The Academy Awards did not have a host Sunday night, so Outsports found something far better to celebrate: SonicFox, the Esports Player of the Year, winner of Dragon Ball FighterZ, and master of the uber-competitive Evo fighting tournament bracket.
For those who don’t know, SonicFox is actually Dominique McLean, age 20, who Out Magazine called the LeBron James of gaming. McLean came out last summer in a tweet.
In December, McLean clarified that as he wrapped up an acceptance speech in Los Angeles, taking home the Best eSports player at the Game Awards.
“As you guys also may know — or may not know — I’m also super gay,” he said, winding down his acceptance speech as the words “PLEASE WRAP IT UP” flashed on a teleprompter.
“I want to give a super shoutout to all my LGBTQ+ friends that have always helped me through life,” McLean said. “Obviously I’m a furry, so shout out to the furries…. Guess all I gotta really say is I’m gay, black, a furry — pretty much everything a Republican hates — and the best eSports player of the whole year I guess. Thank you so much!”
Those whose lives revolve around gaming have known McLean was gay since 2016, reports the Washington Post. His every-evolving costume was another signal to fans and followers of his status as a furry. McLean told the paper he started a tail and a pair of knitted ears and now sports a tailor-made fursuit and mask that he wears during competitions. McLean said it cost “over $1,000,” according to the Post.
The reporter who interviewed him called him a kid from Delaware, but one who’s earned more than half a million dollars in total prize winnings playing videogames. Plus he’s signed a lucrative contract with Echo Fox.
So… What’s he like? He’s cocky, but was shy. McLean came out in high school and said his parents and friends have been supportive “for the most part.” He has an older brother named Christian who’s also a gamer.
McLean told the Post he gets a lot of blowback from straight people on Twitter about his orientation.
“They’re going out of their own way, to go to my Twitter page, to see my content, to say, ‘Stop saying you’re gay all the time,’ I think that’s the silliest thing I’ve heard in my life,” he says. “I stopped caring. It gets people heated for some random reason. . . . If it’s gonna upset you guys, I’m just gonna do it again.”
And so he does.
“I stopped caring what other people think about me,” McLean told the Post in its interview. “I never expected to be so happy. When I really came to terms with myself, everything changed for the better.”
