Popular Twitch streamer Zach Hoyt, better known as Asmongold, is no stranger to controversy. He's well-known in the gaming world for delivering glowing reviews on his streams, but some of his most recent comments garnered more attention in mainstream media and resulted in one of his Twitch accounts being banned for 14 days.
With over 4 million followers across two accounts, Asmongold is one of the platform's largest creators. As a result, this situation has many people talking and asking more questions about the duration of the ban, its causes, consequences, and Asmongold's response to the whole situation.
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OTK issued statement on Asmongold situation
One True King (OTK) released a statement regarding Asmongold's controversial Palestinian comments, which led to his recent ban from Twitch.
The story behind Asmongold Twitch ban
Why was Asmongold banned?
While streaming on Zachrawrr, an alt account he most often uses to talk about current events, Asmongold made racially disparaging remarks about the ongoing Israel/Palestinian conflict. The streamer denied taking any explicit side in the conflict, but made comments specifically criticizing Palestinians, saying they came from an “inferior culture” and did not sympathize with the large civilian casualty rates caused by the conflict. These comments are a pretty strict violation of the platform's terms of service regarding hate speech, so Twitch responded quickly, banning Asmongold's Zachrawrr account for 14 days.
The banned account is not considered Asmongold's “main” account, but it is where he streams most often as part of a years-long transition from pure gaming content to general commentary. Asmongold's account with 3.5 million followers with the same name has been inactive since the controversy, but has not been blocked.
Asmongold's Response to Twitch Ban
Shortly after the ban was made public, Asmongold released a statement on his X account explaining the situation. The post apologized for the lack of empathy for the conflict, but did not appear to apologize for other comments about the Palestinian people. This post did little to resolve the situation, and Hoyt later stepped down from his leadership roles at One True King (OTK), Starforge Systems, Mythic, and Mad Mushroom, which he co-founded.
A 20-minute video response was posted on Asmongold's YouTube channel, covering the entire situation and its consequences in more nuanced terms. In the video, the streamer further expressed regret over the negativity that has dominated his content in recent years.
When I look back on what I've said and done over the past two years, I don't think I got everything wrong… There is no excuse for what I did. Looking back, it's just bittersweet. –Asmongold
It's too early to tell whether this change of heart will affect Asmongold's content. Many of his core fan base seemed to take issue with the video apology, sparking another response on the r/Asmongold subreddit just hours after the video was posted. In response to this, Asmongold assured the community that his overall content style and worldview will not change, but that he will try to maintain a more positive and less mean-spirited disposition while streaming going forward.
