Streamer Ewok has become not only the first female but also the first deaf Fortnite streamer to sign to the group FaZe Clan.
Announced through the FaZe Clan Twitter this weekend, Ewok made history being the first deaf and female member to join the group of Fortnite streamers.
The 13-year-old was inducted by the group hours after a Fortnite Duos tournament at the Fortnite World Cup that concluded 27 July.
Co-founder of FaZe Clan, Ricky Banks, gave his support on Twitter when he said: ‘Welcome to FaZe, your incredible, you inspire me. First girl ever in FaZe, I’m glad we held out this long. You’re perfect [sic].’
In an announcement video uploaded by the FaZe Clan, Ewok signed: ‘I am so very excited to be in Faze.’
‘Everyone is really wonderful here,’ continued the streamer with an audience of nearly 200,000.
This follows news of Turner Tenney suing the Clan following claims of the organisation operating with exploitative behaviors towards its young talent.
Usually we surprise our new members, but tonight we got surprised with the best news.
Join us in welcoming the first girl EVER to join FaZe Clan: @EwokIts #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/Q1Rr1UZ5c8
— FaZe Clan ? (@FaZeClan) July 28, 2019
Turner streamed under the name of Tfue and signed to FaZe Clan in 2018.
In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Tenney, represented by Bryan Freedman of Freedman + Taitelman, said: ‘Not only does Faze Clan take advantage of these young artists, it jeopardises their health, safety and welfare
‘The time is now for content creators, gamers and streamers to stop being taken advantage of through oppressive, unfair and illegal agreements. The significant legal actions taken today will be a wake up call that this behavior will no longer be tolerated. The gaming community deserves a safe environment that allows gamers the freedom to control their own careers.’
The statement develops with Freedman stating that Tenney had his income capped with the organisation pocketing 80% of his earnings.
It continued: ‘Faze Clan uses its illegal Gamer Contracts to limit Tenney to deals sourced exclusively by Faze Clan and to prevent Tenney from exploring deals presented by others; deals that are potentially superior to deals procured by Faze Clan; and deals that are not saddled with an eighty percent (80%) finder’s fee.’
Faze Clan has since responded to this statement, posting a collection of images onto Twitter that read: ‘We’re shocked and disappointed to see the news of Tfue’s press article and lawsuit.’
It added that ‘over the course of our partnership with him, which began in 2018, FaZe Clan has collected zero dollars of tournament Winnings, Twitch Revenue, YouTube Revenue, and nothing from any social platform’.
The statement continued: ‘In fact we have only collected a total of $60,000 [£48,461] from our partnership, while Tfue has earned millions as a member of FaZe Clan. While contracts are different with each player, all of them – including Tfue’s – have a maximum of 20% to FaZe Clan in both tournament winnings as well as contract revenue, with 80% to the player.
‘In Turner’s case, neither of those have been collected by FaZe Clan.
‘We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the past year with Turner and will continue to support him.’
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