This is why Sasha Grey's name is now moderated on Twitch

Olivia Richman Published 16/05/2021

First Twitch banned “simps.” Then “hot tub streamer.” Now, it looks like the platform has an issue with Sasha Grey.

Sasha Grey is a Twitch partner with 837,000 followers. The writer and DJ is pretty popular on Twitch and beyond. That’s what made it all the more surprising when fellow streamer CodeMiko discovered that she couldn’t use “Sasha Grey” in her go live notification on Twitch.

“I’m a partnered streamer. How is that possible?” Sasha Grey responded. “That’s nuts. No way. Oh, I’m calling Twitch. That’s not cool.”

Twitch has been under fire recently for banning the term “hot tub streamer” in chats on the platform’s official channels. But while the streaming community feels Twitch is attempting to silence their complaints over the increasingly popular “hot tub meta,” it’s at least been understood why Twitch may have banned the term from certain channels.

But banning a streamer’s name was a lot more confusing, and viewers couldn’t figure out why this was happening. Some speculated that it was because Sasha Grey has a history in adult entertainment, and Twitch might have banned a long list of names associated with pornography. But Grey has since found success both on Twitch and elsewhere, and it seemed hard to believe that a partnered streamer could have her name banned.

It’s no secret at this point that many people are frustrated with the growing hot tub category on Twitch, which features female streamers slipping into bathing suits and lounging in an inflatable pool while they chat with viewers. For many, this seems too suggestive for the formerly video game-focused platform. Others have complained about getting emails from hot tub streamers advertising their OnlyFans accounts.

Reddit user reveals reason “Sasha Grey” is a banned term on Twitch

One Reddit user ran an experiment to figure out what happened. Apparently, Twitch has indirectly banned Sasha Grey due to the fact that her name spells “shag.”

The Reddit user attempted to write Sasha Grey as one word and as two words. They noted that “Sasha” and “Grey” could both be used if written separately, indicating that it was the two words together that were the issue. To test that further, they also wrote “shag” and “sha G” to see what would happen and reported that neither worked.

Even though it’s been cleared up, there’s been no official word from Twitch on the matter. Sasha Grey herself surely doesn’t appreciate having her name moderated from Twitch’s official notifications.

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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