Spotlight Interview: Tadhg Brennan
Tadhg Brennan is an out and proud esports commentator and analyst for League of Legends, most recently seen on the LoL EU Masters. He also streams on Twitch and has recently organised a charity stream for BeLonGTo, an Irish LGBTQ youth charity.
I sat down with him to talk about his career, life, and experiences of being openly gay in the esports world.
Hey Tadhg, thanks for speaking to us! You’re a League of Legends commentator and analyst, what got you into that?
Well, about 6 years ago now, a friend of mine, Whymsy, brought me to a local gaming event, G-Series. I wasn’t expecting much but found I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I spent most of the time around the one game being showcased that I actually played, League of Legends. I saw the setup they had and I wanted to try and become a part of it.
Whymsy shared the interest and thankfully another friend of ours actually knew one of the commentators at that particular event. We contacted them asking what it would take to be able to commentate their tournaments, and they simply asked for a casting sample.
After 2 weeks of attempts, we eventually had a video we were happy with and sent it on. In hindsight, it was probably awful but it was enough to get us onto the next event and from then, I’ve just been improving and steadily climbing the ladder.
Why did you get into League of Legends specifically?
Honestly, it was the one competitive game I really had been drawn to. A friend of mine, Alex, introduced a few of us to it towards the end of secondary school, in the lead up to exams… cheers there Alex! I think the friend group drew me in initially but after that, I got something of a competitive drive and wanted to keep ranking up. The only other multiplayer game that had drawn me in like this had been CoD, and with no online ranking system at the time, I hadn’t had something to aim for.
What was your career before becoming a commentator?
Well this is an easy one… full time student! I started commentating during my first year of college.
What’s been one of the funniest moments you’ve had being a commentator?
Honestly, it was probably at the most recent event I’ve done, the EU Masters. I shaved my facial hair to match a fellow commentator, Foxdrop, after losing a bet to him. I was also wearing my rainbow suspenders at the time, so I got to look into the camera and boldly announce that “I look like Satan’s gay son”. I still maintain it was an accurate description!
Have you always been openly gay in the Esports world?
Yes, although it wasn’t something that came up on broadcast until about 2 years ago. I made a conscious decision to wear a rainbow outfit with rainbow bowtie and suspenders on a broadcast, after getting the OK from the producers. It was something I wanted to do as I felt it was important to promote visibility of LGBT+ people in an environment that isn’t always the most welcoming to diversity.
Since then, I’ve made reference to my sexuality on broadcast plenty of times, mentioning my boyfriend on cast or making jokes. It kind of opened the floodgates in allowing me to feel much more comfortable in front of the camera to be more authentically me.
How have you found being gay in the Esports and video games industry?
Obviously, it’s not been exactly perfect. Comments online, especially when I first started mentioning my boyfriend, ranged wildly in appropriateness. But honestly, it’s been fairly manageable. I’ve had the good fortune to work with people who have never made it an issue to me, that I noticed at least.
I know I’ve had producers side eye the rainbow outfits but nobody has raised any objections to me. In fact, a lot of coworkers have supported it. So while the online communities can be a bit rough, in person I’ve experienced nothing but support.
I worry more for LGBT+ players honestly, as I know their situations can be more difficult, given the potentially less professional environments.
What would be your advice for a young LGBTQ person starting out or looking to get into pro Esports?
I think the important thing about getting into any industry that relies a lot on passion, is to ensure that people don’t use that passion against you. Know your worth and stick by it. This can go the opposite way too, don’t oversell a lack of experience and don’t undersell your talents.
As to the LGBT+ angle of the question, I’d recommend being out to those that you can from the beginning. Personally, I think anyone that would take issue with working with an out LGBT+ person, is not the kind of place worth working for. I would hope, and maybe this is wishful thinking, that such a standard wouldn’t seriously hold back a career.
You’ve been streaming this Pride Month to raise money for BelongTo in Ireland, what games have you been streaming?
I’ve wanted to host a Pride charity stream for a few years now, but this is the first year since I moved away from home with my boyfriend Jack, so I was finally able to make it a reality. It was further helped by a group of Irish LGBT+ streamers also looking to support local LGBT+ charities. Together, we raised money for BeLonGTo under the group name Emerald Pride.
For the streaming itself, I did a larger stream focused on the fundraising on June 13th where Jack and I streamed solely games with LGBT+ inclusive characters and themes. We ended up streaming for 17 hours due to the success of it and shot through our goal rather comfortably.
After that, I decided I actually would rather focus on LGBT+ gaming content in general. I really like being able to support gay media both on my stream and, due to having to buy the game for the stream, with my money. I really appreciate the relatability that having those characters can bring and want to further incentivise the making of such content.
Tell us more about BeLonGTo.
BeLonGTo is a charity focused on supporting LGBT+ young people, providing key resources to help them such as mental and sexual health counselling, parental guides and events. It’s something I wished I would have availed of when I was younger, so it’s something that I was very keen to support.
What was your earliest memory of video games as a child?
I was actually born almost deaf, and when I finally had that fixed my parents were keen to provide resources to support my development as I “caught up” to people my age. So I have clear memories of playing through a lot of different learning games around the age of 3, including maths and word puzzles. I know many people wouldn’t count them as video games, but it’s still my clearest memory of them and helps highlight some of the lesser advertised helpful aspects of the medium.
What was the one game that defined your childhood?
While there’s a lot of games that I think had effects such as Crash 3 and the Pokémon series, I find myself torn between two games here, Spyro 2: Gateway To Glimmer and Kingdom Hearts.
Spyro was the first game I completed 100% and I think it also gave me my major soft spot for collect-athon style games. At one point, the disk got corrupted and the game could no longer save and I still occasionally returned to it to complete runs from the beginning of the game to the final boss.
Kingdom Hearts was the first game I feel I sunk long hours into. Grinding out levels, searching for specific items, having to fight the same bosses over and over again… good god they needed to let you skip that Ansem-Riku scene! It was what I would definitely refer to as a defining game for me. Huge fun though, had great craic setting it up again and watching Jack play through it for the first time.
What games do you enjoy playing now?
Now, while I keep up with a lot of esports titles and do enjoy them, I find myself drawn to longer story-driven RPGs. I love playing through games where you can put yourself in the character’s shoes, explore vast areas but also have a decent depth of character interaction.
Some examples include things like the Mass Effect series but even from either extreme, I love the vastness and depth, mod depending, of the Elder Scrolls, but I also love the more linear story-driven Bioshock Infinite. Really, I find there’s always something to be said for having variety. If similar games can add good LGBT+ characters, they have me sold.
What does the future hold for Tadhg?
I’ve recently established a streaming schedule, I’m still open to casting events and have been scoping out other games such as Teamfight Tactics. I also have a full time job as a software developer and data analyst and I recently moved into a new apartment with Jack… so I’m kept fairly busy!
Honestly, I’m unsure exactly what the future holds. The current plan is to continue streaming LGBT+ inclusive games, keeping my options open through casting and my current full time job. I’d love to be able to dedicate more time to purely content creation, but at the end of the day I’ve rent to pay and I want to keep realistic goals for myself.
How can our readers see you in action?
I’m live over on twitch.tv/celtictigercasts at 6pm Tuesday, 6pm Thursday and 2pm Sunday – all times in Irish Standard Time.
I’m looking forward to the abolishment of daylight savings time so I can give you a proper UTC time but there you go.
You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter.
Aside from that, hopefully you’ll see me at more events soon, I’m always open to offers!
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