What did Alex and Andrea Botez say? BotezLive receives immense backlash following their take on slavery in Dubai

Alex and Andrea Botez from BotezLive have become a huge topic of debate inside and outside the streaming community after their recent response to comments and concerns regarding modern slavery in the United Arab Emirates, or specifically, Dubai.

The issue stemmed from a question asked by a reporter at the 2021 FIDE World Championship (in Dubai) to Grandmaster chess player Magnus Carlsen on the topic.

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Why are the BotezLive sisters facing backlash?

During a press conference at the 2021 FIDE World Championship which took place in Dubai, Grandmaster chess player Magnus Carlsen was asked a loaded question by a reporter at the scene.

"United Arab Emirates is often criticized for its human rights records. Did you have any concerns before agreeing to play the match here?"

Magnus was taken aback and opted out of answering, stating that he had "no comment."

The reporter was eluding to the alleged human rights violations that the country has been called out on by human rights organizations, including "forced disappearances," torture and discrimination, among many other accusations allegedly performed by the government.

The Botez sisters, Alex and Andrea Botez, were at the tournament to witness the proceedings. They are chess players under the singular BotezLive Twitch channel that streams, commentates, and holds their own chess competitions.

The controversy surrounding them began when they held a live stream in Dubai and were asked to comment on the topic, to which they quickly made up a response. An excerpt of what Alex Botez said was,

"The only thing that bothers me is when people from the first world or developed countries, s**t on developing countries for doing things that those developed countries also did in the first place."

Many felt that she was resorting to whataboutery, while others said that she should have ignored the question instead of responding.

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HasanAbi, Pokimane, Sliker, and more speak up about the topic

Following the now-deleted clip of Alex Botez's comment blowing up, many streamers reacted to it after coming across a backup of the clip on the Livestream Fail subreddit.

Imane "Pokimane" Anys initially started off with a simple sentence, saying slavery is bad, before giving a more elaborate explanation for her thoughts on the clip.

"I don't think it's bad to hold countries that have as much money as Dubai to a higher standard."

Hasan "HasanAbi" Piker stated that he did agree with the statements that the Botez sisters made as a standalone, in the sense that those who criticize "developing" nations for modern-day slavery often deny the existence of slavery in their own countries.

Warning: Contains crude language.

HasanAbi said,

"My take is, slavery is wrong. Just because developed nations have done it and are still doing it, doesn't mean that other developed nations or ones that suckle on the imperialistic t*** like Gulf nation-states that have a f***load of wealth doing it, is not acceptable."

However, in that particular situation, Piker stated that they were deflecting the question and it would have been better not to answer.

ItsSliker, also known as Sliker, reacted to the clip with shock, but not in the way most people would have thought. He was initially surprised to hear Dubai practiced modern-day slavery, until his memory was refreshed and he began talking about the situation from what he had heard. For context, Sliker is Arab.

ItsSiker said:

"Oh yeah there is, you're right you're right, the people that come from Africa, they use them to help build buildings in Dubai. I heard about that, it's f***ed. People from Philippines, a lot of Indonesian people. S***, I forgot about that."

Twitch streamer Ahrelevant was visibly upset at the Botez sisters' comments, exclaiming that things being done in the past didn't merit a pass for it to be done in the present.

He said:

"There are places I can go with this argument that would make everybody deeply uncomfortable."

While the comments from Alex Botez have definitely blown up, Alex later in the now infamous clip does exclaim that the Botez sisters will talk more about the topic once they are back home in Texas from their ongoing world tour.