FGC member Kayane participated in the Soul Calibur VI EVO tournament and managed to make the Top 8. No easy feat for even some of the best players out there. However, the victory of making it onto the stage (but not actually winning the tournament) came with a caveat, and it was that all sorts of gender politics salt began emerge from a Twitter thread surrounding Kayane, her comments, and some consternation within the community about women making it to the Top 8 at EVO.

The tweet from Kayane came directly after Soul Calibur VI wrapped up. She tweeted out the following message.

This was quickly addressed by various members of the fighting game community, who stated that this was a straw man, and that no one ever said women couldn’t make it to the Top 8 at EVO.

Nobody, stop w/ the identity politics…it’s a bad look. — Papa Splo Splo (@Splosia) August 4, 2019

No one, literally no one — RETRO (@RETROisaB3AST) August 4, 2019

Oh, put away your victim card. People saying mean things on the internet is a given, stop trying to twist it into an agenda — SuperTailsKen (@TailsWarrior) August 4, 2019

no one said that. — Delusion_Denyal (@Delusion_Denyal) August 4, 2019

Literally not a single person — Guillaume M. Maltais (@Siatlam123) August 4, 2019

The people saying that “no one” said that women couldn’t make Top 8, were then addressed by Kayane in some follow-up tweets basically saying “not everyone said that”.

I don’t know why some feel offended whereas you didn’t say it, only those who say it should feel hurt by my tweet 😂 ! I want them to never say it again!

It’s a few people saying that all the time that are really toxic, but of course most of the competitors I meet are respectful! — Kayane @ EVO (@Kayane) August 4, 2019

This was then followed by Kayane pointing to a Sonic Fox tweet, where he claimed that FGC competitor Slayer claimed that women would never make the Top 8 at EVO.

Seems like some of you have never seen anyone saying or writing this.

Just an example because someone linked it, I’m not going to quote you everything I read everyday to prove you !https://t.co/IXr6ROdICw I actually like this story a lot because the Karma worked so well 😆 — Kayane @ EVO (@Kayane) August 4, 2019

Others also began linking to Siren’s tweet from November 9th, 2018, throwing shade at Slayer for losing to a woman at a tournament.

Never forget the time Slayer talked shit about women competing and then lost to one in tournament 😂 pic.twitter.com/1r3gqcXcHo — SIREN | ∞ @EVO (@Infinitii_FGC) November 9, 2018

Others tried using the same excuse; that because Slayer said it, it must have been a common saying in the FGC. However, they were rebutted by more levelheaded people who pointed out that it was just one person who said that women couldn’t make Top 8.

Idk man this is just one person.. — Scarfed! (@Scarfed_) August 4, 2019

All of this because someone wanted to virtue signal their accomplishment (though some might call it failure) at EVO.

If you’re curious to see how well Kayane did in Soul Calibur VI, you can check out her performance below at the 26:30 mark in ThunderOne’s upload of the Top 8 grand finals at EVO 2019.

(Thanks for the news tip K/DaTomoyoForlyfe)