Famous People Who Can't Stand Pokimane

Imane Anys, known to the world as Pokimane, has attracted a number of enemies on her way to becoming one of the most-watched Twitch streamers out there. Competition and controversy go hand-in-hand with fame in the gaming world. Given this, it's hardly a surprise Pokimane has developed some feuds with big names — in fact, it'd be more surprising if that wasn't the case. 

Pokimane's success alone might stir up envy in her less secure colleagues. She signed a multi-year contract with Twitch in March 2020 that will have her streaming there exclusively, and estimates paint her as the highest earning female streamer by far. Though still in her mid-twenties, this Canadian-Moroccan college dropout is at the top of her game, so to speak. But with millions of followers, some have to be hate-watching, right?

Her blunt honesty, interactive personality, general notoriety, and femininity have also drawn criticism. As a celeb, she's always in the news for something, whether it's her makeup-free stream or her use of the N-word. And she's gotten involved in some tiffs with other famous folk on a public level that surely must help fan the flames against her. Here's a look at some of the biggest anti-Poki crusaders.

Keemstar, a.k.a. Daniel Keem of DramaAlert, got into it with Pokimane in late 2018 when he judged some fellow content creators on their Halloween costumes. He made a joke about Alia "Sssniperwolf" Shelesh. Shelesh was promptly defended by her fans. Keemstar targeted one of the viewers who spoke out, making some unkind jabs that resulted in the viewer changing his Twitter avatar and account status. When confronted with negativity regarding this interaction, Keem doubled down and made more jokes.

Pokimane joined those calling him out on his behavior, posting a tweet that said, "It's fine to dislike another content creator, but you probs shouldn't hate on innocent fans. realize you have an audience that will also attack them, and most people aren't used to receiving hate like that. do better, keem." This led to a video feud between the two on the platform. Keem then deleted his original tweets about the viewer and went after Pokimane instead, mining her old tweets for embarrassing content. It's not a big stretch to say there's no love lost between these two.

Pokimane's scuffle with Keemstar led to a more serious allegation just a few months later. In December 2018, she got in trouble with fans for allegedly abusing YouTube's copyright system. In this situation, YouTuber Bowblax uploaded a video documenting Keemstar and Pokimane's Twitter argument and Pokimane reported it.

Keemstar called her out on this. Using her own words against her, he accused Pokimane of misusing YouTube's system in a tweet. PewDiePie echoed Keemstar's criticisms in a video he put out in early 2019, saying that the practice was hypocritical.

Following that scandal, Pokimane actually received a bump in viewership from people covering her with negative press, but her follower count dipped and it took some time for her to recover from it. She did eventually explain her side of the story. "The reupload of the Twitter beef wasn't transformative content, so I was able to get it taken down through my MCN," Pokimane said in a video. "But, PewDie was in the right — trying to hide all that drama only ended up bringing more attention to it."

Due to her fame, Pokimane has many male fans interested in getting attention from her. A content creator named It'sAGundam posted a video attacking these men, and in response Pokimane went after It'sAGundam's sponsor for supporting someone who was trash talking her. She received plenty of flak for this action, and in response It'sAGundam posted on Twitter to call Pokimane "the Carole Baskin to my Joe Exotic." Could be she's solidified a new hater here.

It's clear Pokimane's level of stardom will keep her in the headlines. If it's true that the quality of your enemies determines your reputation, she may be on top for some time yet.

In a video that has since been made private, Pokimane responded to all of the drama surrounding PewDiePie and the copy strike allegations. However, it was the way that she started off the video that seemed to really upset fellow streamer TmarTn. 

Pokimane's video referenced an infamous apology uploaded by TmarTn. That original video was made when it came to light that TmarTn was an owner of Counter-Strike betting site CS:GO Lotto. TmarTn was roundly mocked for his denial of any wrongdoing and a bizarre opening in which he talked to his dog about how difficult the video would be to make. Pokimane included a clip of that video and also talked to her cat in an obvious parody of the original, something that TmarTn felt was unnecessary.

"I had NOTHING to do with this," he tweeted. "I've never met nor spoken to the girl before ... Yet she's using a mistake I made YEARS ago to lighten the mood/make a joke/deflect when she should be making an apology." He told his followers that he felt like Pokimane was simply making fun of him as a way of making him into a "scapegoat."

