Ubisoft has severed ties with Thaqil, a Rainbow Six Siege streamer, after he made a series of racist jokes on Tiktok targeting Castle, a black operator, and his appeal as a streamer was removed from the game announced that it would remove him from the game.

Thaqil created at least three videos on Tiktok targeting Castle (opens in new tab): in "Kiss, Marry, Avoid" he said he would avoid Castle "because he is black"; in "Challenge" he chose Castle and then meaningfully looking at a banana after being assigned to play Castle; the Tiktok has since been removed, but is still accessible on Twitter (opens in a new tab).

"Ubisoft will not tolerate any racism, bullying or harassment," Ubisoft told NME (opens in new tab). Ubisoft will not tolerate any racism, bullying or harassment," Ubisoft tells NME.

"Our investigation revealed that content creator Thaqil's recent social media posts violated Ubisoft's Code of Conduct. As a result, Thaqil will no longer be able to participate in our content creator program and his charms will be removed from Rainbow Six Siege."

In an apology posted on Twitlonger (opens in new tab), Thaqil admitted that he "knew what [he] was doing" when he created the video, but denied any intentional racism.

"My main goal was to be edgy and make people laugh, but I realize now that my attempts at humor may have seemed insensitive and offensive. I am against racism or discrimination of any kind. I cannot stand racism or discrimination of any kind.

"I now understand that the content I create may reflect in the way people treat others and that it does not matter if they behave that way. It shouldn't happen that way, but now I understand that it works that way and that I am influencing people"

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Streamer Charms for "Rainbow Six Siege" are released seasonally and number in the dozens (open in new tab), though there are a few associated with big-name streamers like Shroud and AnneMunition, The Streamer Charm program is open to any Twitch partner with at least 150 concurrent viewers, 10 monthly Rainbow Six streams, and 20 hours of Rainbow Six per month.

Program members must also maintain "good standing with Ubisoft/Rainbow Six Siege" and, as stated in Siege's Code of Conduct (opens in new tab), "Your actions have consequences.

"The purpose of our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use is to provide a safe and welcoming community for all, and any suspected violation of these guidelines or rules will be investigated which may result in sanctions. Sanctions will depend on the severity, impact, and frequency of the violation. We do not like to take such measures, but we need to hold you accountable for violations of the rules because they have the potential to negatively impact the community."

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), many of the replies to Thaqil's apology tweet deny any racism and defend his video as just a "joke." Fortunately, Ubisoft does not take silly public opinion into account when making policy and enforcement decisions.

I contacted Thaqil to ask if his charm removal was permanent or if he would be allowed to return to the program in the future.