Hasan calls out use of TriHard Twitch emote amid racial slur controversy
Twitch: HasanAbiHasan, one of Twitch’s biggest streamers, has reignited the discussion around the global ‘TriHard’ emote, which has long been tied to racial usage in chats. Back from his week-long ban, Hasan called out other streamers who allow the emote in their chat.
The TriHard emote is based on long-time streamer TriHex. Of all the global emotes, TriHard has the most controversy attached, simply due to how it is frequently used. Often, when a black person appears on a broadcast, some chatters will spam the emote, for no other reason than there is a black person on screen.
As a result, many streamers block the TriHard emote from their chat. Hasan was among the earliest to do so, removing the emote from his chats in 2019, also banning the ‘cmonBruh’ emote, which has similar problematic usage.
After returning from his ban for using the term ‘cracker’, Hasan brought the issue of TriHard back again, specifically calling out other channels that do not take action against the emote.
Hasan calls out TriHard spammers
While watching rapper Big Sean’s Drink Champs interview, a user asked why the TriHard emote was not allowed in chat, which Hasan quickly noticed.
“Go to literally every other Twitch channel if you want to spam TriHard the moment you see a black person. And you will never get banned for it either. God forbid you say ‘cracker'”, Hasan said, censoring the last word.
Other streamers have been banned for using ‘cracker’ in Twitch chat, while TriHard is permitted as a global emote.
Hasan continued, also mocking those who spam the emote across Twitch.
“Are you going to stop spamming TriHard? Because if you recognize that the c word is creating an unsafe space, for white people, how do you think black people feel, when you spam TriHard every time you see a black person on screen?
“How do you think black people, that are on this platform, and black content creators feel, when you make a mockery of that sh*t?”
TriHex himself has always supported the TriHard emote being a global emote, but maintained that streamers must take responsibility for their communities and be accountable for their chats.
There have also been instances of punishment for using the emote disparagingly, such as xQc’s suspension and fine from the Overwatch League, when he used the emote in the official OWL Twitch chat. xQc denied that he used it in a disparaging way, and rather that he often put it in chat when he entered a stream.