Hundreds of streamers say they are participating in #TwitchBlackout in response to allegations of sexual misconduct and sexism by powerful esports, gaming and streaming industry figures.
The blackout will see participating streamers refrain from going live as regularly scheduled on Twitch, which is the most popular gaming livestreaming website in North America. The movement began trending in the United States on Twitter late Tuesday night and continued throughout Wednesday morning, following a statement made Monday by Twitch co-founder and CEO Emmett Shear after more than 70 allegations involving important industry figures over the past 2½ weeks.
"As many of you are aware, over the weekend people from across the gaming industry came forward to share their accounts of sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault," Shear said in an email sent to employees Monday, which he also posted on Twitter. "Some of these accounts named Twitch-affiliated individuals, including Partners, Affiliates, business partners, and others. I want to assure you all that we are looking into all the incidents and will be taking action and cooperating with law enforcement.
"Actions may include banning, removing partnership, or removing people from promotional opportunities and activations if we have concerns based on credible accusations and their historical behavior on Twitch."
Following his statement, Shear drew criticism from many high-profile industry figures and former employees, who stated that Twitch minimized allegations of harassment and abuse that were brought forward to the company's human resources and community relations departments.
These are empty words considering you, as a company, minimized and dismissed my sexual harassment and continued to let the predator attend your events and gave him live segments at E3 on your official channel. https://t.co/qhRFRoFPRb
— Samantha Wong (@Sampai) June 22, 2020
I was a VP at Twitch and I reported this to the relationship-owning VP, the head of HR, and the CEO. All assured me it would be handled. Next year he was in the same VIP space at the same Twitch event. I was told he was the VP's uncle and an "important" initiative launch partner. https://t.co/LvkPxW43zR
— Justin Wong (@JustinWong) June 22, 2020
More than 200 allegations of assault, harassment, sexism and misogyny have been made about streamers, gaming and esports industry staffers and other community members over the past few weeks, sparking a large conversation on social media about the gaming industry and how it treats women.
Companies that have taken action include OP Group, Morrison & Rothman, Evolved Talent, Evil Geniuses and Facebook Gaming.
On June 21, OP Group CEO Omeed Dariani resigned amid allegations of misconduct within the company. Morrison & Rothman and Evolved Talent both suspended co-founder Ryan Morrison, a high-profile gaming attorney and agent, after several community members and former employees alleged he made inappropriate comments toward a transgender former employee and did not defend another employee in a group setting from racist comments made by a colleague.
Facebook Gaming suspended streamer Michael "THINND" McMahon and opened an investigation on Monday into allegations made by his ex-partner of domestic abuse. Evil Geniuses also parted ways with DOTA 2 commentator Grant "GranDGranT" Harris after several women accused him of sexual misconduct, and with fighting game pro Christopher "NYChrisG" Gonzalez for comments he made several years ago on social media demeaning Black female gamers.