Why was PogChamp removed from Twitch?

Most frequent Twitch users may have noticed that the PogChamp emote suddenly isn’t appearing in chats anymore. It’s not a bug on your end, though. Twitch removed the emote from the website yesterday.

PogChamp is one of the most well known and popular emotes on Twitch. It expresses excitement and awe in response to big plays or other jaw-dropping events.

The face used to create the PogChamp emote on the streaming platform in 2010 is that of Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, the host of Cross Counter TV, a web channel dedicated to the fighting games community.

Why was PogChamp removed from Twitch?

Twitch removed the emote on Jan. 6 following Gutierrez’s comments on the insurrection after a mob of President Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol yesterday.

After a woman was shot when attempting to enter the Capitol, he said, “Will there be civil unrest for the woman who was executed inside the Capitol today or will the #MAGAMartyr die in vain?” He also uploaded a video of the shooting on Twitter, which violates the site’s rules on violent content. The tweet has yet to be deleted from the social platform, though

Shortly after he posted those tweets, Twitch announced that it was removing the PogChamp emote following “statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today.”

The PogChamp emote won’t entirely disappear, however. Twitch plans to design another emote to replace it and allow “the sentiment and use of Pog to live on.”

“We will work with the community to design a new emote for the most hype moments on Twitch,” Twitch said.