The Creepiest Reason Why Pokimane Ever Fired Someone

The following article includes allegations of sexual harrassment.

When she's not messing up her opponents in games like "Valorant," Pokimane can typically be seen chatting with her fans and making them all feel welcome (as long as they play nice). Pokimane's easygoing attitude endears her to her fans, but it isn't necessarily a good trait 100% of the time.

During a recent stream, Pokimane told an uncomfortable and tragic story about a time she definitely could have benefited from being a little less laid-back. She didn't say specifically when the story took place, but indicated that it was a long time ago, when her career had yet to skyrocket into the stars. At that time, Pokimane had a team of editors that she worked with to keep a steady stream of videos coming out for her fans on YouTube. One editor turned in great videos, but he'd frequently disappear for weeks on end and submit his work after deadlines passed.

Pokimane didn't want to be a nightmare boss, so she reached out to the editor to ask what was going on. Weeks later, he responded with an absolutely mortifying excuse for being late. According to Pokimane, "The reason why he sometimes would turn around videos a week or two late is because he couldn't stop touching himself." Big yikes. Pokimane probably should have fired him on the spot, but somehow that's not how it all played out.

Streaming is more dangerous than people realize, and unfortunately sexual harassment is one of the most common issues that streamers (and especially women streamers) face at work. Often that harassment comes from viewers, but in this story from Pokimane, it was coming from an employee. That should have made it a bit easier to deal with, but Pokimane didn't immediately jump to firing her editor when he crossed the line.

Pokimane's editor told her that the "problem" he dealt with while editing her videos was an addiction that he couldn't stop. "I genuinely felt really, really bad," Pokimane said as she told the story on stream. She let that strange guilty feeling get the better of her and continued to pay the editor for several more months before finally parting ways with him, realizing she'd been manipulated.

This is definitely one of the most uncomfortable situations that Pokimane has dealt with in her career. As out-of-left-field as her editor's confession may seem, people tend to feel comfortable just saying whatever they want when they're interacting online. It's almost enough to make you throw your computer in the dumpster and call it quits on this whole internet thing, but Pokimane's fans are happy she powered through — and found new editors.