Why did Twitch remove ConnorEatsPants’ dancing monkey emote?

Twitch is back at it again with a crackdown on their community guidelines. This time, their whip was directed at the popular YouTuber and Twitch streamer ConnorEatsPants. More accurately, at his custom dancing monkey emote, connor6Monkey.

ConnorEatsPants himself hasn’t been removed from the platform, but his dancing monkey emote has, and he’s thoroughly confused by it. The Twitch streamer took to his Twitter account on July 26 to express his confusion by saying, “I can’t believe it” and “I don’t wanna turn this into a ‘but you allow hot tub streams’ thing and get the leafy clones riled up… but come on, man.”

Emotes have always been a cornerstone of the Twitch community. They are similar to emoticons, but Twitch-specific. They give creators an opportunity to express themselves without having to use words, and are truly an integral part of the Twitch culture. However, in the last year bewildered creators have noticed more and more guardrails around the types of emotes they can use, and in the case of some, suspension or banning if the wrong ones are used. 

The emote in question here is a dancing monkey who’s clearly air-thrusting with a smile on its face. According to Twitch, the monkey’s “nudity” and “sexual content” was enough to warrant an immediate dismissal from the site. It’s “Gasm”-style nature contained “sexualized torsos or bodily fluids” which is a no-no for the platform. Considering the fact that monkeys don’t typically wear clothes and are by nature naked, the “sexual” content here is clearly the air-thrusting.

Fans of ConnorEatsPants were quick to point out that they too have been on the receiving end of Twitch’s iron fist, with one user (@TheWillNeff) saying, “I have lost 3 now.”

Twitch hasn’t been shy about their process for reviewing custom emotes. In a recent blog post they shared their new computer-based learning model which assists in picking and choosing which custom emotes are suitable for the site and which aren’t. Has this new computer-based learning model caused the premature removal of custom emotes or has Twitch truly cracked down on their community guidelines?

Twitch hasn’t commented yet on their decision to remove the connor6Monkey emote, but if or when they do, ConnorEatsPants will surely let us know.