Twitch streamers slammed for harassment of female Pokémon player

It’s no secret that online communities can be hives for toxic behavior and bullying, and Twitch is no exception – but a group of Pokémon TCG streamers have taken harassment to a whole new level.

A Twitter thread created by user ‘Purplecliffe’ showed a clip of three Pokémon Trading Card Game streamers harassing actress and content creator Kaylynn Creighton en masse, referring to Creighton by her genitalia and encouraging their audience to antagonize her.

“You can tell ‘Whoop Whoop’ that Zekromm says, ‘Fuck you,’” streamer ‘Zekromm556’ taunted, using an offensive nickname in reference to Creighton while flashing a middle finger at his webcam. “…to be honest, dude, do you wanna see some pair of tits that sucks at the Pokémon Trading Card Game, or do you wanna see Zekromm?”

Encouraging harassment and creating fake accounts

That wasn’t the end of their harassment, by far; Purplecliffe went on to show that the streamers had created smurf accounts under offensive names to taunt her, using titles like “kaycreighisahoebag,” among other such insults.

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Zekromm’s Twitch chat even got in on the action, with some users boasting that they had also created fake accounts to harass Creighton.

There are HOURS of vod footage in which they are being misogynistic and toxic, as well as telling their chat to go over and troll her. pic.twitter.com/YtfCzXgOvU

— Jack (@Purplecliffe) May 5, 2019

Creighton’s response to the hate

Creighton herself appeared to take the vitriol in stride, posting a series of Tweets on the subject that poked fun at the streamers’ hateful comments.

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“Apparently I’m a ‘pair of tits who sucks at Pokémon,’ and I find that super insulting,” she wrote of the bullying. “I have a nice butt too, okay?”

However, that didn’t stop Creighton from calling for an end to the harassment in a following Tweet, writing, “No need to continue the cycle of harassment by going after these people, but this sort of thing needs to stop.”

While Zekromm himself has yet to apologize for the offense, streamer ‘TheMetaDeck’ has made three apology Tweets on the subject, asking for forgiveness from Creighton and claiming that he was drunk when the bullying occurred. 

Twitch community calls for bans

The debacle sparked a slew of outrage online, with many users calling for a ban against all three streamers involved in the bullying.

“Grow up,” popular YouTuber ‘aDrive’ said of the matter. “I’m sending this to Twitch and I hope you all get removed from this platform. Learn respect, it’s really not that hard.”

“Gonna report them for you, but make sure you forward all this evidence to Twitch,” another wrote. “People like this don’t deserve to be on the platform.”

The streamers have yet to be banned from Twitch as of May 5 – but mass reporting could see the group suspended in the near future.