"I do see now how this comes off as deflecting": Valkyrae responds to backlash over her comments on HasanAbi dog collar controversy

Twitch streamer Rachel "Valkyrae" recently followed up on her comments regarding the controversy surrounding her fellow Twitch platform member Hasan "HasanAbi" Piker, allegedly shocking his dog Kaya with a shock collar. The controversy was dubbed "CollarGate" by the internet, and on October 9, 2025, Rachel backed Piker, claiming Kaya is "the most loved and spoiled."

A major point of contention against Valkyrae's comments was that she referenced the Israel-Palestine conflict in relation to CollarGate, suggesting that the outrage against Hasan should be diverted to more relevant concerns:

"But yeah, it's kind of crazy... you would think that this kind of outrage we would have seen it towards, like, the genocide and stuff, but you know, the priorities in this world are not where they should be."

Now, following the backlash against her comments, she posted a reply to X user @TheFoxButt, who bluntly asked the streamer to "shut the f**k up," clarifying her thoughts on CollarGate and speaking on what she could've done better to address the controversy:

"oh I mention later this stream that I do agree how he reacted to her yelping was so disappointing and it’s understandable why people are concerned."

RAE

@Valkyrae

@TheFoxButt oh I mention later this stream that I do agree how he reacted to her yelping was so disappointing and it’s understandable why people are concerned. And yes of course you can care about more than one thing at once! I do see now how this comes off as deflecting and takes away from

For context, @TheFoxButt essentially claimed that people can be concerned about multiple issues at once, and that while the Middle Eastern conflict is a pressing issue, Hasan's treatment of Kaya can be criticized as well:

"We can criticize his lack of reaction to her yelp, we can even feel icky about having her sit on stream for hours on end, I won't personally go as far as say he's an animal abuser. But holy hell, Good God, YOU CAN CARE ABOUT MORE THAN ONE THING. SHUT UP. Like actually shut the f**k up. A few years ago, your type of people didn't even KNOW about Palestine..."

Valkyrae continued her response, saying:

"And yes of course you can care about more than one thing at once! I do see now how this comes off as deflecting and takes away from the topic at focus which I wish I could go back and reword it all or atleast mention it far later in conversation. Btw trans lives will always matter."

Overall, Rachel took accountability for not structuring her response well enough.

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"F**k animal abuse": Valkyrae shares an X post following the drama surrounding her response to HasanAbi's CollarGate controversy

RAE

@Valkyrae

fuck ice fuck this genocide fuck pedos fuck animal abuse, free Palestine and congrats Jason for hitting 100k subs

About two hours before her response to @TheFoxButt, Valkyrae shared a post on X, condemning animal abuse, amongst other things:

"f**k ice f**k this genocide f**k pedos f**k animal abuse, free Palestine and congrats Jason for hitting 100k subs."

Interestingly, in the same post, she mentioned FaZe Clan's Jasontheween, who crossed 100,000 active Twitch subscribers on October 10, 2025. The streamer celebrated on-stream with his fellow FaZe members and companions, including Sakura Shymko, who recently confirmed that she is dating Jason.

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