Carolina Panthers rookie Tetairoa McMillan can expect a phone call from somebody in NFL marketing after he uttered the mother of all racial slurs during the Streamer Bowl, a Super Bowl week event that mixes streamers, celebs, and video games.
McMillan was on camera with YonnaJay and Tamir playing Madden NFL. He intercepted a pass to seal the victory and shouted the uncomfortable phrase.
The streamers were understandably mortified and exchanged some inaudible words with him.
Yikes: Panthers star WR Tetairoa McMillan has gone viral for saying the “N-WORD” during a livestream tonight.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 5, 2026
McMillan is Native Hawaiian and of Polynesian descent.
The streamers he was with were SHOCKED 😳😬 pic.twitter.com/TG6I0mUbfZ
This begun another uncomfortable round of "Who Can Say the Word" a favorite pastime of folks who like to play Devil's Advocate. A lot of people in the comments on this video believe McMillan, of Polynesian and Hawaiian descent, "gets a pass."
The rules for getting this alleged pass lie in murky territory. Twitch has gone on record saying soft A can be contextually acceptable, but hard R never is. It's an insane thing to try to police. Even wilder is that while Twitch's own policies allow contextual use of this word, it has banned the usage of simp, incel, and virgin as insults.
The NFL's policies on such matters tend to be less lenient. We're sadly only a couple of months removed from the last racially insensitive incident involving an NFL player and a streamer. Heck, this is the second wide receiver this season. During a December live stream, well-known provocateur Adin Ross convinced Rams Puka Nacua he should do an antisemitic touchdown celebration if he scored in a game. He did both things, leading to a $25,000 fine. It isn't clear if Nacua knew the nature of the celebration when he did it.
I suspect McMillan's punishment will be in same ballpark. While different people have different takes on who can say which slur, the NFL is a multibillion corporation and always comes down on the "no slurs are acceptable slurs" side of this debate.
After all, the Streamer Bowl is supposed to be a PR friendly event that generates nothing but positive headlines. This is not the kind of story the league wants cropping up during its biggest and most profitable calendar week.