In the latest drama to hit the streaming community, Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt is now entering an argument with X’s main man, Elon Musk.
Twitch streamer Asmongold is no stranger to controversy. From issues with the FBI to multiple Twitch bans, he always seems to find a way to stay relevant in the public eye. Most recently, his commentary on Elon Musk’s gaming performance in Path of Exile 2 may have gotten him into some hot water. Here’s exactly why Asmongold is in trouble with X owner Elon Musk and what Musk has done since in retaliation.
The initial controversy began after Asmongold and other creators began questioning Elon Musk’s performance in Path of Exile 2 and accused him of having help.
In early January 2025, Musk began streaming his Path of Exile runs on X with a level 97 character. However, viewers immediately began picking his performance apart and pointing out inconsistencies. For starters, streamer Quintin “Quin69TV” Crawford mentioned that to get to such a high level in a short amount of time, a player would need to spend many hours nearly every day grinding. Others reported that Elon Musk was making beginner mistakes, including not understanding what items were valuable or the difference between item and required level.
Because of all this, Asmongold accused Elon Musk of either buying his Path of Exile 2 account or paying someone else to play the account for him. In a follow-up Twitch stream, the creator said that he would post video content on X for a full year if Musk could prove that he personally played the account to level 97. Several other streamers also commented on the issue, including the aforementioned Quin and Octavian “Kripparrian” Morosan.
This is not the first time that Musk’s gaming skills have been called into question. In 2022, gamers roasted him for a subpar Elden Ring build despite his alleged skill in the game. Musk has additionally claimed to achieve an under two minute Tier 150 Artificer’s Pit run in Diablo’s Ring. However, the official Helltides leaderboard never confirmed this was true or added it to its rankings.
After receiving criticism, Musk revealed private DMs between himself and Asmongold in an attempt to discredit the content creator’s independence.
Despite Asmongold being one of several creators to comment on Musk’s Path of Exile 2 run, it was he who faced the brunt of the resulting anger. Musk’s main critique is that Asmongold is “not his own man” and relies on his “boss,” according to a recent X post. He then went on to share private DMs between the two in which Asmongold discusses how an editing team works. Musk seems to be claiming that Asmongold is not independent as a creator and is instead at the mercy of his editors. To add insult to injury, Elon Musk said that Asmongold was good at “caustic commentary” but not so good at gaming.
Several community notes have added the context that the streamer has talked openly before about first streaming on Twitch and then giving the resulting content to his editing team to cut for YouTube and distribution elsewhere. It is also worth noting that Asmongold hires and pays his editing team, rather than them being in charge of him or acting as his “boss.”
Musk has denied any claims of using a boosted account, despite the evidence to the contrary. Asmongold has spoken out so far about being called a bad gamer and believes that this will all blow over soon.
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