Twitch Removes PogChamp Emote After Face Encourages Further Unrest

Twitch removed PogChamp from the site Wednesday, taking action against one of its community's oldest and most beloved emotes after the person responsible for the emote appeared to tweet in support of further violence after the day's chaotic takeover of the United States Capitol building.

As right-wing insurrectionaries stormed the Capitol building, video emerged of a woman who was shot in the building by Capitol police and later pronounced dead at the hospital. Fighting game personality Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez, whose face is the PogChamp emote, appeared to stoke the flames of violence on Twitter.

"Will there be civil unrest for the woman who was executed inside the Capitol today or will the #MAGAMartyr die in vain?" he tweeted. He went on to encourage followers to watch the video, and accused Twitter of preventing him from posting a link to the video itself.

An hour later, Gutierrez posted a video he had filmed of his computer monitor showing the killing. It appeared to be hosted on the far right conspiracy website InfoWars.

Twitch streamer Natasha "Zombaekillz" Zinda led a charge pressuring Twitch to remove PogChamp from the site in response to Gutierrez' tweets. Several other major Twitch personalities announced plans to ban the emote from their channels.

A few short hours later, Twitch had removed the emote site-wide.

"We've made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today," reads the company's statement.

"We want the sentiment and use of Pog to live on — its meaning is much bigger than the person depicted or image itself — and it has a big place in Twitch culture. However, we can't in good conscience continue to enable use of the image."

Twitch plans to work with its community to design a new emote to take PogChamp's place as the avatar of excitement on the site.

Gutierrez has previously peddled conspiracy theories and advanced anti-vaccine beliefs on Twitch.