Dead by Daylight has been thrust into controversy after one of its community managers gifted Vtuber TheBurntPeanut all of the content in the game over the Halloween weekend. The makers of the multiplayer survival horror game at Behaviour Interactive later apologized for what it called the unauthorized actions of a community manager following a backlash from some fans over allegations that TheBurntPeanut harbors a toxic fan base.
“Although it is not unusual to unlock content to give creators discovering DbD a chance to have a sneak peek at available content, this decision was made without receiving appropriate approvals,” the studio posted in a statement. “Furthermore, the team member’s subsequent comments and conduct do not align with Dead by Daylight’s core values.”
When gifting the free content to TheBurntPeanut, a streamer who appears onscreen as a nose-less face overtop of a peanut body, the Dead by Daylight mod wrote in the Twitch chat, “WE CAN TAKE THE HEAT! THEY ARE YOURS TO KEEP,” according to screenshots circulated on social media.
You know what’s funny?
This wasn’t even a good business decision lmao
You spent 10 years building a progressive community
Who do you think is buying all those feng & sable cosmetics? Your progressive communityThe streamer that you guys spent an entire afternoon defending… https://t.co/oyRyvHto2K
— Mikaelanator 🔮 (@Mikaelanator) November 1, 2026
TheBurtnPeanut’s reputation as a toxic streamer comes from viral clips in which he’s appeared to use, or joked about using, various bleeped-out slurs. Combined with a Twitch chat and supporters on social media platforms like X that throw around offensive insults and anti-woke dog whistles at the drop of a hat, many in the Dead by Daylight community balked at the game’s apparent support of the edgelord-y ethos.
“Unfortunately, we’ve now seen the fallout of this decision unfolding in many conversations across the DbD community,” the studio’s statement continued. “We appreciate and stand with our community’s willingness to ensure our shared values are being upheld, at all times, regardless of popularity, and we’re heartbroken at the inflammatory language now being directed towards our community.”
It went on, “At the same time, threatening employees will never be acceptable, and we’re asking everyone to stop engaging with these posts. We apologize to our community for letting you down. We have already begun reviewing our internal processes to prevent an incident like this from happening again.”
TheBurntPeanut RESPONDS to backlash after being gifted every Dead by Daylight DLC character and perk during a livestream by the dev team 😳👀 pic.twitter.com/nG2JHf9uRW
— veizau (@veizau) November 2, 2026
“I just went on Twitter for a second,” TheBurtPeanut later responded on stream. “I see everyone is just pissed at us for getting those free skins in Dead by Daylight. There’s one guy who submitted a refund and in the refund reason box they go, ‘TheBurntPeanut collab and the response of the game’s communication team. I do not support racist transphobes.’ I don’t think I’ve ever said anything about transgender people in the last two years of streaming. Have I ever said anything about transgender people?” Another person in the streamer’s chat replied, “No, but there’s always time to start.” The refund comment was possibly referring to outrage over TheBurntPeanut appearing in Fortnite during Pride Month 2026 after an old clip of him saying “f*****” made the rounds on X.
what’s crazy is that on top of all this happening, DBD is getting reviewbombed….by burntpeanut fans??????
on top of ALL of this, both parties are negatively reviewing the game.
One is for the harassment we faced
The other is the “bending the knee” asmongold shit??? pic.twitter.com/Iw69KfWfei
— AFRO (@AfroDBD) November 2, 2026
Both sides are now attempting to review-bomb Dead by Daylight on Steam. While the 2016 release maintains a “mostly positive” rating on Valve’s storefront, there has been an influx of negative reviews over the past few days that have dragged the score down a few points. “L Devs, Justice for Peanut, folding like a lawn chair under woke pressure is crazy,” one reads. “I’m not giving my time or any more of my money to a game and company that supports that, especially since my best friend is under the trans umbrella,” reads another. “It’s also rather ironic, given that BHVR has been incredibly supportive of minorities in the past.”
At least one apparent Dead by Daylight creator program member seemingly called being LGBTQ a “mental illness” and has since deleted their account. The controversy has also erupted in the game’s Discord server where slow mode has been enabled in the off-topic channel. Longtime users have accused fans of TheBurntPeanut of swarming the server. “How parasocial and jobless do you have to be to care about the burnt peanut bro?” one person wrote. “Ah yes,” wrote another. “People were complaining too much about peanut so logically let’s triple the slow mode and make them complain about crew instead yes it’s genius.”