Why did Mizkif and Trainwreckstv clash on Twitter? Explaining the ItsSliker drama and the anti-gambling wave 

Popular Twitch streamers Matthew "Mizkif" and Tyler "Trainwreckstv" recently clashed on Twitter.

The back and forth happened under a post by Asmongold where he lambasted Twitch for not banning ItsSliker and giving him a platform even after he had confessed to scamming people out of their money to fuel his gambling addiction.

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Explaining Mizkif, Trainwreckstv, the ItsSliker drama, and #twitchstopgambling

Tyler's reply to Matthew's tweet got the controversy going. In his tweet, the former made veiled comments about Asmongold's "pals," who according to him took the opportunity to go after him while using ItsSliker as an example of how gambling affects a person.

The tweets in question (Image via Twitter)

He ended the tweet with a snide remark about an "insecure little man," who many assumed to be Mizkif as he was the person who hosted ItsSliker on his stream and then proceeded to call on Twitch to ban gambling streams.

For the uninitiated, Trainwreckstv is one of the biggest gambling streamers on the platform, and a ban will affect him and his content.

Mizkif retaliated against the comments in a now-deleted tweet by bringing up a past incident where Tyler was involved with a cryptocurrency scheme called Jolt coins. He went on to imply that the scheme was fraudulent and that by Asmongold's logic, Trainwreckstv should get banned from Twitch as well.

In subsequent tweets, Trainwreckstv went go on to accuse Mizkif of covering up the se*ual harassment case against one of his friends CrazySlick, following which the drama instantly blew up across social media platforms.

Tweet about the se*ual harassment case (Image via Twitter)

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How the entire drama started

Gambling on Twitch has been a huge issue for some time now. A Bloomberg report on the issue came out a few months ago, chronicling the case of a few people who had ruined their lives after getting into gambling by watching some of their favorite streamers do it on Twitch.

Currently, Slots, the dedicated gambling category on Twitch, is the ninth most-watched genre on the platform. It even trumps popular video games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone, according to SullyGnome.

Most watched Twitch categories in the last month (Image via SullyGnome)

Many streamers have been vocal against the inculcation of gambling into Twitch, and therein lies the heart of the conflict.

On September 19, Mizkif took to Twitter to call on Twitch to stop gambling streams after reacting to ItsSliker's confession stream where he broke down after admitting to scamming friends and his audience out of money. Matthew justified his actions by pointing out ItsSliker as an example of how gambling addiction can ruin one's life.

The OTK streamer even got him on his stream and promised to pay back the people he scammed, together with Ludwig, even though xQc had also offered to divvy up the tab between him and Trainwreckstv.

This is where the initial battle lines were drawn as Tyler also took to Twitter to provide his opinion on the matter. He opined that ItsSliker's actions cannot be held akin to what gambling streamers do on Twitch.

He defended gambling on stream by saying that people were scaepgoating slots and roulettes while allowing the man who had committed the actual crime to get away with it.

His defense of gambling on stream (Image via Twitter)

Nonetheless, many prominent streamers such as HasanAbi and Pokimane appear to have openly joined Mizkif's call of action. Tweeting in support of #twitchstopgambling, Ludwig also commented on Trainwreckstv's thread in support of a ban.

Here are a few tweets by popular streamers on the issue:

Even with such a large social media outrage, Twitch is yet to make any announcement on the issue. Additionally, they are yet to ban ItsSliker after he publicly admitted to scamming people.

Based on recent clips shared on social media, some of the larger streamers might be organizing a walk-out campaign to force Twitch's hand.