Twitch pulls Black Lives Matter video criticised for being overwhelmingly white
"Our goal was to demonstrate the importance of allyship."
Twitch has removed a Black Lives Matter video following criticism that too many of the featured streamers were white.
Published yesterday, the video featured prominent streamers such as jacksepticeye, CrankGameplays and DrLupo, and while a few Black streamers were briefly shown, most of the talking was done by white streamers. In fact, only one line in the minute-long video was from a Black streamer.
Black creators took to Twitter to express their dismay that the video had failed to properly represent Black people, highlighting the many streamers who would have been better suited to speak. Twitch has now deleted the video.
In response to the backlash, Twitch said it "heard" what critics were saying, but argued its goal was to demonstrate "the importance of allyship", a message Twitch says it failed to make clear. In the replies to this tweet, many argued that Black voices should be given priority over allies, and that Twitch is yet to act on the video's message of promoting Black content creators.
This isn't the only controversy Twitch has faced this week, as another video celebrating LGBTQ+ content creators was criticised for a slogan claiming the "G in LGBTQIA+ also stands for gamer" (via PinkNews). The video for this was deleted, and then reposted without the controversial graphic.