Twitch streamer and YouTuber Asmongold was banned from the former this week following some controversial comments he made during a stream. The stream in question saw Asmongold talking about the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict with inflammatory comments directed at the Palestinian people in particular. After he was temporarily banned from Twitch once his comments started making the rounds, he’s since returned with a video on YouTube to address the situation, apologize for his remarks, and lay out his plans moving forward which include working on a “much better version” of himself and cleaning up his living space.
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During his initial stream, Asmongold referred to Palestinians as “terrible people” and said he didn’t feel badly at all for them amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of the key moments from his stream people called out in particular saw him saying that the Palestinian people came from “an inferior culture.” He tweeted about the comments afterwards and said “I’ll do better” moving forward.
Now, he’s come back with a 20-minute video on the topic after getting banned from Twitch. Part of his video addresses the incident itself and includes an apology while the other half is more of a look ahead at how he plans to do better.
“I said something about it that was disgusting,” he said in the video below. “I said that I didn’t care about innocent people getting killed by another force, by anything, and I think that that’s a horrible, disgusting, mean-spirited thing to say.”
Part of the criticisms levied against Asmongold after his stream was that he was being racist towards Palestinians. Asmongold addressed that in the video as well and said that he didn’t feel that he was being racist but rather admitted that his wording should’ve been more precise. He said he’s always been vocally against religious extremism and acknowledged that he should not have “categorize[d] everybody in the area” when speaking broadly about the topic.
Many of Asmongold’s more viral clips as of late have been centered in negativity or hot takes directed at specific games with this Israeli-Palestinian conflict controversy apparently the tipping point now. He thanked those who’d reached out to him to call him out and said this backlash was something he needed personally while also acknowledging he’s been veering more towards a “mean-spirited” version of himself.
“I think this has been going on now for like two years,” he said. “I think that I’ve been slowly devolving into the most mean-spirited — I don’t really even know what the word is for it. Just the most mean-spirited, rude, nasty, callous, psychopathic version of myself. I think that I’ve been devolving into this, and a lot of my friends have told me this.”
Criticisms against Asmongold even before this controversy have long used his living conditions as ammo. Images of dirty sinks, take-out containers and cups littering his sleeping area and desk, and general clutter are often circulated online in pretty much any semi-viral discussion involving Asmongold. The streamer acknowledged that topic, too, as part of the second half of his video and said he’s going to quite literally clean up his life and that he views this as a needed penance.
“I’m going to try to clean up part of my house,” Asmongold said. “I’m going to try to do this, and I’m not going to hire a cleaner. As I said, I was raised Roman Catholic, and I view this as a penance, and I think I need to do this for myself. I need to take accountability for bad things that I’ve done and for letting my life get this out of control, and I don’t need a Get Out of Jail Free card, so I need to do that for myself and for my own closure as well.”
Starforge Systems, a PC company Asmongold was affiliated with which is owned by the larger OTK Network, announced this week that it’d mutually parted ways with Asmongold in the wake of his comments.
“We have spoke to Asmongold and have mutually agreed to part ways,” a statement from the company read. “Starforge unequivocally rejects all forms of discrimination, hatred, and violence. We stand by and align ourselves with those around the world seeking to foster acceptance, unity, and dignity.”
Asmongold’s Twitch ban is expected to last 14 days from October 15th which was when he was initially banned.
