Tyler “Ninja” Blevins still has the biggest channel on Twitch. In a conflict, his wife is now threatening the streamer with the largest channel on Twitch, Imane “Pokimane” Anys, with a lawsuit. She has allegedly “defamed” Ninja. The background is a complex conflict.
Who are the parties involved?
- Tyler “Ninja” Blevins became the undisputed biggest streamer on Twitch in 2018 when he ruthlessly rode the Fortnite wave. In the last few years, things have calmed down around him, but with 17.3 million followers, he still has the biggest channel on Twitch.
- Jessica Blevins is Ninja’s wife and manager. She handles the family’s business.
- Imane “Pokimane” Anys is the only woman among the top 10 Twitch channels. She has 8.9 million followers. The streamer is one of the highest-earning women on Twitch.
- Jidion “JiDion” Adams is a YouTuber who came to Twitch. He prompted his community last week to go into Pokimane’s stream and spam “L Ratio”. This was viewed by Twitch as a “hate raid” and he was permanently banned. He is therefore not allowed to stream on Twitch anymore. JiDion accuses Pokimane of having used the “N-word” in a Twitch stream years ago.
Ninja talks to JiDion, says he wants to help him
This is what Ninja did: Ninja spoke live on Twitch with JiDion. During this, Ninja took on a sort of “advisor role” and gave JiDion tips on how to avoid a permanent ban in the future.
At one point, Ninja somehow blurted out the statement: “If you raid bitches …”.
JiDion jumped out of his seat with joy, as Ninja had just referred to the streamer Pokimane as a “bitch”.
Ninja realized what he had done and clarified: he did not mean Pokimane specifically, but was speaking generally.
Ninja assured the permanently banned JiDion that he would see “what he can do for him”, saying he would reach out to his contact at Twitch. There was an implication that Ninja would advocate for JiDion to be unbanned on Twitch. JiDion repeatedly assured how much he loves Ninja.
This is how Pokimane reacted: She was visibly upset. She said she couldn’t believe that Ninja wanted to help someone evade a ban.
Moreover, she was visibly upset to be called a “bitch” by Ninja.
This was Ninja’s response: He sent Pokimane a direct message, swearing on his grandfather’s grave that he had not reached out to his Twitch contact to help JiDion (via youtube).
Ninja’s wife threatens with a lawsuit – Ninja did nothing to help JiDion
This was Jessica Blevins’ response: She sent Pokimane a direct message and threatened her with a lawsuit for defamation. She said that she was “spreading lies to tens of thousands of people”: She must know that Ninja NEVER reached out to anyone. They made that clear to her.
Ninja had only made a defensive claim during the stream to calm JiDion’s harassing fans. They take the case very seriously and are ready to take it to the highest level.
The threat of this lawsuit is currently occupying half of Twitch. There are many statements from major streamers on the topic. Most seem to be siding with Pokimane.
This was the origin of the conflict:
Hate raid hits streamer and shocks her colleagues – Twitch acts tough
