Streamer Drama That Ended Up Being Fake

Compared to other forms of video media, streaming can feel more genuine. Whether you're watching a video game or an IRL streamer, you see them perform their favorite activities and hang out with chat members. They're another internet user like you, so they wouldn't lie to you, right?

Unfortunately, the attention that comes from stirring up fake drama can become too appealing for certain folks in the streaming world. Some people spread rumors, make up fights, or read too much into a situation. Fake drama isn't limited to streamers, either — sometimes, a fan misunderstands something or tries to start drama on purpose. The viral potential of drama has also caused a backlash among the content creation community, with some streamers creating fake drama to make a point. 

The following cases of fake streamer drama run the gamut from social experiments to malicious rumors. They go to show that you shouldn't take streamer drama at face value, and you should share what you hear carefully.

Mitch Jones, a RuneScape and IRL streamer, built a bad reputation for himself by trying to cause controversy to get clicks. His actions escalated to the point where the r/LivestreamFail subreddit's users tried to get him banned from the subreddit.

According to CreepyMosquitoEater and other users in the thread, the incident that felt like the last straw for many subreddit members involved GreekGodx, who viewers know as Greek for short. Fans felt that because Greek was getting more views, Jones started to lash out at him. Other users thought that Greek should also take some blame because he tended to keep up with banter even when it made someone upset. Both sides agreed that regardless of the streamers' actions, Jones needed to stop faking drama to try to get on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit. Polygon's report on the Reddit thread also mentioned that Jones would often say on stream that other streamers were out to get him and that his chat didn't support him.

Two years after the thread urging to get him banned from r/LivestreamFail, Jones got banned from the subreddit after being exposed for vote manipulation.

TrainwrecksTV has a long history of misogyny, but one day he decided to do something good by donating part of his income to charity every month. He triumphantly announced that he was going to donate 20 percent of his income to a charity chosen by his chat every month.

About ten months after this announcement, someone posted a clip on the LivestreamFail subreddit showing an exchange between Trainwrecks and fellow streamer Greekgodx. The two went back and forth about the exact amount that Trainwrecks was donating, with Greek saying it was all of his donations and Trainwreck insisting that it was ten percent.

Comments in the Reddit thread confirmed that the conversation was just banter and that Trainwrecks delivered on his promise. "This is fake drama," Greek insisted, explaining that he "was just saying this for the banta, m8." Andy Milonakis and Pokelawls also stated that they saw the receipts that Trainwrecks shared on Discord and that they matched his promise.

"Swatting," or calling a police SWAT team on a streamer, is an unfortunate practice in the Twitch world. In the best-case scenario, it causes extreme stress, and in the worst-case scenario, someone gets hurt. League of Legends streamer Trick2g, also known as Trick, joked about the phenomenon, causing a stir on social media.

At the end of a 24-hour event celebrating his 800,000 followers, Trick2g faked a swatting incident in what he perceived as a joke. In a clip of the event, you can hear someone yell "Police!" and see two presumed officers try to arrest Trick. Trick punches one of the officers, and then they pin him down and escort him out of his room.

According to Kotaku's report on the incident, a post from Trick's manager on a now-deactivated website confirmed that the swatting was fake. Trick2g got banned from Twitch for an indeterminate amount of time because of his actions. When Kotaku asked Trick's manager for comment, she said that people who didn't approve of the joke were being oversensitive and that, "We have lost the right to comedy."

In June 2020, Twitch banned Dr. Disrespect without explanation, resulting in theories across the internet about the reason for his suspension. The infamous Keemstar shared a theory that connected the ban to an upcoming streaming service.

Keemstar tweeted a conspiracy theory about Dr. Disrespect and other famous streamers signing with a new streaming service called Brime. (Make sure not to confuse the name with "brine," the word for saltwater, although plenty of salt went around during Dr. Disrespect's ban.) Sourced from the anonymous 4Chan discussion board, it stated that Doc, Ninja, and Shroud were planning on making a new streaming platform called Brime. The post also referred to Spotify as a Google service, which might clue you in on the theory's lack of validity.

Shortly after Keemstar's tweet went around, Brime's creators denounced this rumor, explaining that Brime was a small passion project. The Brime team consisted of only four people and planned to start small. Fortunately for them, Keemstar's tweets made streamers across Twitter aware of the up-and-coming service.

Plenty of streamers are aware of their industry's tendency for drama and make tongue-in-cheek jokes about it. Pokimane went a step further and created some innocuous faux drama to announce a professional decision and stop potential fake drama from her fans.

In October 2019, she mentioned to her viewers that she had a new contract in the works. She didn't specify the terms of the contract or whether she decided to sign it. During the following months, her fans speculated that she was going to sign a contract for another streaming platform.

About five months later in March 2020, Pokimane made the big announcement that nothing was going to change. She posted a fake tease on Twitter that made it seem like she was going to share major news and then switched to explaining that she had nothing to announce. In a follow-up video on YouTube, she laid out her reasoning behind staying on Twitch.

Pokimane's reveal caught her community's attention while answering the burning question in their minds by subverting typical false streamer drama. Who knew that you could use fake drama positively?

As a streaming fan, you probably know about Ninja, one of the biggest names in the industry. However, you might not know one of his lesser-told stories: People once thought he died from a fictional disease.

In July 2019, Instagram user Ninja_Hater spread a rumor that Ninja had died by sharing a picture of him standing with a group of dead celebrities. As rumors tend to do, it evolved into a new story that included the cause of death — "ligma." If you don't know what "ligma" is, it's better to look it up yourself than to ask a friend.

Ninja just so happened to be traveling that day, giving the idea room to spread unchecked for hours. It gets difficult to disprove a rumor about someone's death when you haven't heard from them all day, after all. Once Ninja got back on the internet, he quickly laid any worries to rest. No, Ninja didn't die from "ligma," because nobody can.

Keemstar has a reputation for starting fights and stirring up drama in the streamer community. As the host of Drama Alert, it's kind of his job. Unfortunately, some folks get caught in the crossfire. This story involves child sexual abuse, so feel free to skip down the page if you have any trauma-related triggers related to it.

According to Scarce, in 2016, Keemstar posted a video claiming that a man in his fifties who performed inappropriate acts on a 13-year-old girl he met on RuneScape was streaming on Twitch. Keemstar accused RSGloryandGold — known by fans as Tony — of being the same person as arrested pedophile John W. Phillips. Keemstar's fans quickly went to Tony's stream to harass him.

When Keemstar double-checked his facts, however, it turned out that his news team had flimsy evidence. They compared Tony's face to Phillips' face without using any other proof. As Scarce pointed out, the actual John W. Phillips was in prison at the time, as well. Keemstar took down the original video and made an apology video, saying that he would do better.

Fousey, a comedy and lifestyle YouTuber and streamer, teamed up with YouTuber RiceGum to raise awareness about online content drama. They made up a Twitter feud and physical fight to see how their audiences would react and point out the prevalence of YouTube and streaming drama. Throughout the process, they recorded every step.

The Fousey and RiceGum "feud" started with a Twitter fight. RiceGum made a fake "subtweet" calling out Fousey for insulting him without mentioning his name. Fousey responded with a now-deleted tweet telling him that he might as well tag him if he was going to talk about him. After establishing their "feud" on Twitter, the two personalities took it to the streets. They choreographed a fake fight involving themselves and two of their friends. The resulting Twitter video of the fight got more than 26,000 retweets and 45,000 likes in less than a day.

Fousey and RiceGum concluded their journey with a message to their viewers: Don't believe everything that you see online.