Horizon Burning Shores soundtrack vocalist Julie Elven faces homophobic harassment
On Monday evening, vocalist Julie Elven took to Twitter to talk openly about the harassment she has received from homophobic Horizon Forbidden West players due to her involvement with the Burning Shores DLC soundtrack. The DLC features a queer kiss between protagonist Aloy and a female side character in one of its storylines (which is completely optional), and homophobic players have reacted in an unsurprisingly negative way.
“Since #HorizonForbiddenWest #BurningShores came out in April, I’ve continuously received angry DMs from gamers, as my vocals are featured on a scene in the DLC that they see as ‘LGBTQ propaganda,'” Elven tweeted. “Receiving puking emojis, ‘God won’t forgive you,’ ‘You destroyed Horizon‘ & more.”
“The positive comments and influx of love absolutely outweigh the negative ones, but the continuous hateful DMs show how much still needs to change. Love is love. Story-wise, this scene made so much sense and I continue to stand with Guerrilla and am proud to be a part of it.”
Elven’s only involvement in the scene in question was singing vocals on the background track played during this scene, but apparently that was enough to stir up ire amongst homophobic players. While Elven made her stance on LGBTQ+ storylines clear in her tweets, she also isn’t condemning folks who are critical of the story itself, just those who are barraging her with hateful messages.
“To clarify: This is not about DMs where people express that they didn’t like the story – it’s about the absolutely hateful messages,” Elven wrote. “I don’t feel too affected by them (and can’t take them seriously or personally tbh), but it’s a reminder how much still needs to change! ❤️”
Guerilla seem to be looking after Julie Elven as well, as community manager Chanté Goodman responded to the singer’s tweet letting her know that any harassers would be blocked from the developer’s main accounts as well.
“Hey Julie, if you’re being harassed by anyone, please do let us know,” Goodman replied. “There’s no place for them in our community and we will happily block them from the main accounts too.”
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