5 most controversial Twitch emotes of all time

Many Twitch fans will die on the hill in support of Amazon's purple platform being the best streaming website on the internet - simply because of the emotes it features. These iconic small, expressive icons convey a range of emotions and reactions, essentially a unique language that transcends regular text chat. With its evergrowing athenaeum of emotes, Twitch is meta-defining when it comes to how users can express themselves in a substantially more personalized and creative way.

However, just like any other form of communication, some of Twitch's ideogrammatic icons are perceived as controversial by being offensive or insensitive towards a certain section of society. When you combine this fact with Twitch chat's often questionable behavior, it's not hard to understand why some of the site's emotes have often been deemed controversial.

Though the emotes themselves are not malicious, toxic, or racist, their usage by some viewers can be deemed as such, and it's a common theme across many of the entries on this list.

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Exploring Twitch's most controversial emotes

5) TriHard

This Twitch staple was created after American streamer Mychal "Trihex" had his picture clicked while attending the A-kon 23 anime convention in 2012. The emote captured Mychal's excitement, and TriHard became synonymous with hyping the streamer up or when something exciting was about to happen on stream.

Beyond TriHex's chat, TriHard started gaining traction after IcePoseidon's chat started using the emote every time a person of color came on screen. This marked the beginning of TriHard being used for toxic and racist purposes. Since then, this happy face has become a tool for racists and has often been at the center of debates and discussions.

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4) Pepe the Frog

Based on a cartoon character created by American artist Matt Furie, Pepe the Frog was meant to be a fun and harmless character. That was before it became a weapon for alt-right and white supremacist groups to spread their racist and anti-Semitic ideologies on 4Chan.

The iconic frog, with its wide grin and big eyes, spawned a number of emotes based on Pepe that seeped into Twitch's BTTV library. This forced Amazon to ban Pepe the Frog-based emotes in September 2019, stating that it had become associated with "hateful imagery" and that its use could contribute to a "negative and toxic community experience."

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3) KappaPride

Originally intended to show Twitch's pledge towards making the streaming platform an inclusive space for people regardless of their sexual orientation, the KappaPride emote features a rainbow-painted face of a former Justin.Tv employee Josh DeSeno - the inspiration for the original original Kappa emote.

While Kappa is primarily used by viewers and trolls to convey sarcasm, KappaPride was intended to affirm or inquire about one's sexual inclinations. However, like the TriHard and Pepe emotes, the Kappapride emote is not immune to malicious or toxic usage and is often used by trolls to mock members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

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2) ZULUL

A meme demarcating the association of ZULUL and race. (Image - KnowYourMeme)

To begin with, ZULUL was a variation on the classic LUL emoticon created by Twitch add-on Better Twitch TV. The variation in question darkened the face of John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, the inspiration behind LUL.

The problematic icon was essentially blackface, and as a result, Twitch and BTTV decided to ban the emote on February 17, 2021 for obvious reasons.

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1) PogChamp

Probably the undeniable 'face' of Twitch, PogChamp is one of the most popular and most used global emotes available to all Twitch users. The icon has long featured the face of Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez, a popular figure in the fighting game community. Often used to express excitement, intrigue, joy, or shock, Ryan's face became synonymous with the best of outplays and hype moments.

All of that changed when Ryan tweeted in favor and support of the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Following a ban on the emote — that only lasted 24 hours — and massive furor within the Twitch community, the site stated that PogChamp would feature a new icon every 24 hours. This was followed by a vote which elected a photo of a Komodo dragon as the new PogChamp.