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Twitch star Imane "Pokimane" Anys recently made an appearance on the 116th episode of the Trash Taste podcast. She conversed on a wide range of subjects, including the backlash she received for her VTuber streams a couple of years ago.
Trash Taste is a popular anime podcast hosted by Joey Tetsuro "TheAn1meMan" Bizinger, Garnt "Gigguk" Maneetapho, and Connor "CDawgVA" Colquhoun.
At the one-hour mark, TheAn1meMan inquired about Pokimane's thoughts on her VTube controversy and asked what transpired. The Twitch sensation provided context for the incident, saying:
"So, anyone that might not know, like, the beginning of the pandemic-ish, at some point, I thought VTubers were so cool, and I love me some good anime girl art, right? So, I got like, a VTubing model done, and I was like, 'Oh, this could be a fun thing to use, if I don't feel like being on camera', and then, when I came out with it, I think a lot of people were really mad."
"For sure, not my audience": Pokimane doesn't think VTuber backlash came from her fans
On September 14, 2020, Pokimane took the internet by storm by announcing her first-ever VTuber stream.
The majority of fan responses were positive. However, some members of the community felt that the Moroccan-Canadian personality was hopping on the VTuber bandwagon because it was popular:
During the Trash Taste podcast, Pokimane stated that she thought entering the VTuber space would allow her to host no-camera livestreams. However, some individuals were "really mad" with her announcement.
CDawgVA then asked the following question:
"Where was the majority of like, the backlash coming from? Like, was it your audience, or?"
The OfflineTV co-founder claimed that the backlash was not from her audience because her fans were fascinated. She stated:
"Oh, no. For sure, not my audience. If anything, they were intrigued, and funnily enough, in hindsight, I'm like, I hope I was a positive force, in like, VTubers becoming more popular because I think a lot of my audience is probably very different from the VTubing audience. But I helped probably like, normalize the idea of like, using this sort of tech. Obviously, VTubers are popping because they're great!"
Timestamp: 01:43:39
The 26-year-old streamer added:
"I think some others ones, it was probably like, a little bit of a gatekeeping thing. Partially understandable where they're like, 'We don't want you to like, ruin this sacred community', which obviosuly feels bad for me because, I'm like, I obviously, I'm not looking to ruin anything. Like, this is a cool piece of tech, that I want to showcase to more..."
The amount of backlash that Pokimane received for entering the VTubing sphere was absurd for CDawgVA. TheAn1meMan concurred with CDawgVA and noted that every Japanese corporation now has a VTuber.
The discussion on the subject concluded when Gigguk asked Pokimane:
"Were you expecting any controversy when you launched your VTuber model? Or was it just like, 'Here we go again?'"
Her response was:
"I think it was an in-between, where I was just like, so used to it. I was like, people are going to be mad at me. But I think it was an instance where I wasn't that upset, because I was actually reassured by a lot of like, really, really nice, and cool VTubers. I Ironmouse might've been one of them."
Fans react to the streamer's appearance in Trash Taste podcast
The podcast episode featuring Pokimane received more than 4,000 fan reactions. Some of the most relevant comments were along these lines:
Aside from addressing the VTuber controversy, Pokimane discussed becoming the top female content creator on Twitch, filming in public places, and her favorite anime.
