Female Overwatch League host receives death threats over Women's Day tweet
Soe 'Soembie' Gschwind-Penski besieged on social media for thanking supportive men
A notable figure from the world of esports has received multiple death threats over a tweet she made to celebrate International Women's Day.
In the original tweet, Soe Gschwind-Penski (aka Soembie) thanked any men that have supported women's fight for equality and recognised her as an equal. You can read the message below:
The Guardian reports that she later revealed the message had prompted multiple death threats and "hundreds of hate messages" from other Twitter users - all within 20 minutes of the first post.
She later added: "[D]id I offend you by treating ALL genders equal and thank humans for treating each other the way they should? Believe it or not but women are not the only ones fighting for equality."
The 29-year-old Swiss is best known as an esports commentator and analyst, as well as notably hosting Blizzard's Overwatch League.
Various video games firms celebrated International Women's Day in their own way last week. We compiled a full round-up here.
Blizzard has always positioned Overwatch as a game that promotes inclusivity. The diversity of its line-up and variety of its female characters has been praised by various critics.
The company has also taken a firm stance against toxic behaviour around its game. Blizzard has banned professional player Felix 'xQc' Lengyel for homophobic remarks during livestreams - behaviour that later saw him dismissed from his own team - and has taken action against 480,000 toxic players since launch.