In this industry, everything we put up is heavily scrutinized.
From mispronouncing a player’s name to forgetting to incorporate a specific detail, there is nothing that goes unnoticed from readers and viewers in the gaming world. It’s a big reason why we as media and creators have to pay extra attention to the things we publish and put out for mass consumption. One major gaffe, and all credibility can be lost while that person — or group of people — become the butt of jokes for the foreseeable future.
Case and point: Ryan Moody.
Known by many as “Shutdown Safety”, Moody has been posting videos covering various football video games for his subscribers on his channel. While he often can be defended for what he says when criticizing the Madden NFL series, he recently posted a video where there is no defense.
By now, everyone knows the story of Seattle Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin. The former UCF standout was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft, making it to the league with only one hand after having his left hand amputated at a young age.
The 22-year old was even featured in the debut Madden NFL 19 trailer that dropped on June 9 during EA’s EA Play press conference. And it featured him without his left hand.
While many viewed this as incredible that he is accurately represented in the virtual world, Moody decided to go to Youtube with a video to, as he put it, “nitpick”.
He starts out the video — now removed due to him being criticized, but captured and reuploaded by another user — by saying that he wasn’t going to make a video breaking down a still image from the reveal trailer, but he decided to do it anyway.
In it, Moody talks about EA Sports “struggling” to create a trailer because of how the player (Griffin) looks. He even says that Griffin’s missing hand is a “perfect representation” of that. He then goes on to say that a producer should’ve looked at the image and requested it removed, on top of other false criticisms that you can go watch for yourself.
Moody has since issued an apology video on the matter, claiming that he “neglected to recall that he didn’t have a hand”. That said, the damage had already been done, especially when in the original video he claims that EA made a mistake with a “pretty popular Seahawks player” that he doesn’t even give the name of. He then follows it up on Twitter saying that he “doesn’t follow NCAA“.
That line, to me, just doesn’t make sense. You don’t need to follow the NCAA to know Griffin’s story. If you know who Sam Darnold and Lamar Jackson are, then Griffin, who got nearly just as much coverage as those two leading up to and during the 2018 NFL Draft, should be a known player. Especially someone, as he stated and is mentioned above, is a “popular player”.
If you consider yourself someone who acts as the voice of the community, it would behoove you to make sure you know who and what you are talking about before posting a video on a subject. One simple Google search of “Seattle Seahawk with one hand” could have saved him all of the embarrassment.
Are we all perfect? Absolutely not. And I commend anyone who’s willing to own up to a mistake like Moody has in this case. But if you own up to it and move on like he said he would do in his apology video, then do just that. Move on.
Don’t go around attacking people and calling them names because they decide to bring what you did to a broader group of people. It’s called news for a reason. What you did, in the eyes of the Madden and football community, is worthy of coverage. To start threatening to ruin people because you don’t like their coverage of you doesn’t reflect well on you, and certainly won’t help people move on from the mistake you made.
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