Twitch Has Banned The PogChamp Emote

Twitch has announced the removal of the popular PogChamp emote after the controversial comments from its depicted subject, Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez. After MAGA’s invasion of the USA Capitol, Gutierrez tweeted implied support for the Trump aligned group. Twitch has interpreted this viewpoint as an attempt to enact violence. Although Gutierrez uses the Gootecks handle on his personal accounts, many in the gaming community have been referring to him by the nickname “Pog Champion” or “Pog Champ” for nearly eight years.

 

The history of this name has long roots of possibly a century leading it to being common Twitch lingo. The name Pog derives from the Passionfruit-Orange-Guava drink bottled by the Hawaiian based Haleakala Dairy Company. Having a large Japanese population in Oahu, Haleakala encouraged locals to play the Edo period game Menko with Pog bottle caps. Pogs exploded in global popularity during the 1990s, but faded into obscurity after schools banned it due to gambling aspects. This led Pogs to become a great throwback gimmick, which Gutierrez used in his promotion of the Street Fighter 4 branded Mad Catz fightstick. In a completely separate video, Gutierrez made his iconic reaction face when the camera recording the footage fell and almost broke.

Because “Pog” has gone on to become an expression of any surprised or excited reaction, Twitch wants to create a new community driven emote that omits any reference to Gutierrez.    

Kurtis Seid, NoobFeed
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