Updated: June, 6th, 2023
FaZe Rain and Grace Van Dien have been embroiled in controversy over the past week after the Stranger Things actress, who also streams on Twitch as bluefille, announced she was joining FaZe Clan on May 25th.
In her reveal video, Grace explained that her father introduced her to gaming at a young age. She said she discovered Twitch through someone she followed on Tumblr at the age of 17, and looks forward to bringing female representation to FaZe Clan.
Days before, founding member FaZe Rain actually ruined Grace’s ability to announce the news herself when he responded to a tweet made by the group’s account.
“We want more women in FaZe Clan,” the collective tweeted.
“Spoiler alert it’s Grace and the only reasoning I heard was cuz she was on one episode of stranger things,” Rain replied.
Grace boasts 331K followers on Twitch and frequently collaborates with some of the biggest creators on the platform, including Pokimane. She is set to represent the collective in Valorant.
FaZe Santana jumped in to defend Grace against the backlash from Rain and other FaZe fans.
“Really disappointed [in] some people I call friends hating on the new FaZe Recruit. Especially girls in the gaming community. You all hate eachother the most and it’s sad,” he tweeted.
Grace thanked Santana for standing up for her, tweeting, “Thanks for taking the heat lil bro.”
Rain responded to this, telling Grace not to “get barbecued in the process.”
Grace then clapped back at Rain’s criticism during a May 26th live stream.
“I’m sorry sir, were you in the meeting with us? Were you there? No, I’ve never fucking met you and [being in Stranger Things] is not why FaZe signed me,” she said. “That is definitely how I got the meeting, yes, I will give that credit. That is how I got the meeting. But, that is absolutely not why I’ve signed. The things that we spoke about in the meeting are why I have. So, get fucking wrecked to everyone saying that, to Rain saying that. Like, you weren’t there, you have no idea.”
One day later, Rain made another snarky comment about Grace on Twitter.
FaZe Clan shared a photo of Grace with screenshots of comments from fellow streamers sharing their excitement at the news of the actress joining the collective.
“Oh those the ones you picked huh,” Rain wrote about the comments.
On May 28th, Grace dedicated a stream to addressing Rain and his criticism, during which she played a clip from his stream where he slammed her after Grace told Rain to “get wrecked.”
“Grace, I’m sorry. All I want to say is you […] made Stranger Things your entire personality even though you were only on one episode, you found out about Twitch through Tumblr. Not only have you not hit a trickshot, but you don’t even know what the fuck that is. When you were still playing with Barbies I made my first million off of this industry. And on top of it, you’re excruciatingly mid who I’d never let touch me even on my drunkest night,” he screeched.
Rain faced backlash from the wider community for this rant for the comment about her appearance (calling her “mid”).
During her stream, Grace called Rain’s insult about her looks “a very classy joke considering you were in the organisation the same time as a man who was accused of sexually harassing multiple women when they are intoxicated,” she hit back, referencing allegations against former FaZe Clan member Mew.
Grace went on to say that the reason she joined FaZe was to help change this toxic behaviour, but after her interactions with Rain, she doesn’t know if that’s possible.
She also brought up Rain’s history of drug use and his overdose, for which she has received an onslaught of criticism as many felt it was a low blow and out of place.
Shortly after Grace’s stream, Rain addressed his recent behaviour via Twitter.
In response to esports reporter Jake Lucky, who called his rant “too far”, Rain said he agreed with that criticism and wants to apologise to Grace.
“I agree with you, I actually feel really bad, I wasn’t being serious and I shouldn’t have said that last part,” he wrote. “I edited it out at first but it just didn’t hit without it lmfao. I already contacted grace and ima talk to her and apologize, I have zero problems with her. She’s not the problem and i don’t want anyone thinking that or any of this to distract what the real point of all this is.”
The “problem” Rain referenced is presumably the FaZe Clan executive team that has made several recent decisions that members are not happy with.
On May 30th, Rain shared a photo together with Grace on Twitter, implying that not all is well between the two despite attempting to make up.
“Even though things look good it took a terrible turn lol,” he wrote.
In response to someone saying it’s always got to be something with him, Rain claimed he was being “nice respectful & understanding” with Grace, and seemed to imply that Grace didn’t take his apology well.
“I was being nice respectful & understanding man. I genuinely don’t understand how it turned into that, I reiterated over and over I mean no harm and it’s literally just jokes on the internet and it just wasn’t enough fam. You’ll see lol,” he wrote.
Grace has not publicly addressed the situation in a couple of days and has since turned her Twitter account on private.
On May 31st, Rain uploaded his video with Grace.
In the video, Rain explains that Grace got caught in the middle of him trying to make a point about the way FaZe has been managed by the executive team in recent years. Grace revealed that Rain’s fans have been sending her death threats and found her phone number.
Despite this, he insisted that his public attacks were not sending “hate” her way. He then went on to press her on why she joined FaZe when she knew that was not what the fans would have wanted.
Grace called him an internet troll and called him out for his past derogatory tweets. Rain responded by saying she brought the hate on herself by reacting to his trolls.
Shortly after, the official FaZe Clan Twitter account tweeted in support of Grace.
“FaZe is no stranger to contrasting viewpoints and passionate opinions on the future of the brand. Recruitment has always drawn that out. But make no mistake, the mistreatment of our newest member is in no way OK. Grace joined in hopes to bring her voice to FaZe & we stand by her,” the organisation wrote.
On June 6th, Rain posted another video about the ongoing drama with Grace on his YouTube channel. In the latest instalment, he shares all the Discord messages leading up to their previous video. But this isn’t the first time that Rain has publicised their messages. Before this video, he had posted parts of the chat on his Instagram story and shared some of the messages before meeting up with Grace.
In his latest video, Rain maintains that he has no issue with Grace personally; instead, he is frustrated with how she was brought on board and how the corporate side of FaZe manages “celebrity recruits.”
While reading through the screenshots, Rain adds, “We [FaZe members] just don’t know [Grace] like that, [FaZe’s executive team] just set it up on their own end… it’s just like a corporate move with zero of our input or insight or anything… that’s the whole point of what I’m saying, that’s what I’m trying to explain to her.”
The messages between the two seem relatively cordial— a stark contrast to how Rain’s video with Grace ended. As he reads the messages, viewers see him apologise for “trolling” while Grace extends birthday wishes and says sorry for her previous “out-of-line comment.” That being said, Rain refrains from apologising for his behaviour in the video, asserting that he has not engaged in any form of bullying and maintains that she instigated the drama on Twitter.
“I don’t know where this whole like bullying her and trying to degrade her thing comes from,” he exclaims. “I am not doing that.”
Rain also seems to become increasingly frustrated about the situation as the video progresses. He claims that speaking with Grace “doesn’t feel like a human interaction,” taking issue with the way she remained concerned about how the internet is responding to the drama. He also called out other streamers, like Asmongold, who allegedly agreed with him in private messages, yet shaded him publicly.
“He was telling me in DMs, he is explaining his point, he agrees with what I’m saying… He just thinks the way that I acted towards Grace wasn’t chill, but [he] didn’t even see the full clip,” Rain goes on to say.
Rain concludes the video by saying that this will be the “last one I’m going to make on the situation because I do not care.” But, as social media users continue to call out the creator for his comments, who knows if Rain will be able to stick it out…