Twitch banned the popular emote PogChamp on Wednesday after the person portrayed posted tweets “encouraging more violence” after a US Capitol riot.
“We made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote after statements from the face of the emote, encouraging more violence after what happened on Capitol today,” Twitch said in a statement late on Wednesday. “We want the feeling and use of Pog to continue – its meaning is much greater than the person portrayed or the image itself – and it has a big place in Twitch culture. However, we cannot, in good conscience, continue to allow the use of the image. “
We made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote after the statements on the face of the emote encouraging more violence after what happened on Capitol today.
– Twitch (@Twitch) January 7, 2021
The PogChamp emote is one of the oldest on Twitch and is widely used by viewers to display emotion in streaming chats. PogChamp, or “poggers,” has become synonymous with game culture and streaming platforms like Twitch due to its popularity. “Poggers”, the shortened version of the emote, took off as a general meme that expresses surprise in recent years.
Twitch’s decision to ban PogChamp was made after the face portrayed in the professional emote Street Fighter player Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, posted tweets on Wednesday questioning whether more “civil unrest” would happen after a woman was shot on Capitol Hill. Earlier on Wednesday, pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol building, delaying a vote to certify the results of the 2020 election.
“We are going to work with the community to create a new emote for the hottest moments on Twitch,” Twitch said on Twitter on Wednesday.