Carl Riemer, a Call of Duty streamer and former FaZe Clan member, was suspended from Twitch after accidentally firing a real gun while he was live on the platform.
While streaming, Riemer picked up a Glock, racked the slide twice, and discharged a bullet from the chamber. Apparently believing that the gun was not loaded, he pulled the trigger and was visibly surprised that the Glock fired a shot into a can of G-Fuel.
The scene was captured by Twitter user cam834.
https://twitter.com/cam834/status/1235503622496153606
Nobody was harmed in the incident, but Riemer was suspended from Twitch, as the platform has a zero-tolerance policy for use of weapons. Soar Gaming, the e-sports organization where Riemer used to play Call of Duty, also kicked him off its roster.
We do not condone the actions on livestream by Carl last night. He has been removed from the SoaR Gaming roster effective immediately.
— SoaR (@SoaRGaming) March 5, 2020
In separate videos uploaded on Twitter and YouTube, Riemer talked about the incident.
Don't do what I did. Ever. Literally everything was going perfectly in life and one mistake ruined everything I've been doing for year. I cannot put into words how sorry I am and how dangerous what I did last night was. pic.twitter.com/O781ecXxJN
— Carl (@Carllamaa) March 5, 2020
“I could have hurt somebody. I could have hurt myself. I could have hurt one of my animals. And that’s unforgivable… I’ve had that gun for two years, and all it takes is two seconds of stupid to ruin everything. To ruin somebody else, to ruin yourself. Don’t do what I did,” said Riemer in the Twitter video.
Meanwhile, in the YouTube video, Riemer explained that he was intoxicated during the stream, in which a can of beer was spotted on his desk. He then showed a metal cup that the bullet passed through, into a monitor that was also destroyed.
It is unclear how long Riemer’s suspension from Twitch will last, and the streamer said that he was unsure if he will receive his earnings from last month and if he will ever be able to return to the platform. Riemer also acknowledged his removal from the Soar Gaming roster, saying that the e-sports organization did “what they needed to do.”
While YouTube Gaming is catching up with its largest year-to-year increase in viewership between January 2019 and January 2020, Twitch remains “the king of streaming.” After blowing his opportunity on Twitch, Riemer’s options moving forward are now murky, as it is unclear if other streaming platforms will sign him up after this massive screw-up.
