Street Fighter pro and Cross Counter TV founder Ryan ‘Gootecks’ Gutierrez finally responded after Twitch removed his famous emote PogChamp for allegedly “encouraging violence”.
On January 6, Gootecks asked his Twitter fans if there would be “civil unrest for the woman who was executed inside the Capitol” after the day’s controversial events unfolded.
Shortly after making this observation, Twitch considered that Gutierrez was “encouraging more violence” and made the decision to remove the emote, noting that “they cannot in good conscience continue to allow the use of the image”.
While a temporary solution is underway, with a new PogChamp emote appearing every twenty-four hours, Gootecks does not approve of the way Twitch handled the situation.
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.
– Twitch (@Twitch) January 7, 2021
In a new response video sent to the YouTube channel of Cross Counter TV, the original face of the emote pointed out some interesting inconsistencies on Twitter and Twitch. (The segment starts at 7 pm)
First, he noted how Twitter made the decision to ban the US president’s account for “encouraging violence”, but not Gootecks’ tweet.
“It’s not that Twitter doesn’t analyze people’s tweets with a fine-toothed comb to determine whether they’re inciting violence or not, am I right?” he asked rhetorically. “And I’m not saying that I have the kind of reach and influence that the president has, I’m just saying that I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my account was blocked after what I posted.”
From there, he pulled tweets that he did that resulted in his Twitter account being blocked, but his tweet about civil unrest was not to blame, suggesting he was fine by Twitter standards.
“They are looking for people who are trying to incite violence, but that is not what they found for me,” he said. “So why does Twitch seem to have decision-making superpowers? Because in less than three hours from when I uploaded the video, they made the decision to remove PogChamp as a global emote. “
“You can’t make these things up,” he concluded, ending the video.
The PogChamp emote icon has been removed on Twitch.
So far, it doesn’t seem that Twitch has plans to reinstate Gootecks as the face of PogChamp, but they understand the importance of emote in the platform’s culture.
In any case, we will have to wait and see what the future holds for the emote as 2021 proceeds.