Sweet Anita reveals the hardships of streaming on Twitch with Tourettes
Twitch streamer ‘Sweet Anita’ is different from many other broadcasters on the platform, thanks to her acute Tourette’s syndrome – which has placed her at the forefront of online backlash.
While Anita’s Tourette’s syndrome is fairly volatile, the streamer is known for her hilarious antics and good humor, and even boasts one of the most supportive communities on Twitch.
However, her generally positive reputation was called into question by internet critics after the streamer blurted out a racial slur – an unintentional phrase that came as the result of a tic, due to her Tourette’s.
Streaming star “Sweet Anita” came under fire after her Tourette’s caused her to blurt out a racial slur on camera.Not for the first time, Anita addressed the racial slur and her condition in a series of Tweets on December 12. She’s apparently lost 1,000 subscribers since this issue took center stage, and is even afraid to phone her own father due to fear of the tic being triggered.
“I don’t know how people can think I fake this for personal gain,” Anita wrote. “My dad is black, he keeps ringing me and I can’t imagine picking up the phone in case I tic something racial at him. I dropped nearly 1,000 subscribers after that tic went viral, and now it won’t, due to the stress.”
I don't know how people can think I fake this for personal gain. My dad is black, he keeps ringing me and I can't imagine picking up the phone in case I tic something racial at him. I dropped nearly 1000 subscribers after that tic went viral and now it won't due to the stress.
— Sweet Anita (@sweetanita) December 12, 2019
That’s not all: the tweets also revealed that she had even been kicked out of a shop due to her condition that same day, and returned home to view hateful comments about her Tourette’s online.
“I was removed from a shop today for shouting it, and now I have to go further to get things for my mum, who is disabled,” she continued. “And I come home to read all of these comments.”
It has not been an easy past few weeks for Anita, who saw her unintentional racial outburst spawn a wave of outrage across the streaming community. Some, like Twitch star Summit1G’s girlfriend “lilchiipmunk,” have called for her to be banned for the incident.
While both Summit and his girlfriend have since apologized, others online have not been so kind, with a clip from her broadcast going viral on sites like the infamous WorldStarHipHop.
Streamer “lilchiipmunk” called for Anita to be banned from Twitch, but later retracted this statement.Anita has addressed the backlash previously, but her latest Tweets reveal just how difficult life can be with Tourrette’s – especially given the cold and unforgiving nature of internet culture when one’s life is broadcast online.