Zain Naghmi, considered the world’s best Super Smash Bros Melee player, was yesterday handed a seven-day ban by Twitch, his first on the platform. Twitch apparently decided to punish Zain for his use of Meatspin.com as a tag in a Slippi online event, which he ended up wearing as a result of a tweet from his org, and a reply from subathon streamer Ludwig Ahgren.

The exact tweet was made on June 24, with the org using the tried and tested engagement-bait tactic of saying "the most liked reply to this tweet will get X". In this case, X turned out to be the right to pick Zain’s tag for an online event, with the player known for his use of troll/pun tags, such as DontTestMe for his Roy alt, and DontRestMe for his Puff.

The name itself is a reference to an old internet meme of two transsexual persons having sex, and was suggested by Ludwig Ahgren. For those who aren’t aware, Ludwig was involved with the Smash scene for some time before his growth on Twitch, as is his long-term creative partner Anthony "Slime" Bruno.

That Zain’s org made the original tweet that caused the event and then allowed him to go ahead, knowing the terms of service on Twitch, is somewhat odd, but with this being Zain’s first ban it presumably won’t have a huge impact provided there is no repeat down the line. While GG’s behavior may seem ill-advised, it’s worth noting they are the esports arm of a sports group, and only recently made an investment into the Smash scene by signing a couple of content creators and Edgard "n0ne" Sheleby.

It may be that the fact Zain used an active URL that still links to the troll site was his downfall, which is most likely a violation of Twitch’s terms of service related to adult content and pornography. It is also noteworthy that this happened during Pride Month, with some sections of the internet still apparently in thrall to the idea that gay = funny, leading to Ludwig’s reply being the most popular in the original poll.

The news was greeted with the usual cacophony of whataboutism from Twitch users offended by the perceived injustice of this versus other recent cases, but in reality, this is one of the more cut-and-dried situations we’ve seen with Twitch. The terms of service are clear about the company’s stance on explicit pornographic material, meaning Zain and his org were most likely aware of this as a consequence, with the ban making the front page on r/livestreamfail on June 28.