Ninja vs. Pokimane

Overview

Ninja vs. Pokimane refers to Twitch streamers Ninja and Pokimane clashing in regards to the suspension of a streamer named JiDion who had his followers raid Pokimane's stream in January 2022. Ninja made comments about JiDion being banned, aligning with him and allegedly referring to Pokimane and other female streamers as "bitches." This sparked a response from Pokimane who subsequently leaked DMs from Ninja and his wife on her livestream, causing memes across platforms like Twitter.

Background

JiDion vs. Pokimane

On January 7th, 2022, Pokimane was suspended on Twitch during the TV meta for playing Avatar: The Last Airbender during one of her streams, which went against the platform's copyright laws.^[1] Many Twitch streamers reacted to the news including Houston, Texas-based streamer Jidon "JiDion" Adams. JiDion took to Twitter on January 8th, posting a tweet^[2] that included a video of Pokimane allegedly snorting cocaine (which was proven to be fake) with the caption, "Pokimane now that she's banned." The tweet (shown below) received roughly 6,400 likes over the course of 10 days.

🤨 pic.twitter.com/L3MMeCCjnX

— Dijon (@Jidion6) January 9, 2022

Three days later, on January 11th, JiDion was officially verified on Twitch, tweeting^[3] on that day, "I’m officially a twitcher now," earning roughly 5,500 likes over the course of seven days (shown below).

During JiDion's stream the following day on January 12th, he urged his viewers to raid Pokimane's stream, whose temporary ban had just been lifted. He told his viewers, "everybody say L + Ratio" in her chat.^[4] Many of his viewers did so, and during Pokimane's stream (shown below), she initially thought they were bots raiding her. The harassment eventually led to Pokimane ending her stream early.

In response to the raid, Pokimane noted that it went against the rules of Twitch. Soon after, JiDion received a two-week ban from the platform for the targeted harassment.^[5] Quickly, the banned streamer took to trolling Pokimane on Twitter, changing his profile picture to the make-up-less photo of Pokimane on January 13th,^[6] receiving roughly 12,200 likes over five days (shown below, left). He also livestreamed on YouTube an ironic reaction to the ban, imitating Colin Kaepernick taking a knee and screaming, "Pokimane, Why?!" over and over again. A clip of this moment in the stream was reuploaded to YouTube^[7] by the channel ReddCinema, where it received up to 9,400 views, also over the course of five days (shown below, right).

On January 13th, 2022, female streamers like Valkyrae took to Twitter to defend Pokimane, stating in a tweet^[8] that JiDion's actions alluded to the greater "misogyny in this industry" that women on Twitch and YouTube are surrounded by. Her tweet (shown below, left) received roughly 58,600 likes over the course of five days. On the same day, JiDion tweeted^[9] a more earnest response to the ban, earning roughly 6,100 likes, also over five days. On January 14th, he then posted another earnest tweet,^[10] stating, "I don’t like petty JiDion 💔see y’all on twitch in 13 days," which received roughly 5,300 likes over four days (shown below, right).

JiDion continued to post apologetic tweets going in the next four days of January 2022, coming to a head on January 16th when he tweeted, "In the end whatever happens I learned from my mistake and will do better in the future …" earning roughly 8,900 likes for the tweet^[11] over the course of two days (shown below).

Highlights

Ninja vs. Pokimane

Before JiDion's ban, he was set to livestream with Ninja, which he emphasized in the YouTube^[7] video of him on one knee ironically apologizing to Pokimane. They were set to stream together on January 17th, 2022, but of course, JiDion couldn't join.

Ninja ended up doing the stream anyways, and during the stream, JiDion's ban came up in regards to Pokimane. He was caught saying, "I could send a text message to my [Twitch] representative and say 'JiDion says he's sorry.' Alright, I'll do it." This moment in the stream was uploaded and narrated over by Pokimane, who titled the clip, "Poki shows proof" (shown below).

Prior to this, on January 13th, 2022, JiDion was live on stream with Ninja who gave JiDion some "advice" that many disliked or took offense to. He told JiDion, "You're fucked. You need to set your expectations low," and he vaguely referred to Pokimane as a bitch when telling JiDion to not, "ratio these bitches." The clip from the stream was uploaded to YouTube^[12] on January 13th by the channel Kento The Plug, which received roughly 147,600 views over the course of five days (shown below).

Pokimane tweeted in response to the above clip on January 13th, talking about misogyny on Twitch in the tweet,^[13] earning roughly 51,200 likes for it (shown below).

During a Pokimane livestream on January 17th, Pokimane talked about Ninja's wife "gaslighting" her in private messages about the situation.^[14] Additionally, Ninja sent her a DM mid-stream, which she revealed to the camera. In the DMs sent from Ninja, he stated, "I swear on my grandfather's life, who just passed away, that i didn't text my twitch rep." The clip from the livestream was posted to Twitch^[15] the same day (shown below).

Also on January 17th, Pokimane tweeted^[16] a screenshot of the DM she received from Ninja's wife Jessica Blevins, as well as a Look At My Lawyer Dawg, I'm Going To Jail meme featuring her and fellow streamer Ludwig Ahgren. The tweet^[15] received roughly 94,600 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below). As of January 18th, Ninja has not formally responded to Pokimane's DM leaks.

Online Reactions

Other streamers in the Twitch and YouTube community reacted to Pokimane's DM leaks, as well as to the beef in general. For instance, on January 17th, 2022, Ludwig Ahgren posted a reaction video to his alternate YouTube^[17] channel Mogul Mail. The video (shown below) received roughly 311,500 views in less than 24 hours.

Notable Twitch streamer Hasan "HasanAbi" Piker also reacted to the drama, ultimately taking Pokimane's side during his Twitch stream on the 17th. At a moment during his stream, he called Pokimane to discuss the situation live. This clip from the stream was uploaded to YouTube^[18] by the channel Benz the same day, gaining roughly 3,700 views in less than 24 hours (shown below).

YouTuber Justin Whang also humorously reacted to the drama on January 17th, tweeting^[19] screenshots that showed Pokimane and Ninja both following him on Twitter with the caption, "The only thing I need to know about the ninja vs pokimane drama," earning roughly 29,700 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Related Memes

Internet users across platforms took to posting memes and tweets about the beef. For instance, Twitter^[20] user JhbTeam posted a tweet on January 17th, 2022, that captioned an image of himself lying down in front of the TV with, "damn this Pokimane and Ninja stuff is wild," earning roughly 37,600 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Twitter^[21] user schizobased also tweeted a meme on the 17th, photoshopping both streamers into a scene of American Psycho, receiving roughly 4,500 likes, also in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Most memes came from Twitter users early on. Another notable tweet was posted by Twitter^[22] user HUN2R on the 17th, joking that Pokimane and Ninja were going to have a boxing match to settle things, receiving roughly 3,200 likes in less than 24 hours for it (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References