Times Streamers Went Live Without Even Knowing It

A lot more work goes into a career in streaming than some people may realize. A successful streamer has to keep the energy up and keep things interesting for an audience. Otherwise, they run the risk of losing subscribers or ending a stream with little to no donations from their viewers. On top of that, there are plenty of ways in which a stream can go wrong.

We've seen streamers accidentally leak personal info during a stream, as well as a few cases when the games being played can terrify a streamer into giving up. However, sometimes the most awkward thing that can happen to a streamer is for them to go live without even realizing it.

That seems like the kind of thing that really shouldn't occur all that often, but it's actually much more common than one would expect. Let's take a look at some of the funny, awkward, and downright embarrassing times streamers went live by mistake.

Early one morning in 2019, Ninja began broadcasting and immediately made some of his viewers uncomfortable. To put it lightly, Ninja looked pretty rough. He seemed like he had just been roused from a deep sleep and had stumbled over to the computer, bleary-eyed and exhausted. Viewers began to fill Ninja's chat with concerned comments, asking if he was okay or if he needed some rest. Instead of answering, Ninja just took a few sips of his beverage and continued typing. 

It took Ninja a little while to realize that people were messaging him, but he seemed to be amused when he realized he'd accidentally gone live. With a smile, Ninja told his viewers, "I literally didn't mean to click 'start streaming.'"

It's unclear if Ninja was just super sleepy or a little bit hungover, although those seem to be the two main theories among fans. Regardless, he had a good laugh about the whole situation. He was completely unaware that he'd given his viewers a brief scare, but it made for a very memorable moment. 

Chad Johnson, a.k.a. OMGchad is well-known to fans for his Minecraft videos and his lively Twitch streams. What viewers are less familiar with, however, are his sleeping habits — at least, that was the case before a cute pet decided it was time to go live. In a clip posted to his YouTube channel, Chad explained why his subscribers suddenly saw his camera start up at 6:30 in the morning. 

Viewers were treated to several minutes of OMGchad's cat sniffing around his microphone while the streamer slept in the background. According to Chad, his cat had stepped on the hotkey that started his Twitch stream. After about 10 minutes of this, a friend called Chad to let him know what happened. Chad's confused face as he looked at the stream was one for the history books, but it seems like he wasn't too put off by the awkward situation.

Shortly after the stream in question, OMGchad joked with his subscribers about the event, tweeting, "I hope you guys enjoy watching me sleep."

Mizkif is a variety streamer who somehow managed to go live while fast asleep. To try to wake him up, Mizkif's viewers started sending donations with messages attached, which were read aloud by his Twitch alert box. The one that finally roused him from his slumber was from a viewer who simply spammed the number "7" over and over again. Simple but effective.

Mizkif heard the long string of numbers and arose, stumbling over to his computer. He told his audience, "Yeah, I was asleep. I literally passed out. You woke me up with the 7-7 spam." He also mentioned that it was "really scary" that he went live without knowing it.

Despite the spookiness of this accidental stream, it seems worth pointing out again that Mizkif was awakened by a spam donation. In other words, Mizkif literally made money in his sleep, which is kind of inspiring.

Every streamer, no matter how successful, has had a slow night or two. When that happens, it makes sense to want to vent about it. Unfortunately for Elleybooo, she apparently didn't realize that she was still streaming when she made a phone call shortly after signing off for the night. She asked the person on the other end of the call if they wanted to play some Call of Duty shortly before launching into a complaint about the stream she'd just "ended."

"That was a boring f—king stream," she said, not realizing her viewers could still see and hear her. "I was trying to milk it because I wanted a donation, but whatever." 

The person on the other end asked if she managed to get a donation and she answered, "No." After a moment she added, "It was pretty boring."

Again, it makes total sense that Elleybooo would want to vent a bit about an uneventful stream. However, most streamers probably make sure that their camera is off before they do so.

TrueRacer seems to be something a perfectionist. That must be why he spent so much time trying to get the sound just right while working on editing videos for YouTube. Unbeknownst to him, he had accidentally pressed "start streaming" instead of "start recording" on his computer. This led to him streaming by mistake for over an hour. Over the course of this accidental stream, True Racer repeated the same things over and over again, testing mic levels and trying out different introductions.

While TrueRacer didn't know what was happening, his wife apparently figured it out and edited together the highlights of his lengthy accidental stream. TrueRacer also uploaded a video of the moment he realized he had been streaming the whole time. He jokingly accused his viewers of "stalking" him. Later in the reaction video, he told his viewers that this was "probably the funniest thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life."

There's something oddly endearing about watching a streamer putting in the extra effort to sound good for their viewers. That alone makes this one of the sweetest accidental streams.

Asmongold has achieved popularity for his World of Warcraft streams that occasionally lead to wild shenanigans. In one memorable stream, Asmongold's entire party was killed off by a Blizzard Game Master for glitching their way into an off-limits area. However, in another embarrassing moment, Asmongold accidentally left his camera on while he explored a different area that viewers weren't supposed to see.

Right after concluding his normal stream, Asmongold started to scratch, and then pick his nose. This went on for a while, only stopping when he suddenly realized he was still live. At this realization, Asmongold hilariously made a cringing face at the screen and slid down out of view.

At the very least, Asmongold had a pretty good sense of humor about the whole situation. Shortly after the embarrassing stream was brought to his attention, Asmongold tweeted, "LOL WOW ... Apparently I forgot to turn off my stream and 4k people got to watch me intensely pick my nose for 6 minutes."

Bethesda has had its fair share of controversies over the years, including the botched release of Fallout 76. However, one of the company's biggest slip-ups occurred because of an accidental test stream that went public. In the process, Bethesda mistakenly spoiled a surprise announcement.

While rehearsing for the company's presentation at 2015's E3 conference, Bethesda's Twitch channel apparently went live by mistake. Fans listening in could specifically hear the voice of Raph Colantonio, the CEO of Dishonored developer Arkane Studios. While some accounts vary, a few listeners said they heard Colantonio specifically discussing Dishonored 2 with key members of the Bethesda team. Afterward, Bethesda attempted to play it cool, tweeting, "Twitch test a success." 

All clips of the broadcast in question were taken down due to copyright claims, which more or less confirmed that Bethesda was going to announce Dishonored 2 at E3 2015. Sure enough, Dishonored 2 was officially revealed the very next day.

In his time with esports organization FaZe Clan, FaZe Dubs has seen his fair share of controversy. He landed himself in hot water in early 2020 when he was caught using a racial slur during a livestream. During this broadcast, he used some unfortunate language while playing Fortnite with a friend. To his apparent surprise, his friend then frantically informed him that he'd been streaming the whole time, meaning everyone had heard what he said. By that point, the damage had been done.

Though FaZe Dubs quickly issued an apology on Twitter, the consequences of this slip-up were almost immediate. Not only did FaZe Clan announce that Dubs would be suspended from the team, but the organization also implemented a new plan to have every member undergo immediate sensitivity training.

One of the people to speak out against this behavior was fellow streamer and Fortnite player Ninja. While discussing the incident with Reverse2k, Ninja said of FaZe Dubs, "I think what makes that even worse is that, like, the reason he said it was because he thought no one was streaming."