The controversy surrounding Pokimane's copystrikes didn't actually stop with PewDiePie or TmarTn. In fact, about a month after that whole PewDiePie blowup, Alinity made a joke about the situation that seemed to seriously rub Pokimane the wrong way. After someone in her chat asked if she was the person demonetizing other content creators' videos, Alinity immediately corrected that viewer, telling them that they were thinking of Pokimane.

Seemingly in response, Pokimane tweeted a vague status taking issue with female streamers who "actively and exclusively hates on other female streamers." She added, "That type of attitude isn't gonna get you anywhere good." It should be noted that Pokimane posted this update prior to Alinity's stream.

While Pokimane didn't mention anyone by name, Alinity (and many others) took the tweet as being directed towards her. Shortly afterward, Alinity's original comments about Pokimane went viral on Reddit. This prompted Alinity to call out people who can't take a joke on Twitter, seemingly referring to Pokimane and the folks who were slamming her on social media.

Twitch streamer InvaderVie stirred up a bit of controversy when she chastised her viewers for not subscribing to her channel. In a clip that has since become slightly infamous, InvaderVie went so far as to say that viewers who didn't donate to her stream were "irresponsible." This drew criticism from multiple streamers, including xQc and Pokimane. However, it was the latter's response that provoked the ire of fellow streamer Destiny.

In response to InvaderVie's post, Pokimane tweeted, "get these sh***y takes off my TL and off my streaming platform." She also explained that not everyone has the same income or means to donate to a streamer.

In response, Destiny came to InvaderVie's defense. He attempted to explain InvaderVie's original point, essentially saying people who claimed they had no way of donating were full of it. Unfortunately, Destiny's point was dulled when he decided to call Pokimane some names that were less than flattering. Though Pokimane laughed off Destiny's comments, it appears as though the two are still on unfriendly terms. 

Pokimane and 39daph got into a rather confusing feud back in November 2019 over who was following who on Twitter. The whole hubbub started when Pokimane apparently noticed that 39daph no longer followed her on Twitter. Pokimane then allegedly messaged 39daph to ask why she'd been unfollowed. Though 39daph insisted it wasn't anything personal, Pokimane thought it had something to do with her decision to unfollow another streamer, SlikeR.

In response, 39daph says she told Pokimane point blank, "No, I don't watch your stuff." What really puzzled 39daph was that Pokimane reportedly kept including a "blushing smile emoji" with her messages to 39daph, who was positive Pokimane was angrier than she let on. 

All in all, 39daph seemed pretty annoyed by the whole situation. However, the way she handled it — including showing these private messages to her viewers — was met with criticism from fellow streamer xQc.

In early 2020, World Cup, a game from Korean website Piku, began making the rounds. This game involved comparing and rating different internet personalities, so it naturally went viral. Pokimane participated in the World Cup and rated some of her fellow female streamers and content creators. She gave some of them props on their continued successes and complimented them on their overall vibe and appearance. It seemed to all be in good fun, but not everyone was pleased to see Pokimane participating in the game.

One person who was highly critical of the game as a whole was QTCinderella. She weighed in on Pokimane's participation in the survey, calling Pokimane's behavior "toxic." QTCinderella expressed surprise at the very idea that Pokimane would become involved in a game that seemingly pitted women against one another. She was also upset at how often Pokimane appeared to make her choice based on looks rather than content or personality. 

It's unclear how or if Pokimane responded to QTCinderella's remarks. However, it's worth noting that Pokimane had actually said some nice things about QTCinderella in the original video that kicked off the whole debacle, and the two have since collaborated on events such as the Streamer Awards.

Pokimane was the victim of a pretty nasty prank when she accidentally opened a link to an adult website sent to her by a viewer. She immediately screamed and closed the offending window, but the damage had been done. Nudity and sexual content are strictly prohibited by Twitch guidelines. Following the incident, Pokimane said she was issued a warning from Twitch and briefly worried that she would be banned over the incident. 

It appears that several streamers and content creators thought that she had earned a ban, even though she had been tricked into opening the link in the first place. Scarce said he felt she should be banned, because allowing her to keep her account enforced a "double standard." Likewise, Chenzo felt that it wasn't fair for other streamers to have received heavier punishments for accidentally showing nudity on their channels. When Christal Raine received a temporary suspension, she also seemed to express frustration with the fact that Pokimane squeaked by with just a warning.