Pokimane faces backlash for using AAVE language in Twitch stream title

Pokimane is perhaps one of the most beloved Twitch streamers right now. This is why her fans found themselves conflicted over the below matter.

Recently, the internet star used AAVE (African American Vernacular English) on the title of her Twitch stream. The Valorant broadcast she uploaded was titled:

"on god frfr? it's bussin up in here... boutta 360 no scope 1 tap headshot a mf".

It is unclear if using AAVE is a trend, but pop icon Olivia Rodrigo was also recently called out for using it.

The problem with AAVE is its misappropriation in current pop culture, especially in memes or TikTok. Since AAVE is derived from the African American community, it is understandable why it can be considered offensive when others use it.

Since people learned of these phrases and the like from memes and TikTok, many people have been using, or rather misappropriating, AAVE without knowing it. For all they know, it is either Gen Z slang or just a pop-culture thing.

Needless to say, Twitter is torn between its love yet momentary frustration towards Pokimane at the moment.

she talks about it more in her vod apparently (did not watch) but i saw this clip from today of her talking about aave, do with it what you will pic.twitter.com/Ta2LEfk93o

— ً (@hotdemonwitch) August 19, 2021

coming from a poki fan I’m really going to have to hold her accountable. I understand it’s “just a joke” but I knew someone would feel uncomfortable with the title. which is wrong.

— alisa ☁︎︎ (@auxpoki) August 19, 2021

Did you see Ryan’s title, where’s your tweet about that? Or are you just feeding into the unnecessary hate she gets?

— J (@Jmg_1999) August 19, 2021

god i like poki, but she just keeps doing this, like when will she learn 😐

— 🌿⁷ (@byulyiyongsun) August 19, 2021

I guess this is what she was talking about, it doesn't seem that bad tho pic.twitter.com/qHmXFup2dx

— Kizo🇨🇵🇺🇲 (@Kiz0_) August 20, 2021

For those wondering what her stream title was pic.twitter.com/YwjkBGrs9E

— Brayan Jurado (@Brayyannnnn) August 20, 2021

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Pokimane was quick to apologize about entire ordeal

The 25-year-old soon changed the title of the video and apologized on Twitter about the matter. Needless to say, the community had mixed reactions to it as well.

sorry for late night tweet but wanted to apologize if i overused aave in my twitch title today, was not aware that some of those terms were aave & didn’t mean it in a mocking way whatsoever.trying to change the vod title too :) much love to those who brought it to my attention!

— imane 👑💜 (@imane) August 20, 2021

why are non-black people telling her to not apologise in the thread? like obviously u shouldn't mock or misuse someone's culture. Poki could've not apologised but she chose to.

— 🕸 (@hanailann) August 20, 2021

I don't think you have to be black to acknowledge when something is unreasonable. I'm Mexican, I wouldn't be offended if someone who was not Mexican was using our slang. Unless of course she was making fun of it, that's different.

— Carlos Robles (@123Ayylmao) August 20, 2021

she constantly treats aave like its a meme

— eevee/wynter (@valkyluvr) August 19, 2021

honestly when i saw this i read it in ludwigs voice bc i think hes said things extremely similar to this before. and as we all know, he is also white

— ver ⛄️ (@floaty5up) August 19, 2021

I'm an African American and I guess I see where some people care about the title but it's hard for me to see that as just aave rather than twitch/tiktok language because many other creators using and say this stuff all the time I think you having to apologize isn't needed imo

— prawn (@PrawnRL) August 20, 2021

why are non-black people telling her to not apologise in the thread? like obviously u shouldn't mock or misuse someone's culture. Poki could've not apologised but she chose to.

— 🥢 (@hanailann) August 20, 2021

As mentioned before, it is not just Pokimane who has been criticized for her use of AAVE. Many celebrities who do not belong to the community have misappropriated the dialect and have faced severe backlash.

Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, and Awkwafina are some prominent examples.

However, Pokimane soon owned up to her mistake and was quick to apologize to her fans in a late-night tweet. She even changed the name of the Twitch VOD soon after fans pointed out the problem with it.

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