Twitch streamer ‘TheBurntPeanut’ was originally slated to be included in Fortnite Chapter 7, Season 3, but following huge backlash from Fortnite fans, the streamer is notably absent from the Battle Pass reveal, sparking rumors that Epic Games has backed out of the collaboration.
The linkup was first spotted in the key art for the new Fortnite season, which included a small sidekick sitting on a box. Fans immediately recognized it as popular streamer TheBurntPeanut, and the collab was later confirmed by Senior Design Director Tim Timmins.
While this generated a positive response from his audience, it was also met with widespread criticism. Fans of the game immediately started sharing clips that allegedly show the streamer using a homophobic slur while playing Escape from Tarkov, prompting users on X to claim that Epic doesn’t care about its community while criticizing the company for not doing background checks on possible partners.
On Tuesday June 2, Epic Games released the official Chapter 7, Season 3 Battle Pass reveal, showing off the same characters as the key art above. Notably absent, however, is TheBurntPeanut’s sidekick, which appeared in the original teaser but does not appear in this.
This has prompted many fans of the battle royale to suggest that Epic Games has listened to the criticism from the community and canceled the collaboration. PCGamesN reached out to Epic Games for clarification, but has received no response at the time of publishing this article.
The streamer, best known for playing Arc Raiders, remained coy about his possible appearance in the game when the first image was released, telling his chat: “I know nothing about Fortnite, stop asking me. I know nothing. Boys, I’m always working on cool shit behind the scenes for you guys. I’ve got like 100 things going at once behind the scenes.”
Of course, it’s possible that TheBurntPeanut will appear in the next major update, but available for purchase in the Item Shop rather than in the Battle Pass. We may not know for sure until Fortnite Season 3 releases on June 4.
