Twitch streamer Pokimane has alleged that a streaming industry professional faked a romantic and sexual relationship with her, using fake screenshots of conversations and inappropriate images to “target and manipulate girls” in the community, in the hopes of gaining explicit photos from the women.
Pokimane situation explained
Pokimane streamed live on March 1, 2023, and claimed that someone both she and other streamers “have been working with for years” had falsified Discord conversations with her and sent them to others, in a bid to gain the trust of female streamers and viewers in her community.
“He acted like he knew and hung out with me and my friends in person,” she explained. “This is someone I’ve never met, I’ve never hung out with them, let alone had any relationship.”
She got the information from a group of girls in her community who were concerned about the individual’s behavior, and asked to speak to Pokimane’s manager. They sent the manager “countless screenshots and videos of their conversations with him, proving the lying and manipulation that was going on.”
While Pokimane hasn’t seen all of the evidence that was sent, as she wants to protect her mental health, she says that what she does know has exposed “some of the most disgusting and deplorable behavior” she has ever heard of.
It also revealed that this was being done for months, as the man “would then try to develop romantic and sexual relationships with these girls, after gaining their trust. He would hit on them, offer to fly them out, meet up in person, buy them gifts, ask for inappropriate photos of them.”
Pokimane says “well-networked” professional threatened self-harm to “control girls”
Pokimane says that the streaming industry pro would threaten to self-harm when speaking with the women from her community, saying that his relationship with Pokimane left him suicidal. The streamer asked her audience to “please reach out to someone” if they faced a similar situation in the future, as “using mental health or suicide as a way to manipulate others, or threatening to harm yourself to control someone, is absolutely not okay.”
An investigation was prompted by the claims at the company the individual worked, and he was let go from his position once that was complete, according to Pokimane. She still feels frustration, however, in that there seems to be no legal route she can go down following the whole situation coming to light.
Despite this, she expressed her gratitude to one of the girls who agreed to speak to the investigators, as without them, the investigation may have collapsed.
The incident was also discussed by YouTube creator and fellow Twitch streamer Moist Critical, whose video ‘This Pokimane Situation is Awful’ reached YouTube’s Trending page:
