A former employee at Microsoft’s game streaming service Mixer came forward with an account of racially insensitive behavior from a manager within the company over the weekend, as well as allegations that the company failed to act after attempts to report the incident were ignored by leadership. The allegations drew support from Mixer partners after they were made public Sunday.
Milan Lee, formerly employed in business development at Mixer, came forward with the allegations in a TwitLonger post titled ‘Mixer: The Black Experience’ on Sunday evening. Lee described being chosen for the position for his “street smarts,” in what he interpreted as a thinly-veiled reference to simply being hired for the color of his skin. According to the post, Mixer had few other Black employees at the time of his hiring.
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Lee states in the post that an unspecified manager at Mixer described herself as “the slave master” to the platform’s streaming partners, and that she “owned their content” and “controlled their success on our platform.” According to Lee’s account, the remarks were upsetting enough to make him reconsider his employment at the company, and in an individual meeting with the manager in question, he was allegedly told to “work on himself” after pointing out the insensitive nature of the comments.
The post goes on to allege that Lee’s concern over the incident was ignored when he made an effort to report it toMicrosoft’s human resources department, and an internal investigation found the manager in question not guilty after he departed the company in 2019.
“I do not care about how big a company is or their market share,” Lee wrote to conclude the post. “If we do not have the same values, if you cannot be intelligent enough to know racism isn’t tolerated, then I will not work for you or your company.”
While Mixer itself has not issued a public answer to the allegations, several of the platform’s partners have paused streaming on the service in solidarity with Lee. The post also drew the attention of Microsoft executivePhil Spencer, who requested that the former employee contact him directly to address the situation.
With the video game industry still reckoning with the hard truths of confronting its relationship with racism in the wake of renewedBlack Lives Matterdemonstrations worldwide, Lee’s account serves as a disturbing reminder that live streaming is not immune to implicit prejudices against Black members of the gaming community.
The indictment of leadership at Mixer also appears to be part of a larger groundswell ofoutcry against abuse in gaming, withDestinystreamer SayNoToRage,Fallout New Vegaswriter Chris Avellone, and YouTube personality AngryJoe among those accused of sexual assault and misconduct over the weekend. Twitch andDestinydeveloper Bungie have made it clear that behavior of that kind will not be tolerated in their respective communities.
