It’s easy to forget that content creators onTwitchand YouTube are in fact real people with lives outside of streaming and making videos. This is unfortunately why it’s such a regular occurrence for viewers to send hate raids, swat, or even show up at creators’ houses themselves. In April,Twitch streamer xQc said he’d received an inordinate amount of death threats, and in the past he’s even had to move house due to viewer-incited police raids.
As one of the most well-known personalities on Twitch, xQc regularly experiences more than his share of unsavory behavior from people, but he also receives a lot of positivity from viewers. He has had gambling streams in the past, and recentlyxQc admitted to having a gambling addiction, which many people have expressed concern about. In the first episode of the podcast he started with fellow Twitch personality Pokimane, the French Canadian streamer revealed that he had lost $1.85 million in April due to gambling.
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Understandably, this revelation made a number of jaws drop and several media outlets picked up the story. However, the situation led to an unexpected but rather wholesome interaction between xQc and his father. During aTwitchlivestream, the content creator received a phone call from his progenitor, which he answered on camera. His dad was clearly worried about his son, saying, “What do you mean ‘what’s up?’” The streamer responded, “Yeah, I lost some money today. What about it?” To this, his father replied, “You’re my little boy.”
The content creator immediately interjected, telling his dad to stop reading clickbait articles about him. “I lose money sometimes. It happens. What about it?” His father then asked in French, “From 1 to 100, how are you?” The streamer answered, “I’m like 110! I’m fine.” But his father wasn’t finished expressing his concern, saying, “I don’t have to worry?” “No, why would you worry?” queried the streamer, with his dad replying that the news aboutxQc’s gamblinghad riled him up and he was ready to fly to Los Angeles. When xQc asked why he would do that, his father stated simply, “Because I love you.”
Occasional reminders that there are human beings behind the familiar personas on social media can be incredibly valuable. The brief but touching phone call between a concerned father and his son likely had a positive effect on xQc’s viewing audience, despite them spamming “OMEGALUL” throughout the interaction. And seeing behind the scenes of a Twitch or YouTuber’s life also serves to make people feel closer to them personally, although this can have both positive and negative consequences.
In 2021,xQc’s gambling streams caused a bit of controversy in the Twitchcommunity, with personalities like Amouranth and Ollie Ring weighing in on the topic. Ollie Ring specifically felt that, as a popular content creator, xQc was irresponsibly influencing younger audience members to gamble. In addition to that, in Texas, where the streamer lived at the time, online gambling is illegal. Shortly afterward, xQc announced that he would no longer do gambling streams, although that’s not a resolution the streamer has held to.
