The Pokimane N-Word clip: Events that led to the 2013 disaster

Until March 2019, Pokimane was considered to be an exception to streamers getting admonished for things they did early in their streaming career. This changed when an old clip resurfaced where the Moroccan-Canadian streamer repeatedly said the N-word. The clip comes from a 2013 stream, very close to when Poki started her career.

While the controversy surrounding the same is long gone, we finally have some clarity on what prompted this streamer to behave in a way which she now admits to finding distasteful.

Read on to find out what prompted a 17-year-old Pokimane to say the derogatory phrase on stream.

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What made Pokimane say the N-word?

The clip originally resurfaced in 2019, when YouTuber Kavos released it on Twitter, after Poki got into trouble over a misunderstanding where people thought she said the N-word when she was referring to a League of Legends character.

However, in the above clip, she says Nivia and not the racist slur:

"This Nivia's getting cracked."

While the controversy around the above video was a misconception blown out of proportion, an earlier clip, which was later found to be from 2013, was unmistakenly problematic.

In the full context of the clip, the streamer was annoyed when a male member of the chat made derogatory remarks about female streamers and "gamer girls." The streamer, obviously irritated by the sexist statements, went on to use racial slurs to refer to the chat member:

N***a you ain't funny. That's not true, maybe you're just boring as f**k and lame as hell, because only lame N***a's say that shit."

Putting aside the variety of views that fans had on the subject, Pokimane clarified that the word was not used in a racial and/or derogatory sense.

It is worth noting that although many fans urged the streamer not to apologize, Pokimane herself went on to say that she finds the use of the word distasteful.

Many fans were of the view that digging up the past mistakes of a celebrity, especially when they're young, should not be encouraged.

One user hilariously used the moment to joke about the infamous COD XBox 360 lobbies, in relation to the use of the racist slur.

While the uproar that followed the clip eventually subsided, the internet still holds a divided opinion on whether celebrities should be held accountable for their past mistakes. Many take umbrage with digging up content and taking it out of context to frame celebrities in a poor light.

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