BotezLive apologizes for their comment on Dubai slavery

Alex and Andrea "BotezLive" Botez have made a public apology on their Twitch live stream following their comments on slavery in the United Arab Emirates.

The two received a ton of flak from the Twitch community after talking responding to viewers asking them about the sensitive topic, which a reporter brought up during the 2021 FIDE World Championship press conference in Dubai.

BotezLives's Alex says her statement was "half-baked" and "unrelated"

A comment asked by a reporter for Grandmaster chess player Magnus Carlsen spiraled into a wave of hate towards the sisters behind BotezLive after they made several statements related to the issue.

During their most recent stream under the singular Twitch channel, Alex Botez took charge and apologized for the things they said during their previous live stream.

"Last time we streamed, I made a dumb, off-handed comment that couldn't be further from what I actually think. It was a moment of poor articulation of a half-baked, unrelated thought and out of context I see how that can be interpreted to mean a variety of different things and I'm really sorry for that."

While some people felt that the UAE government sponsored BotezLive to stay in the country, Alex Botez cleared that up.

"Also, I've been receiving and reading a lot of comments that are saying we're here being paid by the government. We're not being paid to be here, we're just here for the world chess championship. We've been upfront about this since the start of the chess travel show."

Alex then reiterated a statement she made during BotezLive's first day in Dubai.

"Also, on our first day here, we said that us being here doesn't mean we support local politics, but that it's a conversation we feel safer having when we're back home."

Alex Botez to leave, Andrea Botez to remain in Dubai

In the same stream, BotezLive made an announcement concerning their future plans. Alex Botez will be leaving Dubai to attend a wedding, while Andrea Botez will remain in the city. However, Andrea did not seem excited at the prospect of that happening.

BotezLive had a series where they would travel to different places worldwide to play chess with locals, which they referred to as "Botez Abroad." According to Andrea, however, their little travel show may be ending soon:

"Don't give them fake optimism. This might be the last stream of 'Botez Abroad.'"

Alex, looking at her phone, told Andrea that she would have liked to end the stream on a positive note. However, Andrea wasn't so keen:

"There is no positive note. I want to go home. Please let me go home, I've had enough."

The streamer laughed as she made her statements, but viewers felt that the laughs were to cover up for another emotion. They ended the stream soon after and will allegedly make a longer statement on the controversy once they return to the United States.