Twitch has removed a controversial video about the Black Lives Matter movement after audiences pointed out a lack of diversity in the video itself. Yesterday Twitch put up a video in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, celebrating some of the money raised through streaming, and featuring those who have spoken out about the movement.
Unfortunately, most of these content creators were not part of the black community, seemingly undermining the message of the video. Since the video was posted, people like Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau commented that “Twitch’s idea of supporting black lives and highlighting black streamers is to make a video with lots of white people”. He pointed out that previously Twitch, in support of the LGBTQ+ community, said “When the G in LGBTQIA+ also stands for gamer”, in a similarly tone-deaf attempt at supporting that community. This post from Twitch was also deleted.
Twitch has offered a short acknowledgement of this video’s failures. On Twitter, it states “We hear you. Our goal was to demonstrate the importance of allyship – a message we didn’t make clear. Only by working together can we create a positive change.”
Since the video has been removed Alanah Pearce, one of the creators featured in the video, has come out to state that she didn’t know about the video, and didn’t consent to inclusion. “Well, I had no idea this happened until just now, but want to be clear: I had absolutely no idea Twitch was going to use a clip of me in the BLM video they took down and am not cool with it at all. I guess they own all content on their platform, but I’m shocked I wasn’t asked,” she says on Twitter.
I'm sorry, but this is maddening to me.
Twitch talks about the importance of #BLMYET STILL
1. Has 90% of the talking done by white/nonblack people
2. Doesn't promote any black streamers/content creatorsShare and promote Black Twitch content, here or in retweets! pic.twitter.com/fMJ8DNq7yU
— Uncle Fill™ (@2leftjoycons) July 9, 2020
It is unknown if other creators like Sean ‘Jacksepticeye’ McLoughlin or Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo were asked for their involvement either. Hopefully, Twitch highlights more black voices in these circumstances in the future.
If you want to know more about the Black Lives Matter movement, this is how you can help.