Pokimane blasts hater who accused her of boosting in Valorant

Olivia Richman Published 08/02/2021

After leaving the OfflineTV Rust server, Imane “Pokimane” Inys started playing Valorant on Twitch, but not everyone believes that the popular streamer has any skills in Riot’s tactical shooter. 

It all began when a clip of Pokimane playing Valorant went viral on Twitter. The clip showed Pokimane walking through Viper’s wall only to come face-to-face with an opposing Jett. Pokimane’s reaction was to dramatically scream bloody murder. 

The reaction to Pokimane’s outburst was mixed. Some Valorant players related to the “suspense” of playing a game like Valorant while others thought she was being overly dramatic and performing to her audience. But there was one tweet in particular that got a lot of backlash from Pokimane and her fans. 

One Twitter user told Pokimane she was “boosted,” meaning another player had borrowed her account in order to artificially inflate her standing in ranked matchmaking. This didn’t sit well with Pokimane, especially since female gamers are often accused of being carried or boosted by a male player. Pokimane responded that she’s been playing Valorant since the beta and has hit Diamond rank multiple times on three accounts. 

“You clearly don’t know this because you don’t watch my stream, yet you have the audacity to call me boosted off a five-second clip of me being scared,” Pokimane replied. 

As the drama unfolded, Pokimane noted that her aim is good enough to be Diamond. Despite being spooked by the Jett player, Pokimane had managed to eliminate them with some well-placed bullets. She told the Twitter user that if they want to “talk shit” that they would be banned by her mods. 

Following the argument, the Twitter user ended up disabling their entire Twitter account. They most likely received a lot of hate from Pokimane’s fans. In support of Pokimane, other streamers shared clips of them being scared during a game of Valorant. 

While Pokimane’s overreaction may have been deemed “cringe” by some, the Twitch community didn’t take kindly to people questioning Pokimane’s skill at Valorant. 

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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