Highlights

  • IShowSpeed, a controversial YouTube content creator, has been unbanned from Twitch after previously receiving a permaban for making sexist comments.
  • Despite the backlash for his comments, IShowSpeed's popularity continued to grow, and he now has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
  • The unbanning of IShowSpeed has sparked debate about equity in Twitch's unban policy, with some believing it was influenced by his popularity and connections with other streamers.

YouTube content creator IShowSpeed has unexpectedly been unbanned from Twitch with little fanfare. Due to his sometimes over-the-top antics and uncensored personality, the streamer has frequently grabbed attention, not always of the best kind, since he debuted online in 2016. In December 2021, IShowSpeed was permabanned from Twitch for making sexist comments to another content creator, demanding “Who’s gonna stop me?” when Instagram model Ash Kash said that she wouldn’t have children with Speed in a post-apocalyptic situation.

IShowSpeed already had a large following on YouTube, but the incident with Ash Kash catapulted the content creator into the spotlight. Although many people seemed to condemn his words, others excused them because Speed was only 16 at the time. Seven months later, IShowSpeed hit 10 million subscribers on YouTube, and the popular creator has over 20 million at the time of writing.

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Many people have pushed for Twitch to allow the creator back onto the platform, with Kai Cenat even threatening to leave Twitch if IShowSpeed remained banned, though it’s not clear how serious he was. Nevertheless, on October 10, some fans noticed that IShowSpeed’s Twitch channel had been unbanned. It now shows the message “IShowSpeed is offline,” rather than the usual “This channel is currently unavailable.” At the time of writing, the account has already accumulated 237,000 followers, despite Speed not publicly commenting on being unbanned from Twitch.

IShowSpeed streaming

The move isn’t particularly surprising for some. Twitch’s CEO recently discussed unbanning permabanned streamers and seemed amenable to the idea. However, he pointed out that there would need to be some way to make sure the policy was applied equitably and didn’t unfairly benefit just a handful of popular creators. Despite this declared need for careful application of an unban policy, many people believe that IShowSpeed was unbanned precisely because of his popularity and friendship with other large streamers.

Whether IShowSpeed will eventually make the jump to Twitch is still uncertain. Judging from his frequent rallying for his friend to be unbanned, Kai Cenat seems to think that Speed wants to stream on Twitch again. But the young content creator already has a burgeoning following on YouTube, and many people seem to prefer sticking to one site while only dabbling on the others. This also raises the question of an exclusivity contract with either platform, which hasn’t been necessary until now. Both Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed apparently turned down Kick deals worth millions of dollars, so the streamers seem to be content where they are, at least for now.

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