Twitch Streamer Asmongold Suspended
Popular streamer Zach Hoyt, better known as Asmongold, made controversial comments in a video, stating that Palestinians come from an “inferior culture.” Twitch suspended him following these comments, which led to widespread backlash and violated Twitch’s community guidelines.
Asmongold, who has over five million followers across two Twitch channels, apologized on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “I’ll do better.” In another post, he stated, “Of course, no one deserves to have their life destroyed even if they do things or have views I find regressive.” He added, “I don’t mind apologizing if it’s something I think I’m actually wrong about.”
Twitch confirmed the suspension and emphasized that they take enforcement action when streamers violate community guidelines, including the hateful conduct policy. Twitch’s community guidelines prohibit behavior that promotes discrimination or expresses inferiority based on a protected characteristic.
Asmongold made the controversial remarks while streaming on his Zachrawrr channel, which has 1.9 million followers. He also has another Twitch channel with 3.5 million followers, though he uses it less frequently. Despite the suspension, Twitch rules prevent suspended users from using other accounts to bypass bans.
The comments, which circulated widely online, showed that Asmongold was unsympathetic to Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. He faced backlash from fellow streamers, including BrookeAB, who called his comments “straight-up racism.” Hasan Piker, known as HasanAbi, also spoke with Asmongold in a stream before the ban, but Asmongold did not retract his initial statements. Notably, Asmongold also mentioned he does not support Israel.
This controversy follows reports from the Hamas-run health ministry that more than 42,000 Palestinians have died in the Israel-Gaza conflict since 7 October 2023. On Monday, the UN condemned the large number of civilian casualties resulting from Israeli strikes on northern Gaza.
Asmongold has yet to comment on his Twitch suspension, and representatives have reached out for further statements.
External link: BBC article on Asmongold
Internal link: Related articles on Twitch controversies
