Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter apologized to her YouTube community for using African American Vernacular English (AAVE) on-stream without realizing it after one of her mods brought it to her attention.
In the apology, she said her understanding of AAVE language is it’s “pretty much words that non-black people should not be saying.”
She didn’t mention what she said, though one fan on Reddit claimed she said “no cap on a stack fr fr” several times in VALORANT, which another viewer backed.
“The phrase I said last time was something I heard my friends say. I thought it was cute and it rhymes and stuff,” said Valkyrae. “But it was brought to my attention by mods actually and yeah, I just wanted to clarify that now I know.”
The mod who flagged it sent her a politely-written document explaining why they and others have an issue with it.
After reading it, she heard their message loud and clear.
“I just wanted to let you guys know that I am aware now and I’m sorry if I offended anyone,” the YouTuber added. “I really didn’t intend to. But now I know! I had no idea!”
Valkyrae isn’t the first streamer who has been criticized for using AAVE language. Imane “Pokimane” Anys came under fire in Aug. 2021 for using a stream title on Twitch that said ‘On God for real for real? It’s bussin bussin in here,’ which didn’t sit well with a lot of people. Pokimane apologized and, like Valkyrae, explained that she didn’t realize they were AAVE terms.
“I wanted to apologize if I overused AAVE in my Twitch title today,” she said. “I was not aware that some of those terms were AAVE, and didn’t mean it in a mocking way whatsoever.”
Now both superstar streamers have been educated on the issue around their language, they’ll better understand what constitutes AAVE terms moving forward.
Published: Oct 14, 2022 01:01 am