For the second time in less than a week, Twitch star Pokimane has been accused of using a racial slur during a live stream.
Earlier in the week, it sounded like she used the N-word in an old clip, but it was brushed off by most of the internet because she was likely referring to Anivia, a character in the League of Legends game she had been streaming.
But Kavos, an internet gossip show host, tweeted out on Monday what appears to be an older clip of Pokimane using a racist slur.
https://twitter.com/KavosYT/status/1102693945962885121
In the clip, it appears Pokimane, whose real name is Imane Anys, exclaims, “[N-word], you ain’t funny. That’s not true. Maybe you’re just boring as fuck and lame as hell. Only lame [N-word] say that shit. Oh my god.”
This time, Pokimane—who has more than 2.8 million followers on her Twitch account—had a more difficult time explaining herself.
“Hard for me to speak on this clip’s context because it’s so old (i’m almost 23 and was underage in that clip), but it was definitely not said in a racist or derogatory manner,” she wrote on Twitter. “It was a time period/environment where saying it was more common and used as a replacement for ‘dude.’ It’s been many years and I don’t ever say it now because I realize it’s distasteful and looks bad, and I’ve never said it in a racist way/hard r either (just in a cringey way unfortunately).”
hard for me to speak on this clip's context because it's so old (i'm almost 23 and was underage in that clip), but it was definitely not said in a racist or derogatory manner. it was a time period/environment where saying it was more common and used as a replacement for "dude"1/2
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) March 4, 2019
it's been many years and I don't ever say it now because I realize it's distasteful and looks bad, and i've never said it in a racist way / hard r either (just in a cringey way unfortunately). 2/2
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) March 4, 2019
Previously, Pokimane’s biggest controversy had been her feud with PewDiePie, the biggest YouTube star in the world, for claiming copyright infringement on another YouTuber’s video and threatening to do it again if somebody simply re-uploaded her Twitch stream or used “a gross or misleading title” that referenced her.
As of Wednesday, her Twitch account was still active, meaning the platform hadn’t seen a reason to suspend her.
A Daily Dot message to Pokimane on Wednesday morning was not immediately returned, but on Twitter, she wrote a “quick shoutout to the people who see me as a real human as opposed to just pixels on your screen. supportive & funny messages from y’all are what keep me going.”
quick shoutout to the people who see me as a real human as opposed to just pixels on your screen. supportive & funny messages from y'all are what keep me going ^__^ pic.twitter.com/GeoAVDQQTx
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) March 4, 2019