xQc explains why he won’t be participating in Twitch Blackout

Many Twitch streamers are participating in a blackout on June 24 in solidarity with members of the gaming community who have been abused and harassed by industry leaders. However, Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel won’t be, calling the move “insane.”

The Twitch Blackout has divided the streaming community. Some streamers from across the Amazon-owned platform will be turning off their broadcasts on June 24 in solidarity with victims of sexual harassment from leaders in the gaming industry.

However, the move has been labeled “insane” by some, who instead want to use their time ⁠— and platform ⁠— to educate their community. And it looks like xQc falls into that basket.

Speaking on stream on June 23, xQc declared that he wouldn’t take place in the Twitch Blackout. His reasons why? He believes blackouts do nothing to solve problems, and instead stop the actual message from getting out there.

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“In a space where you want to declare things, and expose evil and sh*t ⁠— ‘oh guys, just do a blackout. Don’t post on social media. Stop the coverage. Stop showing. In a time where people need to see, don’t show anything,’” he said, taking aim at people who are participating.

He referenced past blackouts ⁠— like the Black Lives Matter movement on Instagram ⁠— condemning them for clogging up people’s feeds instead of educating them.

“On top of that, in the places where you can show them anything, like on Instagram, ‘oh, let’s f**king clutter everything with a picture of a f**king black square ⁠— that’ll f**king help.’ If people want to look at things that matter, and information about the topic, now they can’t.

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“That’s like something somebody against the cause would organize, but instead, you’re f**king doing it for them. That’s insane.”

He also questioned the role Twitch has to play. While the heads of the platform have come out and said they will investigate all instances of harassment and abuse, xQc believes not streaming for one day won’t fix any of the pre-existing problems.

“We talked about all the sexual harassments, and there will probably be more. I don’t think not streaming will do sh*t. How is that going to affect his [Emmett Shear, Twitch CEO] position, if people don’t stream for a day? How does that make the ball move?”