Popular Twitch streamer Zach Hoyt, better known as Asmongold, is no stranger to controversy. He's well-known in gaming circles for delivering hot visuals on his streams, but some of his recent comments have earned him a little more attention in the mainstream press and a 14-day ban on one of his Twitch accounts.
With more than 4 million followers spread across his two accounts, Asmongold is one of the platform's biggest creators. As a result, the situation has got many people talking and even more are asking questions about the duration of the ban, about what caused it, what the fallout has been, and about Asmongold's response to the whole situation.
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OTK issues statement on Asmongold situation
One True King (OTK) issues a statement regarding Asmongold's controversial Palestine comments, which recently saw him banned from Twitch.
The story behind the Asmongold Twitch Ban
Why was Asmongold banned?
While streaming on his alt account Zachrawrr, which he mostly uses to talk about current events, Asmongold made some racially charged statements about the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict. While denying that he took any explicit side in the conflict, the streamer made some disparaging comments about Palestinians, notably saying that they come from “an inferior culture” and that he did not empathize with the large civilian casualties the conflict has caused. Since statements like these are a pretty cut and dry violation of the platform's terms of service regarding hate speech, Twitch reacted quickly and banned Asmongold's Zachrawrr account for 14 days.
The banned account is not considered Asmongold's “main” account, but it is where he most often streams from, as part of a year-long transition from pure game content to general commentary. Asmongold's 3.5 million follower account of the same name has not been banned, although it has not been active since the controversy.
Asmongold's response to the Twitch ban
Shortly after the ban became public, Asmongold issued a statement via his X account addressing the situation. The post was apologetic for his lack of empathy for the conflict, but seemingly made no apologies for other comments about the Palestinian people. This post did little to remedy the situation, and Hoyt later stepped down from leadership roles at One True King (OTK), Starforge Systems, Mythic, and Mad Mushroom, the former of which he co-founded.
A 20-minute video response was posted on Asmongold's YouTube channel where he addressed the entire situation and its fallout in more nuanced terms. In the video, the streamer expressed more remorse over the negativity he claimed has dominated his content in recent years.
I look back at some of the things that I've said and done over the last two years, and I don't think I've been wrong about everything…but there have been ways that I've communicated and ways. that I have acted, which are indefensible. Looking back on it, it's just disgusting. –Asmongold
It is too early to say whether this change of heart will have an effect on Asmongold's content. Many in his core fanbase seemed to take issue with the video's apology, prompting yet another response on the r/Asmongold subreddit just hours after the video went live. In this response to the response, Asmongold assured his community that his overall content style and worldview would not change, but that he would try to maintain a more positive and less mean attitude while he's at it in the future.
