A former employee of streaming site Mixer has accused his former manager of using a racist analogy and has blasted the company’s handling of his complaint about the incident.
Milan Lee, who worked for Mixer for 12 months between May 2018 and May 2019, reveals that he resigned from the company after experiencing racism while working there and alleges that a complaint about one of the individuals involved was never passed on or investigated until after he left.
In a TwitLonger, Lee describes his experiences, where he alleges he was hired because he was “street smart” and that his manager described herself as the “slave master” over Mixer’s streamers. “I was one of the only black people working at Mixer during my tenure,” Lee says in the post. “While at a conference I was pulled aside and told that the only reason I was hired is because I am ‘street smart.’”
He continues: “Time goes by and we are in an internal meeting discussing projects we wanted to execute. My manager decided to give us an analogy. That analogy was: ‘I’m in between a rock and a hard place. What I mean is all the partners are my slaves, I own their content. I control their success on our platform. For me I am the slave master, I own partners.’
“Immediately I got angry, pissed off and honestly I didn’t want to work at Microsoft/Mixer anymore. My manager saw my mood was not the same and decided to have a 1:1. Within that meeting I told her why I was angry and why her using that analogy was NOT okay. She decided to defend her statement and even had the nerve to google that analogy to prove why it was okay.”
Mixer: The Black Experience
Read: https://t.co/p4Q5jTiS2G
— Milly 🌩 #BlackLivesMatter (@MilanKLee) June 21, 2020
Lee goes on to explain that he ultimately made the decision to resign after he says his internal complaint was never passed on to Mixer’s HR department. Lee says an investigation that took place after he left the company returned the verdict that his manager was not guilty of racism. The alleged reason for the verdict was that his manager could not be racist “because she hired a black person.”
Lee’s account of his time at Mixer has seen a number of the platform’s streamers – some of which are partnered – boycott streaming on the site until Mixer addresses the situation.
I stream full time for a living.
I will not be streaming on Mixer until something is done about what Milly BRAVELY came forward to us all about.
I urge you all to do the same, take a stand, bond together.
I LOVE MIXER. IT IS MY HOME! IT IS MY FAMILY!
But this, is not okay.
— Foxyzilla #cleanuptheindustry (@Foxyzilla) June 22, 2020
Your move @WatchMixer
I am appalled, disgusted and ashamed right now and I will not keep quiet. pic.twitter.com/eEPyMTaabV
— Backdraft (@BackdraftLIVE) June 22, 2020
Mixer has since released a statement to Lee’s post. Mixer says: “Our goal is to build a positive, welcoming, and inclusive team and community. To those sharing your stories; it’s unacceptable that we did not provide that for you. We’ll be vigilant in addressing this more diligently in the future.”
Our goal is to build a positive, welcoming, and inclusive team and community. To those sharing your stories; it’s unacceptable that we did not provide that for you. We’ll be vigilant in addressing this more diligently in the future.
Thank you, Milan and to the entire community.
— Mixer (@WatchMixer) June 22, 2020
However, many of its creators are threatening to leave the site and stream on rival platforms if no action is taken against the manager Lee has accused.
The Loadout has reached out to Mixer for a comment.
