Twitch streamer Pokimane has stirred up controversy after speaking out about the widening wealth gap worldwide during a recent livestream.
The 28-year-old content creator, whose real name is Imane Anys, has more than 9.4 million Twitch followers and voiced her worries about wealth inequality during a stream from Paris this past week. “The wealth disparity is getting bad!” she said while streaming. “We hate the rich.” When FaZe Clan streamer ‘Jasontheween’ mentioned that she herself is considered wealthy, she clarified that she was specifically talking about billionaires.
While Pokimane is undeniably a successful streamer, she doesn’t influence legislation or, presumably, avoid paying taxes like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. But that’s not enough to stop some from criticizing her comments as out of touch. Among those criticizing her are fellow streamers, such xQc.
“If you’re and somehow get richer, you’re automatically bad?” he asked. “I think that’s like some brain rot.” Controversial streamer Sneako, who has received criticism for his hateful content, also criticized Pokimane.
But others stepped up to defend Pokimane, including Hasan Piker, known as Hasanabi. “You want rich people to have takes like this,” he said. “It’s very fucking annoying that people yell at rich people that have takes like this. … Most streamers have a much nicer and much better understanding of what it used to be like when they didn’t have the fucking money, and therefore, have takes like this.”
Check out some of the comments backing Pokimane below.
