Streamer blames “jealous” Pokimane fans for Twitch ban after bizarre clip

Meg Bethany Koepp

After the bizarre clip of a streamer’s strange reaction towards a selfie of Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys led to his suspension, the Australian hit out at her “jealous” fans and blamed them for the ban.

On January 30, a viewer informed Pokimane of a clip that was making the rounds online in which Twitch streamer ‘Empirrre’ jokingly took one of her Twitter selfies and positioned his camera overlay so that it appeared as though he was kissing and licking her backside.

While the Moroccan-Canadian found the whole thing hilarious and even got in on the joke herself by positioning her own camera feed so she could stretch out her arm and “stop” the Australian with her hand, he was later banned from the Amazon-owned platform – something he blames the 23-year-old’s “jealous” fans for.

Banned after weird interaction with Pokimane picture

On January 31, the 26-year-old informed his Twitter followers of the one-day suspension, and shared a partial screenshot of the email he was sent from Twitch about the ban.

“I have been temporary banned on Twitch for 1 day, this is most likely due to spam reporting,” he said, stating that Poki’s reaction to the clip could have caused her fans to mass report him. “Probably out of jealousy towards [Pokimane] which [by the way] was a joke.”

While the image of the email was cut off as to not show the exact reason why the platform made the decision to temporarily suspend him, it did back up the Australian’s claim that he’d been banned for one day.

https://twitter.com/Empirrretv/status/1223420910012526593

While the streamer cites the Moroccan-Canadian’s viewers as a reason for the ban, Twitch’s Community Guidelines have a “suggestive” content section which, if broken, can result in punishment – including suspensions.

“When reviewing this type of content or activity, we will consider its intent and context based on a number of factors including, but not limited to behavior and commentary, reaction to content, camera framing, angle, and focus,” it reads.

His pretend-kissing of her rear end could have fallen under that, though it’s unclear if it actually did or whether he was indeed mass-reported by people who saw the clip.

Twitch Community Guidelines
Twitch doesn’t take “suggestive” content lightly.

In the past, users have been met with three-day bans, 30-day, and worse for offending behavior on the streaming platform, all depending on a case-to-case basis.

Pokimane is the top female personality on the Amazon-owned service though, so it wouldn’t be out of the question to claim a handful of her 3.87 million followers could have been offended over Empirrre’s joke – but who knows.