Twitch streamer Asmongold had one of his Twitch accounts, Zackrawrr, banned after making controversial and offensive comments about Palestinians. Asmongold, legal name Zack Hoyt, has two Twitch channels, Asmongold and Zackwarr. Lately, Hoyt has most often broadcasts on the latter.
In the recent livestream, Hoyt told his nearly 2 million followers that genocide is “built into Sharia Law.” He added, “So no, I am not going to cry a f***ing river when people who have genocide that is baked into their laws are getting genocided,” referring to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Hoyt went on to call Palestinians “terrible people,” and he called Palestinian culture “horrible” and “inferior.”
Hoyt then added, in part, “How much did they kill? As many as they can. They are not able to kill as many people as Israel because they do not have as many bombs and they do not have as many weapons,” referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack inside Israel killing around 1,200 Israelis.
“But if they did,” Hoyt said, “they would be doing the same thing. That is it. It just takes enough. That is right. These people are not your allies. They are not the same as us,” he added. Since Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 40,000 Gazans, many of whom were women and children, according to recent estimates from the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Asmongold’s non-apology
After Zackrawrr was banned, Hoyt posted an apology of sorts on X. “Looking back on it, I was way too much of an a**hole about the Palestine thing,” it read. “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 shit like that, I’ll do better.”
The half-hearted apology was noted in Hoyt’s comment section. “bro fr said a genocide was okay and apologized with ‘my bad,'” one comment pointed out. Referring to his previously-stated policy never to apologize, Hoyt later added, “I don’t mind apologizing if it’s something I think I’m actually wrong about Given the amount of times I’ve gotten hate for things and never apologized should be proof enough of that.”
Other streamers respond, and potential OTK fallout
Hoyt also co-founded OTK Network, an online gaming community, and in the fallout from the Palestinian comments, many on social media said they would boycott the organization. Meanwhile, Lebanese Palestinian streamer CapriSunnPapi, a former OTK Top Streamer competition contestant, shot back, This is a bulls**t apology, if you want to do something to show you actually give a s**t, raise money for the kids in gaza you think it’s okay to burn alive.” At the same time, streamer Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker, a Palestinian advocate, invited Hoyt on his channel to discuss what he said.
Hoyt had mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before. In May, Hoyt criticized pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating on U.S. college campuses. “Looks like Twitter is mad about me not supporting protesters first ammendment rights to build a rust base on campus and block students from going to class,” Hoyt wrote on X. “Keep crying about it guys, if you’re loud enough you might end up on tomorrow’s video,” his post said. Then, about a year before Zackrawrr was banned, Hoyt shared the following:
So far, Hoyt’s main Asmongold account has not been banned, but Hoyt had not used that channel for about a year before the Palestinian comments. Gaming industry journalist Rob Breslau wrote on X that Hoyt’s Zackrawrr ban would last 14 days, meaning Hoyt could steam again on the Zackrawrr channel by the end of October. Twitch has permanently banned other streamers for similar reasons in the past.
Published: Oct 15, 2024 04:46 pm