Gamergate Controversy

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The controversy centered on Benjamin's assertion that DiGRA was no longer an academic body but a vehicle for ideology. He argued that gender ideologues were using the organization to spread their views within the gaming community. This narrative fueled a broader campaign where he criticized feminist critics and academics. The real-world events involved targeted harassment, mirroring the psychological horror of digital mobs. In 2017 at VidCon, this tension escalated when Benjamin and other YouTubers filled rows of an audience to film Anita Sarkeesian during a panel on online harassment. Sarkeesian identified him as a serial harasser, calling him a "garbage human," while he accused her of abuse. The event went viral, highlighting how digital conflicts spilled into physical spaces.

In Their Own Story

The escalation from online theory to real-world consequences is starkly illustrated in the timeline of events. In March 2018, masked Antifa protesters broke into a scheduled discussion between Benjamin and Yaron Brook at King's College London's Libertarian Society. The mob attacked security guards, set off smoke bombs, and broke windows, forcing an evacuation where two guards were hospitalized. Later that year, in December 2018, Patreon banned Benjamin for violating hate speech rules after he used racial and homophobic slurs, including the epithet "nigger" to describe alt-right members and a slur against homosexuals. Despite earning over US$12,000 a month at the time, his account was terminated. In May 2019, YouTube suspended his channel from the Partner Program, and he was also suspended from Twitter that same month.

Reader's Guide

He named his channel "Sargon of Akkad" because he was a "lover of history." His political trajectory shifted from identifying as a classical liberal to rejecting liberalism entirely, espousing right-wing populist views. In the 2019 European Parliament election, he ran unsuccessfully for UKIP in South West England, where his party lost all its seats. The harassment allegations persisted; in 2016, he made a rape joke about Labour MP Jess Phillips saying "I wouldn't even rape you," which was investigated by police who gave him "words of advice." He apologized to Phillips only in 2024, stating he had changed and did not want to be a "corrosive force" in British politics.

Did You Know?

• Benjamin named his channel Sargon of Akkad because he was a lover of history and the lessons it can teach.
• In May 2019, both YouTube suspended his channel from the Partner Program and Twitter suspended his account.
• At VidCon 2017, Anita Sarkeesian singled out Benjamin as a serial harasser while he filled half the first three rows of the audience with other critics to film her.
• Patreon banned Benjamin in December 2018 when he was earning over US$12,000 a month for using racial and homophobic slurs.