🏠 » General » Twitch employees make accusations of sexual assault and racism

Twitch employees make accusations of sexual assault and racism

There are some big questions being asked about streaming giant Twitch as current and former employees have made a string of dramatic accusations against the company.

When Twitch streamers called for a blackout in support of the hundreds of women who shared stories of sexual assault and abuse at the hands of streamers on the platform, the company remained pretty quiet at first. By the end of June, CEO Emmett Shear decided to share an internal email he’d sent to employees addressing the allegations. In a tweet, Shear stated that he heard the community’s voices. 

There’s been a lot of important conversation happening over the previous couple days, and I’ve heard your voices. I’d like to share the email I just sent internally to the company on the topic. pic.twitter.com/B1V34lT9EI

— Emmett Shear (@eshear) June 23, 2020

But by then, many in the streaming community was already calling for Shear to step down from the company to account for what was being called a lack of leadership. A Twitch partner had revealed there was evidence of Shear dismissing, and even laughing about, ongoing sexual harassment against content creators in the past.

“This is Twitch culture. Sweep the ugly stuff under the rug for profit,” streamer Starling stated. 

Twitch employees come forward with sexual assault, racism, and abuse claims

Shortly after Shear shared the email, a female employee came forward with allegations of systemic sexism, racism, and abuse, which she shared anonymously with Game Industry Biz. She said she felt compelled to speak out because of the other women coming forward with their own stories. She felt Twitch was lying about creating a safe community. 

The employee explained that Twitch “repeatedly swept accounts of harassment and abuse under the rug.” This included sexual, verbal, and physical abuse, as well as racism. She said it took place at the office, in meetings, and at events, making it “rampant and unavoidable.” 

Since this claim, Game Industry Biz states they have talked with 16 other Twitch employees “from every era of the company.” A few of them, said the report, never saw anything sexist or racist, but most had stories confirming the original employee’s allegations. The most common complaint was that Twitch didn’t take its female employees seriously. 

One former employee recalled that “It was a boys’ club,” and said that women were treated as “prey.”

Multiple female employees admitted that they were sexually assaulted by men at the company. This includes forced kissing, groping, and inappropriate messaging. It was said that even the higher-up employees participated in this degrading behavior. When the behaviors were reported to HR, nothing seemed to happen.

One woman was even told to show her harasser “respect.” The reported men were often given raises and promotions. 

Many men working in the Twitch office referred to female streamers as “boob streamers.” These streamers were often shamed and mocked. Some male employees would remark that female streamers were only popular because they showed cleavage. This attitude led to many female streamers’ concerns about not being taken seriously by the company. Some employees were even accused of makeing excuses for sexual harassers and abusers when female streamers reported them. 

Meanwhile, company employees confirmed rumors that Twitch favored popular streamers and refused to punish them because they were a good source of revenue, something that has long been rumored but never given such apparent confirmation.

When Game Industry Biz reached out to Twitch for official comment, a spokesperson reiterated that Twitch was taking the claims seriously, and also made a point of saying that at least some of the claims were “years old.”

Latest News
Layoffs have hit Marvel Rivals dev team in North America, but why?
The North American development team for Marvel Rivals ...
The TF2 SDK release paints a bright future for mods
Valve is officially releasing the TF2 SDK for ...
Kick stream reveals the new Stake Formula 1 car for 2025
The Stake Formula 1 team has revealed its ...
Marvel Rivals to nerf triple strategist comp in mid-season changes
As Marvel Rivals reaches the halfway point in ...
Best Varesa build in Genshin Impact: Artifacts, weapons, more
Varesa is a 5-star Electro character in Genshin ...
The best character creator mods for Stardew Valley 1.6
Stardew Valley 1.6 players have a plethora of ...
Genshin Impact Mizuki build guide: Artifacts, teams, weapons
Genshin Impact welcomes iyd first Swirl DPS in ...
Editor's Picks
Who is Stevewilldoit? Net worth, girlfriend, and more
The news of Stephen "Stevewilldoit" Deleonardis, the master ...
All we know about Thea Booysen, MrBeast’s girlfriend
Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson is known purely for his ...
How to quickly make infinite water in Terraria
Whether you’re looking to spruce up your Hellevator ...
Best Pokemon Glazed cheat codes
Pokemon Glazed is one of the most popular ...
How to enable net graph in CS2 
Competitive players were disappointed when they discovered that ...

Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.

This site is using Cloudflare and adheres to the Google Safe Browsing Program. We adapted Google's Privacy Guidelines to keep your data safe at all times.
21+NCPGGamblers Anonymous
×
Your Promo Code:
The bonus offer of was already opened in an additional window. If not, you can open it also by clicking the following link:
Visit Site