Twitch streamer Dellor banned for breaking keyboard with head

Olivia Richman Published 03/10/2019

Popular streamer Matt “Dellor” Vaughn is banned indefinitely from Twitch once again.

The controversial streamer received a ban mere minutes after he broke a keyboard over his head. While extreme, this is actually something Dellor has done many times over. The streamer is known for his over-the-top raging while playing Overwatch, Fortnite, and Apex Legends, which sometimes includes breaking his keyboard with a hammer or with his own body.

“I’m banned indefinitely for ‘self harm’ for breaking a keyboard on stream. I bought these keyboards specifically because of how cheap and fragile they are. I’ve broken hundreds of them and have never even scratched myself,” Dellor tweeted.

He also included an image of his forehead as proof that there “wasn’t even a scratch.”

Although many of his fans argued that Dellor has done this thousands of times before, it’s more than likely that Dellor won’t be allowed on Twitch any time soon – or perhaps ever again – since this isn’t the first time he’s run into controversy on the streaming platform.

In response to the ban, Dellor posted a TwitLonger that had a lot of the streaming community concerned.

“I am broken. I have been depressed for months. I did everything I could to change,” he wrote. “The mental torture I’ve gone through the last few months is too much. I love you all for what youv’e blessed me with, but I don’t want to continue living in this world anymore.”

While the alarming message had a lot of fans feeling sympathy for Dellor for losing his account, many other people felt that he was “threatening Twitch with suicide.”

Dellor continues to cause controversy on Twitch

Earlier this year, Dellor was banned for an entire month for verbally abusing a female teammate in Apex Legends. After telling her to “cook a fucking sandwich,” he began to berate her with sexist insults and curse words.

The sexist tyrade resulted in not only a ban, but in Dellor losing his subscriber button. Dellor claimed that yesterday was the day he was going to get the sub button back, but he was banned instead for the keyboard incident. He noted that his contact at Twitch told him there was nothing they could do for him at this point.

Dellor’s fans have offered words of support for the streamer, pointing out that he’s been trying to change since the last ban. They also questioned why hitting himself with a keyboard and yelling was worthy of a ban, since he wasn’t yelling at anyone in particular or harming anyone else.

“I don’t hate the guy but that is bullshit,” one Reddit user said in response to a fan’s defensive comment. “He did far from ‘everything to change’ considering all of his clips are still of him screaming and breaking things.”

Dellor’s permanent Twitch ban a long time coming, some say

Other Reddit users were quick to point out that they felt Dellor should have been banned a long time ago. They linked to the infamous clip of Dellor saying the “n-word” multiple times in a row after getting one-shot by an enemy Widowmaker in Overwatch.

Although this disturbingly racist outburst didn’t get him permantly banned from Twitch like some people had hoped, he did end his professional Overwatch career in less than one minute.

Toronto Esports announced the release of Dellor in April of 2017, citing “breach of contract.” The organization called his words “abusive” and “discriminatory racial language.” For that reason, Toronto Esports immediately interviewed Dellor, who admitted to the offense, and the contract was terminated thereafter.

“I am sorry. I fucked up. I am done with esports and won’t be returning,” Dellor tweeted after the incident.

His followers appeared to instantly forgive him for the outburst. Some even said it was funny. But others did question why he decided to use racial epithets.

“I got so angry I snapped and went blind. I wanted to say the most offensive thing to try to make the people around me feel the rage I felt,” Dellor responded.

While name-calling is unfortunately common in the gaming community, especially when it comes to sexist and racist language, the fact still remained that Dellor couldn’t control his emotions enough to handle the pressure of competing in an esport. But it also begs the question of why Twitch didn’t seem to come forward with an equal punishment for the outburst, which happened on a live stream.

That wasn’t the first time that Twitch remained silent when it came to a streamer using racially charged language. At the beginning of September, Fortnite streamer Turner “Tfue” Tenney used the similary racist language while playing Minecraft.

Although Tfue later deleted the clip, it can be viewed here.

Over one month later, Twitch has remained silent over the incident even though it’s in violation of Twitch’s policy.

Tfue received a temporary Twitch ban in the past for using another racial slur when he called another player a “coon.” That was his second time being banned for toxic behavior. This latest incident would be Tfue’s third strike, which, according to Twitch’s guidelines, should result in an “indefinite suspension.”

Instead, Twitch has remained silent.

So far it’s not clear how long Dellor’s ban will be in regards to his “self harm” clip. At the time of his most recent suspension, he had reached 500,000 followers on Twitch. That’s nowhere near Tfue’s 7 million followers, which may play a part in the inconsistent response from the streaming platform.

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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