Twitch Removes "PogChamp" Emote

Illustration for article titled Twitch Removes PogChamp Emote

Image: Kotaku

Twitch has removed the extremely popular “Pogchamp” emote from its service after the man featured in it, streamer Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, tweeted some Extremely Bad Shit about the events currently unfolding in Washington.

Here’s the tweet in question, in which Gutierrez directly calls for “civil unrest” for a “#MAGAMartyr” following a shooting that took place earlier in the day (he is referring to a woman shot and killed inside the Capitol Building).

Illustration for article titled Twitch Removes PogChamp Emote

Screenshot: Twitter

A few hours later, Twitch made the decision to remove the emote, citing “statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today.”

“We want the sentiment and use of Pog to live on – its meaning is much bigger than the person depicted or image itself– and it has a big place in Twitch culture”, the statement continues. “However, we can’t in good conscience continue to enable use of the image.

Twitch says it will “work with the community to design a new emote for the most hype moments on Twitch.”

These tweets didn’t appear out of thin air; Nathan’s excellent piece in May detailed some other crazy shit Gutierrez has said recently, including:

Toward the end of the stream one guest, fighting game veteran Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, decided to explain, at length, why a growing number of people believe that Bill Gates is involved in a covert population-control scheme involving vaccines. During this process, he said he was only “relaying the information,” not necessarily endorsing it, but then, after Niknam reacted to his spiel by saying that everybody should vaccinate their kids and themselves, Gutierrez said, “I think everybody should be free to do what they want with their body.”

source: gamezpot.com