Elon Musk defends 'white guys' after Xbox marketing manager claims 'minorities have to fight to prove they exist' in gaming

A management-level employee on Microsoft's Xbox marketing team is facing worldwide criticism after defending the alleged plight of "minorities" in the gaming industry.

Xbox Global Product Marketing Manager Kelly Lombardi joined a growing list of video game industry employees who have seemingly taken issue with fans rejecting diversity culture in gaming.

Lombardi, who has appeared in Xbox company posts since at least 2022, made strange comments in a recent X post singling out white, male video game players.

"Raise your hand if you’re not a white man and you buy video games✋," Lombardi, who appears to be white herself, said.

"(No hate to white dudes, it’s just another day in the gaming industry that minorities have to fight to prove they exist)," she added.

About an hour later she posted a correction, saying her previous post lacked proper context.

"I deleted my last tweet because it was poorly worded, lacked context and didn't accurately reflect how I feel," Lombardi stated, before adding a generic statement in favor of diversity.

"The gaming industry is incredibly diverse and the more voices we have creating, watching, and playing games the better. There's room for everyone."

This caught the eye of X owner Elon Musk, who has not been shy about coming to the defense of gamers in 2024.

"It should not be acceptable for any company in the gaming industry to be racist & sexist against 'white guys,'" Musk said the following day.

As mentioned, Musk has joined the growing voices of gamers who are rejecting diversity, equity, and inclusion narratives being force fed through video games.

The Space X entrepreneur also recently described leading DEI-gaming company Sweet Baby Inc. as "an evil blight on the gaming industry."

"All they do is make games terrible and try to cancel people. They cannot go broke soon enough!" Musk added.

The choice comments from Microsoft's Lombardi were not taken well by readers, even from some apparent minority gamers.

"Hey [Kelly Lombardi]. The only time I have to prove I exist is to people like you who can't imagine a 'minority' wouldn't agree with them. Then I get ignored. Hello I am an Arab American Muslim woman. I buy video games. I think people like you are racist," said an account called the Hijabi Gamer.

"Hey [Kelly Lombardi], I'm a Gamer and I'm a 'Minority' (Born and Raised in México) who finds your Race Baiting disgusting. You don't speak for us," another X account wrote.

Reddit users were similarly unenthusiastic about Lombardi's remarks, with several comments pointing toward the fact that she also appeared to be a white person.

"White hand emoji. Gets me every time," one user wrote.

"'Identity group, represent!' These types are insufferable. Absolutely obsessed with skin-color and gender," another chimed in.

Lombardi has since privatized her X account, and her posts are no longer visible.

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