A streamer of the popular MOBA “League of Legends” has now been banned by Twitch. He is alleged to have said “Nigger,” but even a Riot employee defends him, stating that he did not say that. After loud protests, Twitch ultimately relented – the streamer was only banned for 3 days instead of the planned 30.
This is the streamer in question: It concerns the streamer Ashkan “TF Blade” Hornayouni. He is originally from Iran but streams in English. TF Blade plays for Team Liquid in the top lane.
He has now been banned from Twitch for 30 days. He is allegedly accused of having said the word “Nigger” in a critical situation.
This is considered a severe racist insult against Black people – in the USA, people only refer to it as the “N-word.”
This is what the streamer says: The streamer states that he did not say the word. He claims he was banned unjustly – Twitch must have misheard him.
In the scene in question, TF Blade says: “Holy Shit – kill this (unintelligible).”
LoL employee defends streamer
This is what a Riot employee says: TF Blade receives support from Riot Blautoise, the Gameplay Data Lead at Riot Games. He states that it seems that someone reported the clip and explicitly wrote that the streamer said the “N-word.”
At that point, he would have said the word “idiots.”
Then a Twitch administrator viewed that scene and specifically listened for that word, supposedly heard it and banned the streamer.
This is a well-known effect, that one can misunderstand things when approaching with a specific expectation.
He hopes that Twitch will review the clip again and lift the ban.
Riot Blautoise says: There is already a lot of racist behavior on Twitch, so there is no need to make up extra stuff and chase after it.
This is how fans react: On Reddit, they discuss the clip and compare it to a scene with streamer Pokimane from March. She was attacked on Twitter for allegedly having said the “N-word” during a LoL stream.
She would have said “This Anivia,” the name of a LoL champion.
Apparently, this sensitive word often causes issues.
Update 13:50: TF Blade has responded again. His punishment has been reduced from 30 days to 7 days. In an email, Twitch informs him that several people have watched the clip and all understood the “N-word.”
The punishment was only reduced because he had behaved well prior to this incident.
TF Blade believes this could jeopardize his career, as sponsors only look at this without considering the context.
Twitch reinstates TF Blade
Update 28.4: After much outcry on Twitter, Twitch has now reinstated TF Blade’s account and lifted the ban.
Overall, TF Blade has now been banned from Twitch for 3 days instead of the initially planned 30.
In a live stream, the streamer announced that he wants to be more careful with using the word “Idiots,” since it gets him into so much trouble.
The effort to say fewer “Idiots” did not go very well, as the Twitch chat ribbed him about the story.
No official statement from Twitch has been made so far. The CEO of Team Liquid, TF Blade’s esports team, has announced that they will seek a conversation with Twitch and request an apology.
Note: The title image comes from the Facebook page of Team Liquid.
