Twitch's notoriety for banning streamers is spreading, as popular YouTube comedian Gus Johnson poked fun at the platform in his latest sketch. In "godforsaken country," Gus plays a parody of himself, pretending as if his life in the suburbs was much rougher than in reality. Throughout the video, he intentionally leaves in the dialogue between he and his mother (working the camera), effectively breaking the fourth wall and allowing viewers to realize the ridiculousness of Gus's random claims.
The shot at Twitch comes around the 4-minute mark. Gus is drinking out of a can of Miller Lite the entire video; When the family's cat, Wendy (who Gus mistakenly calls "Randy" throughout), enters the frame, he begins to jokingly offer the cat beer. As soon as he stoops down, he immediately pulls the can back up stating, "I better not do that – I'll get banned from Twitch." Gus doesn't even have an official Twitch account, adding to the humor.
The joke targets the controversy around Alinity's apparent abuse of her own cat while streaming on Twitch. She received a wave of criticism for multiple acts caught on stream, most notably tossing her cat clear over her shoulder, as well as taking in a swig of vodka and letting her cat lick her lips – the subject of Gus's quip in the YouTube video.
Clearly, other content creators find YouTube a safer option for riskier humor. This dig at Alinity and Twitch comes hot off of Ninja's recent joke targeting the same subject matter. Additionally, Twitch streamer Grizz was recently suspended for his parody of Amouranth, allowing fake genitalia to slip from his shorts on stream. Despite his ban, he took to YouTube to issue a sarcastic apology, doubling down on the amount of the "slippage" shown in the comedic video (Warning: NSFW).
It seems like Twitch's reputation for banning streamers and inconsistent moderation practice is growing. Other content creators have caught on to the drama and have been using it as material – both comedic and insightful in nature. If Twitch is to put out this fire, it needs more responsible streaming icons as well as clearer guidelines on what warrants a ban from the platform.
Source: YouTube