Twitch has taken action against its director of strategic partnerships, Hassan Bokhari, by banning his account following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Earlier in the year, multiple streamers claimed Hassan had used his power within the organization to get close to smaller streamers. In the case of Twitch streamer Vio, Hassan allegedly used his position to manipulate her into performing sexual acts with him.
Hassan allegedly invited Vio out to Pax East 2015, where he made advances despite her saying no. According to Vio, this persistency and pressure eventually led to the pair engaging in intercourse.
Twitch has made no public statements regarding the ban and has not mentioned the employment status of Hassan. It is unlikely that Twitch will come out with a statement detailing the specific reasoning for the ban.
Esports insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau reached out to Twitch for comment on the recent banning and was given a statement via a spokesperson for the company that an investigation had been carried out following the allegations.
“We take accusations extremely seriously, and we engaged a reputable third-party firm to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations.” The statement reads. “While it is our policy to keep individual employment information confidential, the investigation has concluded and we have taken action in accordance with the investigators’ findings.”
Twitch permanently banned Hashinshin and ZeRo, two popular streamers, earlier in the year after they were both accused of sexual misconduct. It is unclear if Hassan’s ban is permanent.
UPDATE: Sources confirmed to Slasher that Hassan is no longer an employee of Twitch.
Published: Sep 1, 2020 08:41 pm