UK-based streamer LAMaynard exposes racism in the FIFA community, EA sanctions players for hate speech
Dom Sacco, Senior Editor
Last Updated: 04/07/2022
Update: EA has issued sanctions against the players outed in the Twitter thread for hate speech.
EA made a penalty announcement on June 24th 2022.
Vert, Preesur, Gaav, HCraig, YKSeven, Rking, Robbie, Max Smulders, Skillzy, Txmls- and xKayleszn- were disqualified from all FIFA 22 Global Series competition and any future events scheduled beyond this season for hate speech.
The FIFA 22 Global Series Code of Conduct violation for which the players have been disqualified is as follows: “Harassing, threatening, bullying, engaging in hate speech, repeatedly sending unwanted messages, including making personal attacks or statements about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc.”
Original article: The FIFA esports scene has expressed its disgust at racist comments found and published by UK-based streamer Lewis Maynard, aka LAMaynard.
He published a Twitter thread earlier this week exposing racism in the FIFA scene and listing several players and community members who have engaged in racist behaviour, both publicly and privately.
LAMaynard himself has suffered racist abuse in his Twitch chat from a fake account, as detailed in his Twitter thread below. The streamer – who has a combined 20,000+ followers across multiple platforms – found out who was behind the profile and has investigated the situation further to expose several others in the community.
Content warning – multiple accounts of extreme racism, racial slurs and abuse:
Don’t really know where to start with this but @rushanshekar @EAFIFAesports @EASPORTSFIFA the right thing needs to be done about these people they’re part of the community, people representing the competitive/pro scene & being racist whether in public or private. A thread:
— LA (@LAMaynard7) June 13, 2022
Lewis named several community members in the thread plus their racist comments. They include the likes of @Vert7_ (Vert), @xkaylebrink (xKayleszn-), @zgaaav_ (Gaav), @preezur (Preesur), @hcrxig (HCraig), @ykseven_ (YKSeven), @xTomLs_ (Txmls), @RobbieWilsonn_ (Robbie), @rutgerkalmeijer, @msmulderss (Max Smulders) and @joshskillzy (Skillzy).
Lewis added: “There seemed to be a common theme going round of people talking about [quotes being taken out of] context, like it matters. There’s more but I’m done going through everything to be honest.
“More needs to be done with regards to account verification @Twitch, racism online, in football and in life to be honest. All I can do for now is try help rid some of this nonsense in the community. Hopefully the right actions can be taken.”
LAMaynard
Some of the community members called out have since deleted their Twitter profiles or made them private.
Some have published apologies on social media, including Max Smulders, Preezur, xTomLs and Joshskillzy (whose mother attempted to defend him in a now-deleted post saying he responded inappropriately after receiving death threats).
On the alleged death threats, Esports News UK understands Joshskillzy initially responded to abuse from Preezur, and the apparent death threats came after Lewis published the racist tweets, not before.
UK esports organisation LDN UTD posted this update after removing one of the exposed players, Robbie ‘RobbieWilsonn_’ Wilson, from their team.
Statement from LDN UTD regarding a recent incident. pic.twitter.com/C2M73eGzfk
— LDN UTD (@LDNUTD) June 14, 2022
LDN UTD also have their UTD Against Racism initiative, which has seen them team up with Leyton Orient FC and the Rio Ferdinand Foundation in the past.
Dutch organisation Bundled have not yet commented on the matter.
Pro players and other members of the community commented on the situation. We’ve rounded up a few of the comments here:
Disappointing day for the FIFA scene, the minimum we should expect is some basic accountability without excuses
— FUTWIZ Stokes (@TomStokesFC) June 13, 2022
Disgusting bunch of individuals and hope they get the punishment they deserve.@rushanshekar @EAFIFAesports need to take appropriate action and get them removed.
— Alex Bodin (@ItsAlexBodin) June 13, 2022
Please read the whole thread from LAMaynard to context. https://t.co/mCIiXegQcB
I would ban everyone from that group lifetime ngl, these kids must dissapear from the community https://t.co/bHhkcCQZOh
— PCosmin6 (@PCosmin6) June 13, 2022
The internet is a crazy place. I can guarantee all of these guys wouldn’t bring the same energy in person either…
— Callum (@CallumN17_) June 13, 2022
Let’s just hope EA do the right thing and get these guys gone for good. Also a massive shoutout to @LAMaynard7 for exposing all that were involved 👍 https://t.co/7qxWU5JWQD
UK FIFA player Harry Hesketh, who retired from competitive play after receiving an EA ban for making comments about another player’s mum, said: “Horrible bastards, every single one of them, I wonder if racism will get treated the same as celebrating against a 14-year-old this time.”
In March 2021, FIFA game publisher EA said it had banned more than 9,000 accounts due to racist and inappropriate content. EA banned a FIFA player for life after he sent racist messages to former footballer Ian Wright after losing a FIFA game with a virtual version of the player, before proceeding to send him racist messages on Instagram. EA previously vowed to do more to tackle racist content in its FIFA/football games.
Esports News UK has reached out to FIFA, EA and Twitch for comment and will update this article if/when we hear back.
Related article: EA Sports FC and EA’s departure from FIFA
Dom Sacco, Senior Editor
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late '80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.
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