Streaming platform Twitch has banned several high-profile Arab streamers from a panel held at TwitchCon last month. Banned streamers include: CapriSunnPapi, Fr0gan, Raffoul ticket, DenimsTVAnd Vio (who is not Arab), who all took part in a live streaming panel called “Rating Streamers” on the second day of TwitchCon San Diego, where they ranked popular Twitch personalities who could or could not say: “habibi”, the Arabic word for “friend” or “lover”.
The 30-day bans appeared to be imposed simultaneously and came after days of dialogue on social media in which several Arab and pro-Palestinian Twitch streamers were accused of anti-Semitism. A Clip in which Fr0gan says she “hopes” American soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder during a livestream was shared on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit and commented on by YouTuber Ethan Klein and Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, also known as Destiny.
On October 20, Fr0gan apologized to X and wrote:
The U.S. military has committed some of the most horrific crimes against humanity in modern times in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. My anger is directed at people who are currently committing these war crimes as if they were “liberated.” my people. it is terrible and disgusting. The beginning of the clip was poorly worded and I apologize for that. I will clarify in the clip that I do not mean “all” military men, but specifically those with no remorse. What I said was out of frustration that they are currently bombing my family in the name of “liberation.” I realize that causing harm to people is not the best way to talk about these issues and that I could have spoken about these issues more sensitively.
However, it appears that Fr0gan wasn’t banned for what she said in her more recent stream, but rather for the September 21st Ratings Streamers panel. During the panel in question, the streamers used a popular internet meme called the “Tier List,” which lists the top of the tier is the “best,” or, in this case, the person for whom the use of “Habibi” is most acceptable and for whom the lowest person is the least acceptable. At the TwitchCon panel, the layers read “Arab Coded, Asks Permission, Thinks It’s a Slur, and Loves Sabra,” a reference to Sabra Hummus, a popular brand of hummus made in the United States. The VOD for the entire second day of TwitchCon (where Rating Streamers aired) has been removed from the GivePlz Twitch channel, which hosts all TwitchCon videos. The video is still available on Ayyrabs’ YouTube page.
Fr0gan, Capri and Raffoul are all Arab (Fr0gan is Muslim, Raffoul is Jewish and Capri is Christian) and co-host a podcast called Ayyrabs. DenimsTV is an Arab and Vio is from the Middle East. Two other streamers who briefly joined the panel were not Arab or Middle Eastern. They were not banned at the time of publication.
On October 19th, Klein posted a video on YouTube titled “Twitch has a big problem.” in which he said the panel was “kind of Arab good, Jewish bad” because Sabra is a “very popular brand of hummus” in Israel that was “the theme.” [a] Pro-Palestine boycott.” He also shared a clip from the panel in which Denims jokes that Klein deserves a separate category for “Zionist.” Then today in the live stream on YouTubeOn October 20, Klein discussed Fr0gan, the “Tier List,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy and Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker, another well-known political streamer who previously hosted a show with Klein before the two fell out. The livestream was titled “Dan Clancy must resign as CEO of Twitch.”
The ban wave (which apparently also included a permanent ban on the popular streamer Sneako(which Klein mentioned in his October 19 YouTube video as an example of someone who shouldn’t have returned to Twitch) occurred while Klein was streaming. “30 day ban for people who like hummus, but others get 2 WEEKS if they support Palestinian genocide.” have it,” Fr0gan posted on X after the bans were announced, related to Twitch bans streamer Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt 14 days after he said in a recent stream that Muslim people come from “an inferior culture” and that he “won’t cry curses when people who have genocide written into their laws suffer genocide.”
Capri also reacted to his banHe wrote: “Ngl I’m going to take a few days off and go live again and review hummus just to prove a point. #hummusgate” on X.
Before the ban, but during the heat of online dialogue about the panel’s alleged anti-Semitism, Raffoul, who is Jewish, wrote on X“These idiots are so anti-Semitic that I’m the one who made it onto the list asking ‘Who can say Habibi’ and they’re trying to present this as ‘Frogan categorizing people from Arabs to Jews’ um To keep Jews out of your damn mouth.”
On October 21st the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) shared on X that it had spoken to Twitch employees “after becoming aware of several concerning incidents on the social media platform and/or with Twitch streamers over the past week.”
“We appreciate it @Twitch It was the right decision to finally suspend streamer Frogan for abusing their platform @TwitchCon Event to spread anti-Semitic vitriol during this time of great concern for the Jewish community,” the official ADL account posted in a thread. “@Twitch must learn from this situation and improve the way they address anti-Semitism and hate on their platform, which is an ongoing and significant challenge.”
It’s unclear why Twitch decided to ban a panel that took place a month ago and whose contents were known to the company. My city has confirmed. During TwitchCon 2024, the company emphasized that the platform had “no place for hateful behavior” after making new announcements Changes and further developments to its prohibition guidelines.
My city has reached out to the ADL and Twitch for comment and will update this story accordingly.
Update: 10/21/2024 at 11:20 p.m. ET: Updated story with more context on the Sneako ban.
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