Famous League of Legends streamer Nick “LS” De Cesare has been banned from Twitch for alleged issues around the moderation of his Twitch channel. Speculation has been rife about why LS was banned, but it looks like the common consensus on Reddit and judging by tweets from LS that it was to do with the use of Korean phrases that sound like a particular racial slur. This LS Twitch ban appears to have come at a bad time for the streamer, who has taken to Twitter to air his concerns and to clarify his stance on the matter.
I understand how to a non-Korean speaker the words ‘내가” and “니가” can sound racist to English ears, but I’ve always been vigilant about having racism banned from my chat or talked about. If my chat spams ‘내가” or ‘니가” after I say it, I don’t perceive it like the N word
— Nick De Cesare (@LSXYZ9) August 29, 2018
De Cesare took to Twitter shortly after the ban was issued in order to clear things up with his fans. Apparently, Twitch took umbrage at his viewers using ‘내가” and “니가” in Twitch chat, because the enunciation of those Korean words sounds like the N-word. In a series of tweets in the same thread as the one above, he asserts that he had tried to explain the use of those words through a drawing on Microsoft Paint and that when his laughter when referring to “how Twitch chat” is may have been misconstrued.
There’s also a clip out there on Livestream Fails which captures De Cesare acknowledging mentioning that the use of ‘내가” and ‘니가” is “the next evolution of Twitch chat”. He also goes on to say from the 0:10 mark that “instead of using the N-word, they [viewers] spam the Korean.”
While Twitch has not yet publicly commented on the ban or released an official statement about its rationale, we expect that LS and his high profile will attract a response from Twitch soon enough about their decision. LS has also asked his supporters not to flame the streaming service during this process. As to what will happen next, it’s really anybody’s guess.
