YouTubers GtxPreet and 420 Gaming Make Racist Remarks Toward Northeast Indian Politician Ninong Ering

YouTube livestreamers GtxPreet and 420 Gaming have recently made some very inappropriate comments against Arunachal Pradesh MLA and former Union Minister Ninong Ering. On his stream, GtxPreet commented that Ninong Ering looked Chinese to him while 420 Gaming outright stated that Ering’s name is a Chinese name. These comments were made in response to Ering writing a letter asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban the re-launch of Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India. In response, the Arunachal Pradesh MLA has reportedly stated that appropriate action would be taken against the two YouTubers for their recent statements.

What led to this situation and what exactly did GtxPreet and 420 Gaming say in their livestreams?

On May 22, Arunachal Pradesh MLA Ninong Ering wrote a letter to the Prime Minister’s office seeking a block against the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India. According to him, BGMI  threatens the security of India and the privacy of its citizens. Additionally, he described the Battlegrounds Mobile India launch as a "trick" to relaunch PUBG Mobile in the country with minor modifications in order to collect user data from Indian citizens. 

RELATED:  Analyzing Battlegrounds Mobile India Ban Request by Politician Ninong Ering

GtxPreet:

In wake of this, on GtxPreet’s PUBG Mobile livestream, a viewer asked, “Paji, some minister (is) saying that BGMI should not be launched? Is it coming or not?” 

The YouTuber responded to this question in Hindi. The translated response is as below:

"Which minister's talks are you getting involved in? He's barely even known, you should forget about it. Looking at this face, he himself looks Chinese to me."

420 Gaming:

420 Gaming aka Shivamm "420op" Raghav is an Indian PUBG Mobile player who last played for Lightzout esports. In a livestream on his YouTube channel, 420 Gaming can be spotted commenting on Ninong Ering’s name. His comments (translated from Hindi) are as below::

"Those who are saying that PUBG Mobile, now Battlegrounds Mobile India, is from China - look at your own name. Your own name is Chinese. Go look at the name of the person who made this Tweet."

Following these comments, both streamers have received harsh criticism from across the country calling them out on their racially charged comments.

Ering’s response to GtxPreet and 420 Gaming’s racist remarks

Ering told Northeast Now that the two YouTubers would be dealt with appropriately for their comments. According to the report, his team is still working on establishing the identities of the two YouTubers. Once they establish their identities, they will approach the Crime Branch of the Arunachal Pradesh Police and file a complaint.

Not the first instance of racism against Ninong Ering after calls to ban BGMI

Ering has been on the receiving end of other racist comments from popular YouTube streamers recently. On May 22, PUBG Mobile YouTuber Paras Singh made a video on Ninong Ering's latest call to ban Battlegrounds Mobile India and called him a “non-Indian” and Arunachal Pradesh “a part of China”.

Following this, Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu Tweeted that a case has been filed against Paras. He was later arrested by the Ludhiana Police, under close monitoring of Arunachal Police, after his whereabouts were traced.

Update: 420 Gaming issues apology

After the backlash, 420 Gaming uploaded a video on his channel on May 26, apologizing for his remarks in Hindi (translated below).

"So, on the livestream I said some very very wrong things. There was a comment I made which was wrong and I have realized my mistake. I am really really sorry guys. If anyone of you has been hurt by my comments, I am actually really sorry and I never meant to hurt your sentiments or feelings," he said.

"All my brothers and sisters from the northeast or anywhere from India, I have and always will respect you. I too have a lot of friends from the northeast, from Assam and Meghalaya, and I always respect them and appreciate their hard work," he added.

420 Gaming also added that he wants to grow as much as everyone is growing and asked everyone to "Stop the racism." He went on to allege that he was always against it and asked for forgiveness once again.

Update 2: GtxPreet has issued a similar apology

After a short 44-minute stream that has since been made private, GtxPreet stated that he was going to post an apology for his words earlier this week. Following that, he published a short video in which he apologized and said he had not intended to hurt anyone's feelings. In addition to that, he also claimed that he never discusses such things on his streams and tries to avoid them, but he ended up committing a mistake on that day.

"I promise to all of you that from today onwards I will never commit such a mistake ever again and for this mistake, I apologize to everyone and say sorry for it," said GtxPreet. "For all my brothers and sister from the Northeast, I say sorry to all of you from the bottom of my heart. You will not witness any such mistake from my side ever again going forward and I feel really sorry, so please forgive your smaller brother, thank you so much."