Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Drama in the streaming industry is certainly not a new concept, but rarely do we see such drama escalate to legal cases. However, a recent spat between Pokimane and Ninja may do just that. After a back and forth (both on and off-stream), Ninja and his manager have stated that Pokimane’s behavior falls under defamation and that they’re getting their lawyers involved.
This story goes back to the ongoing harassment that Imane “Pokimane” Anys had been receiving from streamer JiDion and his community. After JiDion received a two-week suspension (now a permanent ban) from Twitch, streaming megastar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins apparently spoke with him about the matter, which Pokimane discussed at length in a recent stream. She showed clips from Ninja’s stream, in which he stated that he would text his Twitch representative about seeing if something could be done about JiDion’s suspension.
Pokimane went on to recount an exchange she had with Jessica Blevins, Ninja’s manager, in which Blevins denied that Ninja is backing JiDion. After Pokimane’s stream on January 17, she received another message from Jessica in which she stated that she and Ninja are “considering everything defamation.” She also stated that the two are getting their legal team involved. Ninja also sent a message to Pokimane in which he told her that she’s “making a big mistake.”
It would seem that Ninja and his team are potentially preparing a defamation case against Pokimane, due to her comments about them on her livestream. It’s hard to say if they have a decent case on their hands, or if they’ll even go through with taking legal action. As the situation continues to evolve, we’ll be monitoring it here on Shacknews.