Northernlion Speaks Out Against Friend’s Army-Sponsored Twitch Streams: ‘It’s Unacceptable’
Dan Gheesling, known for his win on Big Brother, his time as a Detroit Lions coach, and his Twitch streaming, is also recognized as a close friend and collaborator of the popular Canadian content creator Ryan “Northernlion” Letourneau. Recently, Gheesling sparked controversy by accepting a sponsorship from the U.S. Army, leading him to participate in a boot camp-style game show aimed at his diverse Twitch audience—a move that did not sit well with Northernlion.
Gheesling’s three-day live-streamed event with the U.S. Army, which kicked off on September 16, drew widespread condemnation across the Twitch community. Northernlion, however, chose to remain silent on the issue initially.
In a recent Twitch stream, Northernlion shared that his hesitation to address the sponsorship stemmed from their long-standing friendship, as well as his desire to allow Gheesling to speak on the matter first. “You can probably tell…I’m upset,” Northernlion expressed. “And I think I will be more upset as we talk about it, which I don’t mind…What it comes down to is that…the stream 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.”
Eventually, Gheesling did address the backlash from his U.S. Army-sponsored streams, but his response lacked a genuine apology for promoting military enlistment to his young audience. He claimed it was “never [his] intention to upset anyone,” yet also mentioned he “had a job to do” and “couldn’t breach the contract.”
This lukewarm apology did not resonate well with Twitch viewers and seemed to frustrate Northernlion as well. “You probably didn’t have to read between the lines to know how I feel about the U.S. Army,” he continued. “Of course I hate the U.S. Army; they’re threatening to take over my country! They’re actively at war overseas, and with their own citizens.”
Northernlion also pointed out the absurdity of the U.S. Army advertising on Twitch: “We work in this insane industry. I feel like I’m on Curb Your Enthusiasm, where the first domino is ‘I’m gonna play some [The Binding of Isaac],’ and then the big domino is like…I’m denouncing the United States Army? But I have to remember that I didn’t put myself in this position—and it’s a joke. The whole thing is absurd. But also it’s serious—it’s very real. And you know it’s real, because this is where they’re doing the marketing.”
While discussing Gheesling’s actions, Northernlion appeared unusually affected, revealing that the fallout from the canceled Northernlion Supercruise in April, which he organized with Gheesling, had taken a toll on his mental health: “Taking that kind of heat fucked me up for a while. It took me a while to digest it—to return to a baseline… a different version of myself, to be honest…And I came out of it realizing that the community is made of real people, and I don’t wanna do any sort of sponsorship that’s even a few percent over the line…That made [the community] feel like they’re in a place that’s masquerading as a safe space, but actually is taking advantage of you.”
“Even if [Dan] thinks it’s over for him, I still think there’s a place to do the right thing,” Northernlion concluded. “I hope that he can understand that he’s an adult and he can make his own decisions…I really think, for some people, it would make a difference.”
