During the closing ceremony of this year's BlizzCon, the Blizzard employee band Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain took to the stage, accompanied by guest singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher of death metal outfit Cannibal Corpse. L90ETC's set was preceded by a video of Fisher expressing his love for World of Warcraft -- specifically, the Horde -- using some somewhat colorful language. His swearing, homophobic insults and expressions of desire that Alliance players should "die" were bleeped out, but many people took offense, and quite rightly so. The uncut, massively NSFW video, can be found here.
Discussion erupted on the Blizzard forums criticizing the company for endorsing a video encouraging the abuse and death of a considerable proportion of its player base. Blizzard later noted that the video was framed as a joke, and the band also claimed that the video was "never intended to be taken seriously" but that they were sorry they offended anyone.
This wasn't enough for some people, who were personally upset by Fisher's verbal abuse -- particularly the use of homophobic slurs. In response, Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, posted a personal apology which reads thus:
Dear members of the Blizzard community,
I have read your feedback and comments about this year's BlizzCon, and I have also read the feedback to the apology from Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain. I'd like to respond to some of your feedback here.
As president of Blizzard, I take full responsibility for everything that occurs at BlizzCon.
It was shortsighted and insensitive to use the video at all, even in censored form. The language used in the original version, including the slurs and use of sexual orientation as an insult, is not acceptable, period. We realize now that having even an edited version at the show was counter to the standards we try to maintain in our forums and in our games. Doing so was an error in judgment, and we regret it.
The bottom line is we deeply apologize for our mistakes and for hurting or offending anyone. We want you to have fun at our events, and we want everyone to feel welcome. We're proud to be part of a huge and diverse community, and I am proud that so many aspects of the community are represented within Blizzard itself.
As a leader of Blizzard, and a member of the band, I truly hope you will accept my humblest apology.
- Mike Morhaime President, Blizzard Entertainment
Good on Blizzard for responding to this in a classy and timely manner -- but this should never have happened in the first place. Alienating a significant proportion of the player base of your community/social interaction-based game is not a smart move.
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