Activision No Longer Working With Call of Duty Actor After Sexist Comments

Activision has said that it will no longer work with Call of Duty voice actor Jeff Leach after a series of sexist comments Leach has made surfaced on social media. Leach was responsible for the voice of Simon 'Ghost' Riley in 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty Mobile. As part of a Twitter thread from YouTuber NitroLukeDX, a video featuring some of Leach's past remarks has been circulating on social media. The video includes clips from Leach, across multiple streams, making explicit, sexual, and hateful remarks about women. The video below includes offensive language:

[1/3] Jeff Leach Misogynist?! @FacebookGaming Partner, Voice of @CallofDuty "Ghost" @Activision

Serious personalised intrusive sexism. Influence. Contempt. Violence! Serial offender! @TheZombiUnicorn Watch the clip RT! Respect Women! #GameOver4Sexism pic.twitter.com/jtNj3xy5sN — NitroLukeDX (@NitroLukeDX) May 7, 2021

Activision provided a statement to CharlieIntel on May 8 condemning the actor's remarks, and cutting professional ties with him. "Sexism has no place in our industry, our games or in society,” Activision said. “Activision is no longer working with Jeff Leach. We strongly condemn these remarks. We are committed to delivering a fun and safe experience for all players.” Leach was previously banned from Twitch for comments made about streamer TheZombiUnicorn in 2017, and has since become a streamer on Facebook Gaming. Facebook has not commented at time of writing. TheZombiUnicorn has since posted a response to the new video of Leach, calling on platforms and sponsors supporting Leach to take action. Leach has not outwardly commented on the video, or Activision's decision to cut ties with him, but (seemingly due to fan backlash over the decision) tweeted to say that "anyone who sends threatening messages is not representative of me or my community and I do not condone this is [sic] any way." In replies on Twitter, Leach has been defending his actions on stream, saying that the later clips are responses to trolls in his chat and he was using his experience "as a professional comic" to "destroy them." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/call-of-duty-black-ops-cold-war-warzone-season-3-the-story-so-far-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

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