'The Pokimane Way': Why the Twitch streamer is always a hotbed for controversy

Over the last few months, Pokimane has been involved in various controversies and feuds. The Twitch streamer initially rose to fame because of her gaming skills and the ability to engage with viewers.

Since then, she has expanded to YouTube and has garnered more than 5.6 million subscribers. This massive number is in addition to the 5.56 million followers she has on Twitch.

However, irrespective of the humungous fan base, Pokimane has had a mixed year. Firstly, we saw a rather ugly feud with ItsAGundam, who had posted a satirical video about the streamer and her simp fans.

In response, she encouraged her viewers to leave negative feedback on his content. Furthermore, she attacked the YouTuber’s sponsors and said they shouldn’t support ‘defamatory’ material.

There have also been feuds with Keemstar and LeafyIsHere. Both internet personalities claimed that Pokimane has been lying about not having a boyfriend. According to the former, this was because she does not want ‘sad, lonely guys’ to stop donating and subscribing to her channel. Pokimane even got blamed when Leafy got banned from YouTube.

Pokimane and her digital avatar

‘The Pokimane Way’: Why the Twitch streamer is always a hotbed for controversy

Perhaps the most common form of criticism that the Morocco-born star receives is that most of her fans are simps. People have mocked her brand of content and suggested that most of her viewers watch her only because of her ‘good looks’

Pokimane herself has indicated that she does not mind the simps and has benefitted from their presence. Furthermore, the 24-year-old said that ‘simp culture’ inadvertently discourages people from being nice to women. While there is some truth to that, the general notion appears to be that she does not want to lose her followers, and money.

As a matter of fact, the ‘money’ aspect has come up multiple times. Recently, when she announced that she was going to turn into a ‘Vtuber,’ people called her a ‘clout chaser’ and even a ‘hypocrite.’

This is because Pokimane had previously criticized ItsAGundam for hiding behind a ‘digital avatar.’ Even when the former Fortnite star had signed a deal with clothing brand “Cloak,” people called her out for going after ItsAGundam’s sponsors.

Sorry to bring this up but what about the stuff she did before. Lose a person big sponser. She went after rigwallet because she thinks she can. Sent her followers to ruin the sponsor. Are we just going to look it over because what? She's pretty? She hasn't apologized yet

— Pikagirl (@kakarotta_ftw) June 18, 2020

She has also recently gotten into quite a lot of trouble due to her fans. When Leafy was banned, Pokimane had distanced herself from the controversy and said that she had nothing to do with the termination. However, her fans seemed to claim responsibility for mass-reporting Leafy, as you can see below.

“Omg, you fucking simps got Leafy banned for no reason other than speaking the truth about your ‘queen’!”“Not our fault that Leafy was talking shit about Pokimane! We’ll do everything to protect our queen you fucking edgelords!” pic.twitter.com/r3q5RY1Btb

— Good Golem (@MechaGolem) August 22, 2020

Due to this suspension, she was widely hated online and received criticism, which should, in truth, have been reserved for her fans. Regardless, it appears that Pokimane’s simp fans are now more of a curse than a blessing. The amount of misdirected criticism, and the sheer existence of a fan base full of simps, has made the internet personality one of the most controversial streamers of recent times.