Streamers React To Asmongold's Controversial Twitch Ban

Update 10/16/24: Asmongold posted a lengthy video apology to YouTube on Oct. 16, explaining that he appreciates the people who have called him out following his ban from Twitch. He clarified that while he doesn't consider his stance to be racist, he does feel strongly opposed to religious extremism. Nevertheless, the streamer referred to his controversial comments as "horrible, disgusting, [and] mean-spirited." He has also promised to be more careful about how he presents himself and his thoughts going forward. The original article continues below.

Twitch has issued a pretty severe ban to Asmongold, but some are already calling for a heftier punishment. After going on a long rant about the war in Gaza on October 14, Asmongold's alt account "zackrawrr" has been suspended for 14 days, and even though Asmongold's main account remains unbanned, he hasn't streamed there in quite some time. During the stream, Asmongold started chatting with his viewers about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and he emphatically made the point that he's unbothered by the prospect of civilian deaths in Gaza, of which there have been tens of thousands (per Reuters). "I don't give a f***, they're terrible people," Asmongold said. He went on to add, "These people are not your allies, they are not the same as us. They come from an inferior culture that is horrible."

Almost immediately, people started calling for Asmongold to be banned for hate speech, and many of them aren't happy with his ban only being temporary. In a statement to IGN, Twitch explained, "We take enforcement action when there are violations of our community guidelines, including our hateful conduct policy and other rules."

Even people who've supported Asmongold or worked with him regularly have expressed shock toward his comments, and the apology that Asmongold has since posted online hasn't earned much forgiveness from the public. 

One of the first high profile people to call for Asmongold's ban was fellow content creator brookeab, who tagged Twitch support in a post the day of the stream:

This is just straight up racism @Twitch @TwitchSupport do something

— brooke (@brookeab) October 14, 2024

HasanAbi also had an intense reaction to hearing Asmongold's comments, asking, "What are you doing? Log off the internet, stop reading f***ing Reddit, and go talk to some real humans, please." The streamer then called Asmongold during his broadcast, kicking off a debate on the subject that lasted for quite a while. Kaceytron also compiled a list of Twitch's terms of service that may have been violated by Asmongold's now-infamous rant. Meanwhile, Jake Lucky remarked, "Dude coulda played video games for the rest of his life and made millions but instead wastes his time needing to share his opinion on every single world topic."

People who have been closer to Asmongold in the past didn't take these comments any better than the rest of the internet. Tips Out, who co-founded the organization One True King with Asmongold, posted a lengthy statement about the situation. In the post, Tips Out talked about his own experience growing up as a first-generation immigrant and practicing Muslim in America. "The language [Asmongold] used, whether intended or not, wreaked [sic] of the same dehumanization that plagued their ancestors, their grandparents, and in some cases, their families today." He called on people reading his post to come together and stop thinking in terms of "us" and "them."

The below are my personal thoughts and do not reflect my employer or any company or person I am affiliated with.

Hello everyone,

As many of you are aware, some comments were made by Zack yesterday about Palestinians and Muslims. Before I address his comments, I'd like to take...

— Tips Out (@TipsOut) October 15, 2024

NickMercs, who has been vocally supportive of Asmongold in the past, was also completely taken aback by the streamer's comments. In his own reaction video, NickMercs said, "When innocent children and people are dying, and you say that you don't feel bad about that, that's just a really crazy hill to die on, man."

Asmongold somewhat walked back his comments in an apology post that he made just hours after his stream: "Looking back on it, I was way too much of an a**hole about the Palestine thing. My bad. Of course no one deserves to have their life destroyed even if they do things or have views I find regressive. You guys deserve more than me saying stupid s*** like that, I'll do better."

A number of commenters criticized Asmongold for saying, "My bad," with some arguing that he's downplaying the severity of his initial comments. At least some people were satisfied by the apology, though. After expressing incredulity at Asmongold's initial comments, xQc read the apology on stream and responded by saying, "Eh, fair enough." Despite the apology post, Twitch banned Asmongold's alt account the next day.

It looks like @Asmongold was banned on his zackrawrr good on Twitch for doing the right thing. We can't allow bigoty to be normalized. pic.twitter.com/vuDCLmK6Kl

— CapriSunnPapi (@CapriSunnPapi) October 15, 2024

Palestinian streamer CapriSunnPapi praised Twitch for making the decision, and he wasn't alone, as Austin "Gremloe" MacNamara also joined in the voices agreeing that Asmongold's ban was the right move.

Looks like Asmongolds main channel "Zackrawrr" has been temporarily banned. Good to see some consequences for terrible behavior on Twitch. pic.twitter.com/NxVdB7vNL4

— Austin MacNamara – Gremloe (@gremloe) October 15, 2024

Many online are still calling on Twitch to make the ban permanent, with some arguing that Asmongold's main account should be suspended as well. Others are waiting to see if Asmongold will move to another platform (like Kick) or try to dodge the ban by streaming from his main account in the meantime.