Yesterday Pokimane broke her month-long break from content creation in order to post a video apologizing for her recent actions that have drawn much criticism.
During the 16-minute video the streamer addresses some of the major criticisms that have been leveled against her over the past few months. Pokimane clarifies her perspective and actions in the situation where she abused YouTube’s DMCA to have a video from the YouTuber Blowbax removed. She also apologized for her attack on the sponsors of the YouTuber It’sAGundam for his video criticizing her subscribers.
Later in the video Pokimane addresses her past frequent use of the N-word racial slur. She leads with the defense that she was not using the word with the intent to be racist, even going so far as to make the popular implication that using the variation of the word without the hard R is somehow less racist. Offering her apology couched with these excuses detracts from the sincerity of the apology on an issue that is so clearly black and white.
Towards the end of the video Pokimane speaks on the issue of her boyfriend, once again reiterating her comments from older videos that she wants to keep her relationship status private.
Overall the reaction to Pokimane’s apology video has been somewhat mixed with many taking her attempts to justify her actions while at the same time apologizing for them as a sign that she is not actually regretful. Others feel that the apology is genuine and that this should bring about the end to this backlash. Either way time will tell if Pokimane has grown from these experiences, or if she will ultimately have to quit streaming and seek help like her one-time friend Fedmyster after his cancellation.
Originally published at http://gametama.wordpress.com on August 20, 2020.
