Tyler "Ninja" Blevins received a mountain of backlash after making comments about playing with female gamers. In an interview with Polygon, Ninja revealed that he does not stream with female gamers because of his marriage. He is married to fellow streamer Jessica “Jghosty” Blevins. “I don’t play with female gamers,” Ninja stated. “If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we’re playing with one another, and even if there’s a hint of flirting, that is going to be taken and going to be put on every single video and be clickbait forever." He continued on to claim that he doesn't want the media to blow something up that may hurt his relationship.“[Not being connected to other women online,] that was something I made 100-percent sure... That was me being, ‘I love our relationship,’ and, ‘No — I’m not even gonna put you through that.’”
Ninja released a statement on Twitter to address the backlash his comments received. “While I understand some people have implied my views mean I have something against playing with women, I want to make clear the issue I’m addressing is online harassment, and my attempt to minimize it from our life,” he wrote. “It is something that affects all streamers, especially ones that make their relationships public. I wanted to bring attention to this issue and my comments should not be characterized as anything beyond that.” He continued on to promote female streamers that he has respect for. “We are fans of all kind of streamers and gamers — curvyllama, juliatv, and halieatisuto are a few of our favorites and we encourage others to check out their channels."