Some call for Twitch to ban Sweet Anita for Tourette's syndrom tics

Olivia Richman Published 10/12/2019

Sweet Anita has gotten big on Twitch for embracing her Tourette’s syndrome tics. Her 300,000 YouTube subscribers and 500,000 Twitch followers are constantly entertained by her dirty outbursts, as well as her general streaming.

But recently, some of Sweet Anita’s uncontrollable tics have rubbed some viewers the wrong way. On December 9, Sweet Anita was live streaming when she abruptly said “kill the Jews” while discussing her tics, which she says cause her to “say the weirdest, most awful shit ever.”

Sweet Anita turned off her stream shortly after the outburst, but the clip spread through social media quite quickly. In a since deleted tweet, Twitch partner Lil Chipmunk demanded the streaming platform punish the streamer for her dirty and offensive tics.

“Twitch, how’s this allowed? I don’t care if she has Tourettes. She should have some way to mute herself or something,” she tweeted, adding that Sweet Anita was “promoting” hatred.

Sweet Anita discusses her Tourette’s syndrome

As the clip continued to gain momentum and others began to demand she be punished by Twitch, Sweet Anita decided to open up about the situation.

“I read the comments section. There were a lot of people who were really angry or thought I should be banned. A lot of people think the n-word is in your vocabulary so you must be a racist on some level,” she said.

Sweet Anita then explained that most people have racial epithets in their vocabulary, since they know what it is. And so does her Tourettes.

“That doesn’t mean it’s something I believe or feel about anyone,” she said.

While Sweet Anita stated that people calling for her to be banned was quite upsetting to read, she said she doesn’t want to view this situation in a negative light. Instead, she focused on the people standing up for her and others with Tourette’s, explaining to the people asking for a ban that it’s not something she can control.

“This is building something positive,” she said.

Twitch’s shaky past with punishment over racial slurs

As Sweet Anita went on to explain her take on the situation, some in the chat joked that they’d leave Twitch for Mixer if she was suspended for her unctonrollable outbursts. Twitch has yet to take action against Sweet Anita, most likely because the streaming platform is fully aware of her condition.

But Twitch’s silence over racial slurs has been a bigger issue in the past. Streamer Bad Bunny was recently under fire when the Twitch community uncovered hundreds of instances of the IRL streamer using homophobic and racist language in Discord chats. Despite some even cataloging proof against her, Twitch never punished Bad Bunny for the offensive things she’d said.

Another IRL streamer, Mitch Jones, was suspended for showing private messages where he’d used a racial slur. When he returned from his suspension, Mitch Jones was no longer a Twitch partner. This immediately called into question what Twitch’s stance is on racist language, since the platform’s reactions to these situations were completely different.

Then there’s Turner “Tfue” Tenney, one of Twitch’s biggest streamers, who was completely ignored by the platform when he used offensive and racist language during a live stream in September. Since it would have been his third strike, Twitch’s rules state that he’d be permanently banned. Of course, that never happened.

While most are in agreement that Sweet Anita is not purposely spewing out hate speech on Twitch, the above instances are just a handful of moments that show the streaming company’s inconsistent rulings on racist language. It’s unclear what will lead to a ban and what will be ignored, and this has led many to speculate that Twitch favors some content creators over others.

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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