Matthew Mercer, the actor behind Overwatch's Jesse McCree, has confirmed that he's in full support of the decision to rename the character in the wake of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit and sexual harassment allegations.
The cybernetically enhanced cowboy McCree was one of Ovewatch's first playable characters, and has been part of the game since it launched back in 2016. He's currently named after the now-former Blizzard developer Jesse McCree, who previously worked on World Of Warcraft and Diablo 4.
In a story published by Kotaku in the wake of the Blizzard allegations, it emerged that McCree was one of the men linked to the 'Cosby Suite', a nickname given to a BlizzCon 2013 hotel room where men would reportedly go to party and often pose with a large portrait of previously convicted rapist Bill Cosby. The suite was reportedly owned by World of Warcraft developer Alex Afrasiabi, one of the few people mentioned by name in the Activision Blizzard lawsuit.
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In screenshots of a group chat shared by Kotaku ex-Blizzard designer David Kosak wrote that he was "gathering the hot chixx for the Coz" - a reference to the aforementioned suite.
"Bring em," Afrasiabi replies. "You can't marry ALL of them Alex," Kosak says. "I can, I'm middle eastern," Afrasiabi replies.
"You misspelled fuck," responds McCree.
Activision Blizzard confirmed soon after that McCree had been let go, which in turn led to a swift and successful campaign from Overwatch fans who believed the in-game cowboy's name should be changed.
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"I know this is a small consolation, but it's one that needed to be done for a lot of people to feel comfortable moving forward with the story of Overwatch and the characters," Mercer said of the name change to ComingSoon.
"People have different opinions on it and some can say that it's just a name and that it is ridiculous to change it, but it's a name that also represents a connection to a lot of people's pain and abuse. And if we have the opportunity to make it better and let that lie in the past and let the character live as something separate like it should, then I can't help but be behind that."
Mercer added that he doesn't know what the cowboy's new name will be, but he hopes it's just one of the actions Blizzard takes going forward.
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"If it was the one thing they did, it would be nowhere near enough," he said. "But it's just one facet of all the things they are seemingly doing internally to try to right a lot of wrongs. I feel so much for all of the people that were mistreated and were victims of individuals in the company that abused their power and positions. My heart has been breaking since the whole thing went down."
Topics: News, Blizzard, Overwatch, Activision