Dan Gheesling’s Army-sponsored Twitch streams: Northernlion and FrostPrime respond

Big Brother winner and Twitch streamer Dan Gheesling spent three days in September livestreaming a U.S. Army-sponsored game show, and the fallout reached his closest friend in streaming. Northernlion, who has collaborated with Gheesling for 14 years, said on Sept 21 that the stream was “unacceptable” to him, according to Kotaku.

What happened

1. Sept 16Gheesling begins a three-day Army-sponsored boot-camp-style game show on Twitch. Tubefilter describes the Army show he supported as Field Tested.
2. Sept 21Northernlion addresses it on stream; Gheesling follows with a 150-minute Q&A.
3. Sept 22FrostPrime posts a YouTube video about being told to stop criticizing Gheesling.
4. Sept 23FrostPrime clarifies on X that he asked to leave the agency.

Kotaku says the stream ran for Gheesling’s “all-ages” Twitch audience and was condemned by “essentially every corner of Twitch.” Tubefilter noted that Gheesling did not expect the blowback and that some fellow streamers were objecting loudly enough to risk their own careers.

Northernlion’s response

Northernlion waited, he said, partly because of the friendship and partly to let Gheesling speak first. When he did address it, he was direct.

The stream that he did with the U.S. Army is just unacceptable. It would be unacceptable if it was just sponsored by the Army, but steeped, head to toe, in the imagery, and making it look so awesome. It’s so far beyond the bounds of what is acceptable to me.— Northernlion, on Twitch, Sept 21, via Kotaku

He also said he would not do any sponsorship “that’s even a few percent over the line,” and said that even if Gheesling thinks it’s over for him, “there’s a place to do the right thing.”

Gheesling’s apologies

Kotaku says Gheesling’s first apology said it was “never [his] intention to upset anyone,” but that he “had a job to do” and “couldn’t breach the contract.” In a second stream on Sept 21, he spent about 150 minutes answering questions and maintained an “apolitical” stance. He said some creators, friends, subscribers and even moderators had cut ties after the first apology, and that his family includes military service members, which is why he saw the Army as representing “everyone.” Kotaku called the apologies “half-baked”; that is the outlet’s view.

The agency dispute

FrostPrime, a Slay the Spire streamer with more than 160,000 Twitch followers, said in a Sept 22 YouTube video that the CEO of GG Talent Group, which represented both him and Gheesling, told him to stop talking about Gheesling “or else.” He said he refused and was dropped. On Sept 23 he clarified on X that he had asked to leave after what he called an aggressive back-and-forth, and felt he was “backed into a corner.”

A GG Talent Group spokesperson told Kotaku the agency has “no issue” with FrostPrime expressing political views, and asked that the article be updated so it does not imply he was fired. The two sides disagree on whether he was pushed.