Streamer Dropped From Talent Agency For Criticizing U.S. Army Twitch Streams

FrostPrime, aSlay the Spirecontent creator with over 160,000 followers on Twitch, has announced that he’s been “dropped” by his talent agency, GG Talent Group, for his refusal to stop criticizing fellow GG Talent Group member Dan Gheesling.

First, the background. On Monday, September 21, Twitch streamer Dan Gheesling was heavily criticized for his decision to take part in a U.S. Army–sponsored game show, which was livestreamed to his all-ages audience on Twitch. Gheesling’s long-time collaborator and friend, Twitch streamer Northernlion,addressed the sponsorship deal in a later stream: “It would be unacceptable if it was just sponsored by the Army, but steeped, head to toe, in the imagery, and making it look so awesome—It’s so far beyond the bounds of what is acceptable to me.”

Following his initial reaction on September 21, Northernlion has remained relatively quiet on the matter. For those of you who are familiar with Northernlion’s content, this should come as no surprise, as wading into Twitch drama is very much not in his wheelhouse.Indeed, one of the many reasons Northernlion is so beloved is his avoidance of needless, petty content creation–related drama, though he seemingly felt obligated to comment on Gheesling’s actions due to the pair’s 14-year-long friendship.

However, Gheesling himself has replied. In astreamimmediately following Northerlion’s on September 21, Gheesling offered up a second half-baked apology, which arguably went down even worse than the first one did. Before switching to hisThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pastspeedrun, Gheesling spent the first 150 minutes of his stream addressing questions from viewers.

He explained that several fellow content creators, friends, long-time subscribers, and even some of his moderators had cut ties with him following his first apology stream. Gheesling maintained his “apolitical” stance while responding to questions. When asked if his U.S. Army–sponsored streams meant that he was “in support of the…administration,” Gheesling replied that it was “not the kind of stuff [he wants to] talk about.”

Chatters grilled Gheesling following his claim that he “didn’t know that” taking part in a U.S. Army–sponsored stream was “political.” In response, Gheesling attempted to clarify how he believes his decision to take the sponsorship was in-line with his apolitical stance: “I have family that has served in the military. I have family that’s in the military. From my perspective, and I’m trying to keep it private, there are people that believe in every different thing that are in the military[…]So that’s why I’m like, OK, [the U.S. Army] represents everyone. That was my thought going into it.”

But NorthernLion wasn’t the only high-profile Twitch streamer to criticize Gheesling. FrostPrime had been criticizing his U.S. Army–sponsored Twitch streams in both Gheesling’s Twitch chat and in Gheesling’s Discord server. Then, on September 22, FrostPrime released a video on his YouTube channel explaining that, as a result of criticizing Gheesling’s actions, he had been contacted by Eric Harper, the CEO of his talent agency, GG Talent Group. Both FrostPrime and Gheesling were, at the time, represented by this group.

“I get a message later on that day from the CEO of my agency, essentially telling me to stop talking to Dan, to which I said no,” FrostPrime explained. “I said no—I would not stop talking about Dan, because he is a content creator that has been affiliated with my channel for five-plus years.”

“People associate us together, and I’m gonna be getting constant questions throughout the coming days about whether or not I support the actions that he did,” he continued. “And no, I do not support the actions—I think it’s one of the most disgusting and despicable things that I think I’ve ever seen anyone close to me in the streaming space do. To take a pro-genocide sponsorship is undeniably, abhorrently disgusting.”

FrostPrime then went on to explain that the CEO of GG Talent Group “basically said ‘No, you need to stop, or else.’” As a result, FrostPrime stated that he is “no longer with [the] agency” following his refusal: “Because I am anti-genocide, because I am pro-Palestine, because I am anti-U.S. military, because I am anti-war, and I am loudly speaking out about what I believe in…I was dropped from my agency.”

Kotaku has reached out to GG Talent Group for comment.

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