Olivia R. August 1, 2020
"Huh.. I just got banned."
That was all Dota 2 pro Dominik "Black^" Reitmeier could think to say on his stream when he realized he got banned from Twitch. Then the gears started turning.
"What the fuck? For what?" Black^ questioned.
Black^ is a pro Dota 2 player who most recently played for LGD International. Known as the "World Traveler," the seasoned veteran has also played for teams from North America, South America, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. The German pro also appears regularly as a caster and analyst at tournaments.
He's also a streamer with a big following on Twitch. He often streams with Wehsing "SingSing" Yuen, a retired Dota 2 player who has amassed over 571,600 followers on the streaming platform.
On Reddit, a lot of fans were confused as to what led to the sudden ban. Many noted that Black^ and SingSing had talked about how "easy it was" to be banned just the other day. The two former mousesports players were talking about how careful streamers have to be to avoid getting their account suspended.
While neither Black^ nor Twitch has come forward with the reason for his his ban, a few of his fans remembered a questionable stream he had a few days ago. Black^ had discussed Arnold Schwarzenegger's name on a live broadcast, noting that "schwarz" means "black" in German. "Negger" means "someone who teases." During the clip, which has since been deleted, Black^ joked that he was a "schwarznegger."
People speculated that coming very close to a racial slur may have gotten him the ban.
Regardless, many Dota 2 fans felt that Black^'s ban wasn't justified if this was the reason, since he wasn't trolling or being purposely toxic towards other players. It seemed like it was just a case of someone possibly mis-hearing what Black^ said. Many noted how much control Twitch moderators seem to have over people's livelihoods. This unsurprisingly led to a discussion on Twitch's seemingly unfair and inconsistent punishments, with many Dota 2 players noting that other streamers have said and done much worse without getting any sort of punishment.
Looking for examples of the Twitch community's concern with the platform's possible favoritism?
Black^ is currently still banned on Twitch. He hasn't made any statements on Twitter, but he isn't all too active on social media to begin with.