Warning: This story discusses digital sexual harassment/assault.
Pokimane is facing backlash after admitting that she feels uncomfortable seeing fellow streamer Atrioc welcomed back into her social circle.
On October 26, the Twitch streamer (real name Imane Anys) discussed fellow streamers Ludwig Ahgren and QTCinderella’s recent wedding during a livestream, specifically addressing the presence of Brandon “Atrioc” Ewing, who was involved in a major controversy in 2023 after accidentally revealing that he had visited a website selling nonconsensual and sexually explicit AI-generated images of female streamers. Among the women featured were Pokimane and the bride herself, QTCinderella.
Speaking about Atrioc’s presence at the wedding, Pokimane admitted that seeing him around people she considers friends has brought up complicated feelings. “There’s been a lot of cognitive dissonance seeing my friends be put in close proximity of him,” she said. “It makes me feel some type of way, I can’t lie…Do they agree with me or do they not?”
The day before, she opened up about feeling uncomfortable seeing Atrioc on social media, despite having his name blocked and muted. “Seeing Atrioc’s name and face pop up… It gives me a lot of discomfort and anxiety,” Pokimane said.
“I think, like the first few times that this happened, I tried to kind of just like ignore the feeling and process it on my own, and that doesn’t really help,” she said.
“I think it’s one of those things that just like signals to my brain, like, ‘you are not safe here, no one will protect you,’ and just like really puts me in fight or flight,” she continued. “And I just don’t know the best way to deal with it.”
“And usually this is the kind of thing that I would not even talk about publicly, but because everything has been so public, I figured it’s probably OK to at least talk to my community about it,” Pokimane continued.
She also asked if others have dealt with similar situations or have any advice, adding that it’s “awkward” to talk about because “it happened 3 or 4 years ago and I never talked about it because I was so uncomfortable.”
“But I wanted to now,” she laughs.
For context, in January 2023, Atrioc accidentally revealed a browser tab connected to a website selling explicit deepfake images of female content creators during a Twitch livestream. Outrage quickly ensued, and Atrioc issued a tearful apology before stepping away from streaming for a period. He also invested considerable money trying to remove nonconsensual deepfake content from the web, reportedly paying $60,000 to a law firm to help fund the effort.
Many responses to Pokimane’s statement about being discomfited by Atrioc’s presence at Ludwig and QT’s wedding were less than sympathetic, particularly on X, where at least two of her Twitch streams were clipped and reposted. Some questioned why she was bringing up an incident from nearly four years ago, particularly since Atrioc apologized, with one user writing that he had “put his money where his mouth is” and another speculating “he’s probably done more” to remove NSFW deepfakes than Pokimane.
Pokimane addressed the criticism in a lengthy X post on October 26, reminding people that when Atrioc “was first caught looking at paywalled, deepfake content of female streamers, it seems people forgot that the specific page shown on his stream was of me.”
She wrote that she didn’t make a statement at the time because she was “so uncomfortable,” acknowledged his efforts to remove deepfake content (while claiming she has spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars towards that same effort”), and rejected the assumption that she was “trying to cancel” him.
She also noted that “no one has really checked in with the women affected” about how it makes them feel to have Atrioc around, adding that “other people forgiving him is their choice” while maintaining that she still gets to have a say about her own personal experience.
There’s an important distinction that seems to be getting lost in the maelstrom of discourse: Pokimane wasn’t demanding that Atrioc lose his career. She was expressing her discomfort about a man who had watched nonconsensual imagery of her becoming a part of her physical social circle again.
Streamer Asmongold weighed in on Pokimane’s statement, accusing her of deliberately trying to stir up backlash against Ludwig and QTCinderella and saying, “She’s trying to create a negative social consequence for people that are associating with Atrioc.”
Atrioc’s remorse and Pokimane’s feelings are not mutually exclusive, with the former even acknowledging her comments directly on Twitch, saying her “feelings are totally valid” and that “Forgiveness is dependent on each person. Everybody has their own definition of it, and if I haven’t earned it with you, that is 100% your right.”
“I’m trying to use my actions and time and money and effort and whatever I can show that’s not who I am,” he said, “but there is no Konami code for forgiveness.”
However, he pushed back against being used to criticize his friends, saying, “I don’t appreciate being used as a weapon to attack someone.” Atrioc continued: “I should be allowed to exist in my own space,” before revealing that he contacted the organizers of TwitchCon 2026 to withdraw from his planned panel.
Plenty of people defended Pokimane, too, most notably fellow Twitch streamer Caroline Kwan, who wrote on X that Pokimane “does not owe atrioc forgiveness nor does she need to justify her feelings” regarding the streamer.
Kwan’s note that deepfakes are mostly non-consensual NSFW images that “mostly target women and girls” checks out. In 2023, Business Insider cited research by Sensity AI that found that “90% to 95% of deepfakes were non-consensual porn,” with 90% of these deepfakes being of women.
Similarly, tech research DeepTrace in 2019 found that, per Vox: “the vast majority of the subjects of these fake videos across the internet — a full 96 percent — are of women, mostly celebrities, whose images are being turned into sexual fantasies without their consent.”
In a Reddit discussion about Pokimane’s statement, one user pointed out that “How Ludwig and QT choose to handle their relationship with [Atrioc] is their own business, and Poki has every right to feel uncomfortable, not forgive him etc,” while another wrote that Pokimane “doesn’t owe him her forgiveness. he’s welcome to make amends and be a better person but she doesn’t need to make him comfortable.”
Others pointed to the extremely awkward social dynamics of the group, with one saying, “you don’t have to invite him to your wedding.”
IMO, If the man at the center of the controversy can acknowledge Pokimane’s right to feel uncomfortable, it shouldn’t be such a difficult concept for everyone else to grasp.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call theNational Sexual Assault Hotlineat 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local centerhere.
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