Twitch removed the popular PogChamp emote from their streaming platform, following comments from the emote’s star about the violent riots last night in the US Capitol. The announcement comes just hours after PogChamp, the face of combat personality Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, made inflammatory remarks about the social media riots, which encouraged further violence.
“We can not continue to use the image in good conscience”, Said Twitch.
Last night, the U.S. Capitol was violently stormed by Trump supporters spurred on by the president’s unfounded allegations of voter fraud. Guitierrez called for a civil unrest for one of the rioters shot dead inside the Capitol building, and urged followers to watch a ‘gruesome’ video of her death.
“We have taken the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the emote that encourage further violence after what took place in the Capitol today,” Twitch announced.
PogChamp was an image of Gutierrez’s face in a kind of shocked expression, and was one of the most popular emotions on Twitch. The phrases that emerged from it, ‘pog’ and ‘poggers’, became not only a big part of the Twitch culture, but also the game culture in general.
“We want the sentiment and use of Pog to survive,” Twitch added. ‘Its significance is far greater than that of the person portrayed or the image itself – and it has a large place in Twitch culture. However, we cannot continue in good conscience to make the image possible. ”
Twitch said they would work with the community “to design a new emblem for most of the hype moments on Twitch.” Their Twitter thread is already full of big and small streams to throw in suggestions.