Major streamer banned indefinitely by Kick CEO after he 'lost it' on stream
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
It seems like every week a new streamer submerges themselves in controversy, but one major streamer might have taken a step too far according to live streaming platform Kick's CEO.
While live streaming has almost certainly had a positive impact on the ever-growing gaming landscape online, and remains one of the primary ways audiences connect with creators, they don't half have their share of negative press.
You'd be here a while if you wanted to go through every deplorable incident involving a live streamer, as you have creators leaving homeless women with a restaurant bill, crashing $200,000 cars, allegedly inappropriately messaging minors, and even facing ten years in prison for their on-stream actions.
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Twitch remains the king of live streaming platforms, but it's main rival Kick has convinced many major streamers to jump ship - including many of those who Twitch themselves have banned.
The major reason behind this is that Kick has comparatively more relaxed rules for its live streamers, which has led some rather unfortunate incidents to occur on the platform.
Most recent of these involved long-time content creator Yousef "Fousey" Erakat who, following a breakdown, was banned for an 'indefinite' length of time by Kick CEO Edward "Eddie" Craven.
The ban occurred near the start of what was planned to be a 30-day continuous stream, but repeated technical issues caused Fousey to have an emotional outburst.
Before being banned, Erakat had expressed concerning statements surrounding self-harm, which worried his viewership.
Eddie stated, in a text message to Kick streamer Sam Pepper, that this would be the end for Fousey on the platform: "No more Fousey man. This isn't good for anyone."
This isn't the first time that Fousey has found himself in hot water, both across his career and directly on Kick, as he was recently banned from the platform after a physical fight with his manager.
He also pledged to an 80-day hiatus at the start of October following an incident where he went missing, but returned to streaming far earlier than expected.
It turns out that the ban wasn't as 'indefinite' as initially thought though, as he was officially unbanned and reinstated to the platform on November 10.
The social media reception to the news on streaming-focused subreddit r/LivestreamFail has been understandably frustrated.
"Kick will not rest until he's completely destroyed his life lol" one user remarked, with another stating that "someone needs to show Kick CEO the definition of the word 'permanent'."
In news that everyone could have seen coming, Fousey has once again been banned - but there's no timescale indefinite or otherwise for this one.
Erakat expressed his outrage on his X account, posting in all caps that he's "addicted to going live and I'm itching at being banned on Kick."
"Just give me a personal partner to moderate me and I will learn the rules..." he continued, "I need to stream. I lose G7 energy every second I'm banned."
It certainly raises concerns over both the wellbeing of streamers and the lengths they'll go to continue creating content, but also the respective platform's role in safeguarding the creators using their service.