Twitch community to vote live on next PogChamp emote

Olivia Richman Published 12/02/2021

Twitch is hoping to have a new and permanent PogChamp emote.

The PogChamp emote has been on a rollercoaster ride after it was discovered that Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez was making comments that supported the violence at the Washington DC riot and Capitol siege. Gootecks was once the face of the PogChamp, which popularly expresses surprise and excitement on the Twitch platform.

Because of the iconic nature of the emote, Twitch announced soon after that it would be rotating the PogChamp emote, basically choosing a content creator’s face to take on the important Twitch chat response. This received mixed reactions from the streaming community. While some thought it was entertaining and fun, others were growing frustrated with Twitch’s choices.

The first to really cause a stir was Omega Jones, a streamer known as CriticalBard on Twitch. The black content creator faced immediate backlash over saying “white lives don’t matter” in a discussion about why people had to stop saying “all lives matter” in response to Black Lives Matter protests. CriticalBard had been saying there was a “difference” between being proud to be black and proud to be white, but later claimed that his comments were “taken out of context.”

Drag queen Deere became the next PogChamp. This was another choice that had some within the Twitch community angry. Many replies to this new PogChamp were riddled with homophobic remarks. It was the second time in a row that the Twitch community had negative things to say about the PogChamp choice. And it was also the second time in a row that others in the community criticized Twitch for not having a way to protect the platform’s choices from being harassed by the public.

Fortnite pro Ali “Myth” Kabbani had a better reception when he was chosen as PogChamp in February. It seemed like the Twitch community felt his expression matched the emote the best, while the previous ones had looked more “scared” than “surprised.” This made many respond that Myth’s was “actually good.”

Today I wage war against Twitch, I infiltrated and forced their hand to make me todays PogChamp… now we initiate phase 2 of the plan get in here.https://t.co/FEhDvx2AOu
— Myth (@TSM_Myth) February 3, 2021

How to vote on the Twitch PogChamp emote

While it seemed that Twitch was finally free from drama, this wasn’t the end of the PogChamp’s journey. Twitch wasn’t planning on rotating the emote forever. Now, Twitch has announced that the emote will get a new permanent face later today.

After 35 faces, Twitch is now opening it up to the community. There will be a live stream today at 12 PM PST where viewers can vote on the new face of the PogChamp emote.

After 35 PogChamps in 35 days, The PogChampening is upon us.

You decide what the future of hype looks like.

Tune in and vote live, February 12 at 12pm PT on https://t.co/xoTh1bov6T. pic.twitter.com/nnD2NogVEJ
— Twitch (@Twitch) February 11, 2021

The streaming community is not aware of every option in the vote so far, but some of the featured images have been TheGrefg, CriticalBard, and Myth. There are even some like KomodoHype that don’t feature a popular streamer at all. Most have been featured as the PogChamp emote already, so voters probably know which have been the most effective.

“This would literally be a dream come true,” Myth tweeted. “Please make me PogChamp, internet!”

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.

View full profile