Twitch removes PogChamp emote it says was “the face of… further violence”

Enlarge (credit: Gootecks / YouTube)

One of the oldest and most popular global emotes on Twitch has been removed from the service after Twitch said “the face of the emote encourag[ed] further violence after what took place in the Capitol [Wednesday].”

That face belongs to Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, a longtime Street Fighter pro and commentator. Since 2012 and until yesterday, Gutierrez had been immortalized on Twitch in the form of the “PogChamp” chat emote (short for “player of games champ”), which portrayed an exaggerated, excited face he first made in a 2010 video.

Twitch’s decision to remove the emote seems focused on a series of tweets Gutierrez made Wednesday afternoon, expressing sympathy for the “#MAGAMartyr” shot during the violent Pro-Trump mob invasion of the US Capitol Wednesday. Gutierrez went on to ask if her death would leave to “civil unrest” or if she would “die in vain.” In the hours before Twitch’s decision, a number of people in and around the Twitch community had begun to call attention to Gutierrez’s tweets and/or suggest the emote be removed or replaced.