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SonicFox is 'that' bitch

Written by Random J •

Dominique "SonicFox" McLean is a big name in competitive gaming and eSports. Huge. But I hadn't heard of him at all until seeing his acceptance speech at the 2018 game awards upon becoming the winner of best eSports player.

SonicFox's speech was awkward. He seemed unsure of how to compose himself. Unsure of what to say. He was nervous as all hell. There were strange looks from people in the audience and he seemed completely out of his element. But it was the best fucking thing and it shouldn't have been any other way.


Scroll through the comments of this video on YouTube and you'll see nothing but hate and bashing; because a dude walked onto the stage in a costume and didn't give media trained acceptance speech. But I find it hard to shit on any of this. Because what I saw was somebody presenting themselves exactly as they are. Representing of a cross section of people that live in this same world as the rest of us, more so than the YouTube commenters would like to acknowledge.

I am not here for this shit slinging wagon that wants to put Sonic Fox's acceptance speech down. I'm just not. The fact he stood on that stage and was so authentic to himself sends out an amazing message to all of the kids out there that feel that their passions are weird, awkward and that they'll never be acknowledged.

As a kid, I always felt the need to downplay how much of a gamer I was, because I didn't want to be put in 'that box'. Gaming wasn't widely considered cool back when I was a kid. It wasn't considered a viable hobby or a serious passion; even though it was all of those things to me. I edited myself constantly and hid what was a large part of my life on a daily basis. So to see a black male gamer up on stage with his heart on his sleeve was amazing to me. I wish my 10 year old self could have seen that.

Also, Sonic Fox's openly mentioning that he's gay was huge. Even in a climate where declarations of queerness has become a norm. Let's not shy away from the fact that there has been / is homophobia in competitive and online gaming, and a tonne of racism in the latter. 'Fag', 'Monkey' and 'Nigga' are things I've been called online many-a-time and it never not gets less annoying and aggravating. So for SonicFox, as a black gay gamer to declare his queerness so openly was bold. It not only made a statement, but it was once again a declaration of SonicFox embracing who he is and giving not a single fuck to the repercussions that could follow.

I'mma pray for his DM inbox though, because bitch...
"I'm gay, black, a furry...and the best Esports player of the year!"
For me, SonicFox's win at the game awards was more than just a trophy or a shout out on a night to honour games. It was a win for every kid who was made to feel like their passion wasn't worthy of being celebrated and acknowledged. A win for every kid who felt that there wasn't anything close to a representation that they could identify with. A win for every kid who felt that their passion and their social awkwardness wouldn't allow them to be seen on any mass public platform. For every kid who felt that they had to hide parts of who they were in fear of never being accepted. For every kid who felt that being a black, gay geek was something so uncool that they chose to live their life in the shadows.
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