Ninja may or may not have used the n-word while rapping a Logic song during a recent streaming session with Matthew Haag (Nadeshot). Ninja characterizes his language as a misunderstanding and suggests that he was merely “tongue-tied” and fumbled the lyrics. Though it sounds like he suggesting that he may have not actually say the n-word, a lot of people are pretty sure they heard what they thought they heard.

You can judge for yourself in the short YouTube clip below (from Haag’s stream, the voice is Ninja).

You can tell by the look on Haag’s face that he certainly thought that Ninja said something he probably shouldn’t have, but Haag hasn’t officially said anything regarding the incident on Twitter or elsewhere.

Ninja meanwhile, came out with a lengthy Twitter apology on Thursday morning. In the four-part tweet, he apologizes and says that it’s his job to “make everyone feel welcome, valued, and safe to be themselves.” 

While I am confident that most of this is a misunderstanding, I recognize that it’s my responsibility to never let there be THIS kind of a misunderstanding. More than anything, I hate that any of my friends, fans, or viewers might feel disrespected. (Tweet 1)

— Ninja (@Ninja) March 29, 2018

It is my job, and hopefully I’m usually good at it, to make everyone feel welcome, valued, and safe to be themselves. So I apologize to anyone who might feel hurt because I NEVER want that. It’s my stream, and it’s on me to make that right. (Tweet 2)

— Ninja (@Ninja) March 29, 2018

The best way I can explain it is that I promise that I understand how much pain that word causes, even if it gets used a lot in music and elsewhere. It’s a word historically used to divide people, and I’m about bringing people together. (Tweet 3)

— Ninja (@Ninja) March 29, 2018

I promise that there was no mal intent (I wasn’t even trying to say the word-I fumbled lyrics and got tongue tied in the worst possible way). Again, I apologize for offending anyone and appreciate you all rocking with me.

— Ninja (@Ninja) March 29, 2018

The response to Ninja’s mistake was swift, but not as harsh as one might expect. While the consensus is certainly that he did say the n-word, people don’t seem to be collectively too up in arms about it.

A lot of people have said that it doesn’t matter because it was just part of a song (even though the n-word isn’t actually in the lyrics of that part of the song) and plenty of others have said that they just don’t think it’s a big deal one way or another. Yes, some people are still mad and are saying that they’re done with Ninja because of this, but compared to the backlash that some streamers have seen in the past, the reaction to Ninja has been rather muted. 

This could be because there didn’t seem to be any malcontent or vitriol behind his words. After all, Ninja doesn’t have a reputation for being hateful or overtly negative like so many other streamers. In fact, he’s by far and away the most the most popular streamer on Twitch today and so far, this saga doesn’t seem to have had an impact on his streaming numbers at all.