Pokimane says backlash over her VTuber streams was “understandable”

Twitch star Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has commented on the backlash she received over becoming a VTuber, noting how some of the negativity was actually “understandable.”

Pokimane’s decision to become a VTuber back in 2020 was met with both praise and criticism. While some slammed the streamer for trying to “cash in” on the trend, others supported her.

Although she hasn’t used her VTuber model as often as she once did, she still talks about it from time-to-time and that’s exactly what happened during a recent appearance on the Trash Taste podcast.

When asked about the backlash and how she handled it, Pokimane explained that some of it made sense to her in the grand scheme of things.

Pokimane explains why her VTuber streams caused controversy

After noting that she hoped she was a positive force in trying to “normalize” the idea of VTubing to a more general Twitch audience, Pokimane addressed the drama associated with it.

While she didn’t believe that her own community took issue with her VTuber avatar, she explained that some outside forces were responsible for the majority of the backlash.

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“I think a lot of people were just mad because a lot of people were used to being mad at me,” she said. “And then I think there’s a little bit of a gatekeeping thing, which is partially understandable where they’re like, ‘we don’t want you to ruin this sacred community.’”

According to Anys, she wasn’t looking to “ruin anything” and just wanted to showcase the VTuber tech to more people, so the whole drama made her feel bad, but she also expected some sort of controversy.

That said, she received some good feedback and reassurance from people in the VTubing community, including possibly IronMouse, who were happy that she was bringing more attention to the meta.

Hopefully, Pokimane can return to using her VTuber model more often, especially now that she plans on changing up her Twitch content considerably.