Activision has officially cut ties with Jeff Leach, the voice actor for “Ghost” in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) for alleged repeated sexist behaviour and comments.
A report from CharlieIntel confirmed that Activision has cut all ties with voice actor and streamer Jeff Leach, after video footage of his sexist behaviour and comments directly towards women and specific members of the streamer community resurfaced.
The video was posted on Twitter by Youtuber NitroLukeDX which shows footage of Jeff Leach making sexist remarks directly towards streamer and creator ZombiUnicorn on a live show back in 2017, and then further shows him making sexist remarks towards female gamers this past year in 2020 during a live stream.
TW: Sexist comments. behaviour
The first incident shown in the clip resulted in Jeff Leach being banned from Twitch and from appearing on that show again, though he has since moved on to FacebookGaming as his main platform, who have yet to comment on the video. After these clips resurfaced, it was then CharlieIntel was able to confirm from Activision that they had cut all ties with the actor and released the following statement:
“Sexism has no place in our industry, our games or in society. Activision is no longer working with Jeff Leach. We strongly condemn these remarks. We are committed to delivering a fun and safe experience for all players.” – Activision, via CharlieIntel
ZombiUnicorn also spoke out again after the clip resurfaced to address Jeff Leach’s sexist actions as they did in 2017 on their YouTube channel, this time taking to Twitter in a video they uploaded.
In the video, ZombiUnicorn called out Activision and FacebookGaming for claiming to pretending to show support for social issues while still allowing people like Jeff Leach space on their platform. “These people, like Jeff Leach, won’t change. They haven’t changed, and they won’t. There are people who f*** up and make mistakes, who take responsibility and understand that they were wrong. They do some reflecting and therapy and they work on it and try to become better people. That’s not this situation. This is an example of someone who has been documented for years doing the same exact misogynistic, horrible, malicious behaviors.”
Jeff Leach responded on Twitter claiming that the clips were taken out of context and were an attempt to “fit a character defaming narrative”. The clips themselves show however that it would be very difficult to defend his words and actions even within whatever he believed to be the proper context. There has been no word from any other organizations currently working with Jeff Leach if they have also cut ties.
