Hans Niemann calls out the Botez Sisters for accepting and promoting gambling sponsorship, labels it “degeneracy”

Popular Chess grandmaster and streamer Hans Niemann (20) has recently ignited a new controversy by publicly criticizing the Botez Sisters - Alexandra Botez (28) and Andrea Botez (21) from Botez Live - for their involvement in poker sponsorships and poker-related streaming content.

Gambling-related content frequently sparks debates within the streaming community. In fact, an online protest led by Pokimane and Mizkif prompted Twitch to remove Stake.com from its platform as well.

Speaking about the Botez sisters' online business deals and occasional poker streams, the 20-year-old American grandmaster took to his X account (formerly called Twitter) to sarcastically remark:

"I think as soon as you get a million subscribers that's when you should start promoting gambling, poker, making money off that. I think that's a very responsible thing to do for your brand, is to promote degeneracy and help people get addicted to gambling."

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"You’re no better than everyone you criticized" - Alexandra Botez claps back at Hans Niemann

As the older of the two sisters, Alexandra Botez often takes the lead in addressing online conflicts and controversies. In response to Hans Niemann's video, Alexandra promptly extended an invitation for him to engage in a discussion about poker if he was interested:

"Always down to discuss any issues you might have with poker or otherwise if you want to actually chat. If it’s just for clickbait and views, then you’re no better than everyone you criticized for piling on you."

Alexandra Botez responds to Hans' X post (Image via Twitter/X)

In response to the reply, Hans reiterated his stance that he views poker as an immoral activity and suggested that it may lead to addiction among people. He wrote:

"Profiting off of gambling of any kind is highly immoral."

Hans Niemann is critical of Botez Sisters for their sponsorships (Image via Twitter/X)

Alexandra also fired back in response to Hans' answer, describing his video as clickbait aimed at garnering views. She emphasized that poker is a skill-based game, citing examples of other chess players like Magnus Carlsen who have ventured into poker as well:

"Many chess players have streamed poker because of the strategic overlap (Hikaru, Levy, Magnus)."

Alexandra Botez cites GMHikaru and Magnus Carlsen as examples (Image via Twitter/X)

The drama didn't stop there, as another chess content creator and Twitch streamer, Qiyu Zhou "Nemo" chimed in, criticizing Hans for taking a "fake moral high ground":

"That doesn’t give you the right trash other creators on a fake moral high ground."

Nemo fires back at Hans for his recent take (Image via Twitter/X)

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Hans Niemann has found himself embroiled in more than one feud recently. In addition to the recent controversy, he was also involved in a dispute with fellow Chess Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik earlier in September.