C.J. Gardner-Johnson calls for changes at Twitch after live-streamed Buffalo shooting

New Orleans Saints nickelback C.J. Gardner-Johnson is calling for change at Twitch, the streaming platform that a self-proclaimed white supremacist used to broadcast his attack on a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people dead and injured three others Saturday.

The initial video of the man's rampage remained on Twitch — the broadcast service best known for live streams of video games — for less than two minutes after the suspect began shooting, according to a spokesperson for the company. However, the video of the attack remains online in various corners of the internet after users saved the original video and posted it elsewhere, including Facebook. "While Twitch is an incredible platform for content, we cannot help to ask, why was this allowed to be streamed?" Gardner-Johnson wrote in a statement released Thursday, putting the onus on Twitch to develop protocol to catch violent and hate-fueled content.

Gardner-Johnson is an avid Twitch streamer and has broadcast himself playing video games such as Grand Theft Auto, Madden NFL and Fortnite. Gardner-Johnson recently announced a partnership with Turtle Beach and ROCCAT for gaming. "As content creators ourselves, we can only hope there is an evolution to the technology and processes in place to censor things like this or any content used for any negativity — specifically hate-fueled content," Gardner-Johnson said. "We will continue to pray for the families affected and want to publicly call on our partners at Twitch to commit to a change in their strategy of censorship of negative content and announce a true plan to control what is able to be live streamed." The man accused of shooting 13 people in Buffalo had racist motives in the attack, driving about 200 miles to carry out the mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood, according to officials. Eleven of the 13 victims are Black, including all 10 of the deceased.

Shortly before the 18-year-old man began live streaming, he shared hundreds of pages of writings that detailed the plans he had for his attack. In the writings, the man cited "the great replacement theory," a racist conspiracy theory that purports that non-white people are brought into the United States to "replace" white people and diminish their influence on American society. The man was indicted on first-degree murder charges Thursday, and local authorities are still investigating hate crime and terrorism charges in the matter. The man entered a not guilty plea through his court-appointed lawyer during his initial appearance.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Just, A., 2022. Saints DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson calls for changes at Twitch after live-streamed Buffalo shooting. [online] NOLA.com. Available at: <https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/article_df048a60-d7a2-11ec-9dfe-6bd80019b998.html> [Accessed 19 May 2022].