Ninja Criticised For Using Mental Health Break To Gain Hype For His Career

Twitch streamer Ninja, also known as Richard Tyler Blevins, has been criticised for using an apparent mental health crisis as a method to generate attention on his latest professional announcement.

At the start of September, Ninja's mood suddenly shifted while streaming Fortnite with Ali "SypherPK" Hassan. Wound up about players spamming rift in the sky in the midst of a match, fans were concerned for his wellbeing when he had his outburst and stopped the stream. “Can’t do anymore dude, I can’t. I’m f*cking sick of this, dude. I’m sick of these f*cking players spamming rifts. I’ve had enough, man,” he said. “I’m leaving.”

Check out this conversation between GAMINGbible and Safe in Our World about the benefits that gaming offers for those struggling with their mental health.

Later, Ninja took to Twitter and expressed that he needed a break from streaming, even dropping his partner status on Twitch, and added that he didn't know if he would be return to gaming any time in the future. This had all the hallmarks of someone who might be struggling to balance their career, their passions, their community and their health, but it turns out that he's back to reveal that he is no longer streaming exclusively on Twitch.

Took a little time off, but now I’m back…and I’ll be live EVERYWHERE tomorrow at 12CST pic.twitter.com/k2nt1BVUuN

— Ninja (@Ninja) September 8, 2022

I thought it was something super serious when he made that tweet on the first day of 'Suicide Prevention Month'.

To find out it was just a PR stunt disgusts me.

— TheGirlWithTheFoxHat🦊 (@KristineKasuka) September 9, 2022

Appreciably, the connotations of his short break from streaming and the abrupt promotion of all of his social media and streaming accounts have left a sour taste in people's mouths. "Literally using burnout as a PR stunt. Distasteful as f*ck," said streamer Clockdistrict. "Ninja approached this terribly. The poorly acted mental health crisis thing was stupid and unnecessary," said Zach Bussey. "There are big issues with mental health in the streaming community and using it as marketing (poor marketing mind you) is a stain on an otherwise intriguing plan." At the time of writing, neither Ninja nor his wife and manager Jessica Blevins have specifically addressed the criticisms.