xQc Hits Out At Twitch Viewers Over Female Streamers
While the streaming community is still largely dominated by men, there's no escaping the fact that female streamers are on the rise. Although Félix "xQc" Lengyel is about as divisive as they come in the world of Twitch and content creation, he's firmly throwing his significant power behind the women of the platform and saying female streamers deserve all the success they get.
The latest debate comes just weeks after Imane "Pokimane" Anys took the crown as the highest-earning female streamer of 2020. Anys' impressive earnings of $550,000 saw her beat Kaitlyn "Amouranth" Siragusa and Lily "LilyPichu" Ki to the top spot. Although it's clear female streamers are climbing the ranks, it's still definitely a man's world on Twitch.
Related: xQc Has Returned To Twitch But Fans Aren’t Happy
Discussing the hate female streamers have been facing, Lengyel said, "Successful girls in streaming are literally the very, very, very, minority. That’s just how it is". Giving his own views on why it's still the case, xQc said, "There isn’t a lot of crazy successful streamer girls because it’s a male-dominant sector. Whenever there is one or two that arrive, why do people always immediately assume they only made it because they’re hot?
"There’s like 2000 successful guys, and when there’s one girl that succeeds, you feel threatened enough to discredit their success. B***h, there’s only one. There’s only one per two thousand. Why do you feel so threatened?”.
Lengyel sheds some interesting light on the shocking stats that out of the top 25 streamers (in terms of subscribers), 22 of them are male. With Pokimane boasting a massive 6.5 million followers and sitting in sixth place of most-subscribed streamers (as of December 5), she's one of the few women to break into the big leagues. It's also important to note that Anys' followers eclipse xQc's own following of 4.2 million.
Even if xQc and Pokimane have clashed in the past, at least he's flying the flag for equality on Twitch and making sure women are rightly represented. Unfortunately, there's still a toxic fanbase on Twitch. Alongside criticisms that homophobia and racism are running wild, female streamers say they've been on the receiving end of trolls. Only recently, Natalia "Alinity" Mogollon said she might leave Twitch due to the abuse thrown her way. Alinity referred to herself as the internet's "punching bag".
Of course, xQc himself has been subjected to hate, and only recently saw this in a toxic Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War lobby. Thankfully, xQc isn't alone in supporting female streamers. King of content PewDiePie defended LilyPichu and Pokimane when his own subscribers turned on them.
Benjamin "DrLupo" Lupo has also spoken out about the growing trend of negativity seeping into Twitch. Even if the big names are trying to tackle this, it's something that Twitch itself needs to combat. In the meantime, it's refreshing to see that streamers are largely representing a united front.
Stay up to date with all the latest esports and gaming news by checking out our social channels here: Twitter | Facebook | Discord
Images via Twitch