A Twitch streamer who was banned for laughing with a buddy about kicking another streamer to death was compelled to switch to YouTube.
Twitch has faced criticism for some of its bans in the past, including the uncertainty surrounding its choice to permanently prohibit Dr. Disrespect, but this circumstance might be its strangest to date. Streamer Skumnut, who had just finished a “kick only” run of God of War Ragnarok, never imagined that a straightforward joke with a friend could get him into such a pickle.
He’s still in shock that Twitch banned the streamer forever after he wrote “I will kick you to death” in his friend’s chat. According to Jake Lucky, the other streamer even recognized Skumnut’s God of War run when he posted the joke in his friend Mega’s chat. This joke, however, really seemed to irk Twitch, who the broadcaster claims even lied directly to him about prior misconduct offenses.
The Amazon-owned platform, Twitch, claims in an email it reviewed “multiple instances of severe violations of Twitch’s terms of service” to support ending his relationship. The streamer provided a copy of the email. He declared, “That is a straight-up lie,” and disclosed Twitch had started streaming in every email he had ever received from them.
Even though Mega emailed Twitch to clarify the situation, the streaming service has stuck with its decision, forcing Skumnut to broadcast on YouTube in its place. Even though the broadcaster has been doing well for himself on YouTube, this error undoubtedly had a significant impact. It’s strange, as Skumnut noted on Twitter, that a streamer who engaged in live sex was suspended for only one week while his joke resulted in a lifelong ban.
We’ll have to wait and see if this fresh backlash against the permaban can convince the Amazon-owned platform to rethink its divisive decision since Twitch doesn’t remark on specific bans.