tattle-tales and blow-hards, that we'll be able to strip those negative words of any sort of power.
Alien_Number_Six
The whole thing sounds silly to me. Yet another group of World of Warcraft fans taking the game too seriously. The game isn't real life. So why do some World of Warcraft fans think it is? As far as the anti gay comments go what do you expect from the lead singer of Cannibal Corps string theory?
RPG-fan
Now what this guy said is despicable. But we shouldn't paint the entire WOW community because of a few bad apples. I heard some homophobic and racist remarks, while playing online on the XBox and PS3 and it's ridiculous to come to a conclusion that all Xbox and PS3 gamers are like that.
ABaconBusAflame
This guy was probably an obnoxious twelve-year-old at some point in his life and then he remained an obnoxious twelve-year-old to this very day.
ABaconBusAflame
This guy was probably an obnoxious twelve-year-old at some point in his life and then he remained an obnoxious twelve-year-old to this very day.
ABaconBusAflame
This guy was probably an obnoxious twelve-year-old at some point in his life and then he remained an obnoxious twelve-year-old to this very day.
Malwrath
how incredibly unnecessary...
BrenLeahey
Too bad Cannibal Corpse sucks so hard. Give me Deicide or Whitechapel over that trash any day.
There's also no reason to hate on gay people. I can't understand why people still do it. It doesn't make you cool, it just makes you look like an utter dick.
Gear200
I havent played WoW in god knows how long, and yeah I was a member of the Horde straight up, but cmon dude, lol I dont like the alliance either doesnt mean Im gonna go look like a total fool and act like a total dumbass at a convention, its a game guys treat it like one, dont be this guy.
TheCrippledPizza
I was expecting something more...coherent. I could see people being offended if this guy actually seemed like a functional member of society, but he just seems like an idiot who gets over his own problems by talking like a kid who just found out about curse words. It's even worse that he's wearing a Dethklok shirt, since us metalheads already have a pretty tarnished name. I propose that Blizzard bans his account so we can see how cool he is when he has to do something other than be a dick. Maybe he could spend that time expanding his vocabulary a bit.
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