The gaming YouTuber Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter (29) broke down during a stream. She had responded to a tweet from a girl and triggered a wave of hate. She regrets it now.
This is Valkyrae:
- The 29-year-old Rachel Hofstetter was a successful streamer on Twitch, where she made a name for herself in Fortnite.
- However, she really took off after switching to YouTube. The head of YouTube Gaming recognized her great potential and gave her an exclusive contract in January 2020. After her career initially stalled, she exploded with “Among Us”, the pandemic game of 2020.
- Now Valkyrae is the largest gaming streamer in the world and co-owner of the esports organization “100 Thieves”.
“Sometimes I just forget how many people read what I write on Twitter”
Why did she cry? The streamer reacted to a tweet on Twitter that had been bothering her. After that, she went to bed.
When she woke up, she realized what had happened in her absence: Twitter users had attacked the person she had replied to and sent that person hate messages, including death threats.
Valkyrae urged her fans on Twitter to refrain from harassing people or sending death threats – especially not in her name. Valkyrae stated that she felt completely responsible for what had happened. She apologized to everyone who had been attacked by people trying to “defend” her.
Valkyrae contacted the person and found out it was a minor girl.
She says:
“She was glad that I reached out and apologized. But I don’t like it when I make such mistakes. I didn’t want something like that to happen.”
Someone had sent the girl a photo with a suggestion of suicide and told her to “do the same.” Valkyrae was particularly upset about this. Because it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t written to her.
Sometimes she just forgets how many people read what she writes on Twitter.
What was the thread about? In the video, Valkyrae does not go into further detail about the reason. The tweets in question have been deleted.
As comments reveal, a 14-year-old girl apparently tweeted that she didn’t want Valkyrae’s ex-boyfriend Sonii to appear in a stream. Valkyrae then tweeted that she was cancelling the stream.
This triggered the wave of hate.
What is behind it: Someone like Valkyrae is so popular also because she is emotional and expressive. Fans feel like they know her.
When a tweet comes up that catches her because it hits a sore spot, and the streamer responds to the tweet emotionally after a long day on YouTube, it feels authentic, but in this case, it has terrible consequences.
This is one of the problems for streamers: they cannot always control what their influence triggers. Sometimes this influence is intentionally exploited: influencers use their impact on their fans to put pressure on publishers or simply to sell shower gels or energy drinks and make money. In some cases, however, this influence becomes self-perpetuating.
How bizarre the connection between fans and influencers can sometimes become is illustrated by the streamer Pokimane:
Twitch streamer tells that a fan suddenly showed up at her house: “Creepy”
