Update 12/13/2021: This article was updated with xQc's official response to Hill's accusations, and new comments from Pokimane regarding this situation.
Original Article: On Monday, FaZe Fornite player and content creator Nate Hill accused massive stream Felix "xQc" Lengyel of sending hate raids during the Game Awards to his channel, calling xQc an "absolute loser" in response. Hill provided no evidence of xQc instigating these raids, and a summary examination of xQc's stream doesn't show him sending hate raids.
On Monday, xQc rewatched the clips in which Hill accused him of sending hate raids, and was baffled at the accusation. The streamer exclaimed: "I wasn't even watching! what the f*ck?"
According to xQc he was making arrangements with an agent during that part of the stream, so he wasn't even paying attention when Nate Hill's ad played, much less plotting evil vengeance on his fellow streamer, as Nate Hill implied.
Nate Hill was one of the sponsored co-streamers during the event, and during the broadcast he experienced several waves of hateful messages that he claims came from xQc's fan base. He further claimed that it was xQc that sent them. That accusation has now sparked controversy among both fan bases, drawing comments from xQc, Pokimane, and other members of the streaming community.
The xQc fans' alleged "hate raids" came after the Game Awards promoted Nate Hill and other official co-streamers on the broadcast. That decision did not draw criticism from xQc, but it did draw criticism from various other streamers like CohhCarnage, who called the practice "disheartening and disrespectful" to be invited to watch the show on his channel and have advertisers pushing his audience to other streams.
Hill explained his side of that story, saying: "I was doing a sponsored stream for Verizon, and they had interstitials promoting the sponsored stream and the Game Awards [during the show]. . . multiple times they would play throughout the stream, they paid money to do that, obviously. So [xQc's] response was to send his army of 100,000 loser, scum human beings to my stream while I am working, to spam 'I hate you' and 'kill yourself' and stuff like that. I just had to keep smiling and pretending it's not happening."
While Hill made his brash accusations against xQc, he provided no evidence that xQc himself encouraged his fans to harass Hill's stream. On top of that, a clip from xQc's co-stream of the awards where Hill's interstitial first plays shows xQc with no reaction to the sponsored segment, which is a mark against Hill's accusations against the streamer. Unless he is referring to another clip, his accusations against xQc appear unfounded.
Not only was xQc not paying attention during the contested portion of the stream, but also xQc has condemned the practice of his fans going to other streams and harassing streamers in the past, telling his fans not to throw shade at other streamers on the platform, and even suggesting that he might ban those who do engage in that activity.
Pokimane came to the defense of xQc's fanbace on Monday, saying, "I just want you guys to know. . . just because you watch X doesn't make you a bad person. . . There are bad apples in every community. . . How are you going to say all of them are terrible people? I am actually really surprised that [Hill] said that."
Streamers like xQc and Ninja have very dedicated fan bases, with some fans who have crossed the line in the past, throwing harassment at other influencers through "cross chatting" where they go to other people's streams to talk shit with them. However, it is questionable whether streamers are responsible for the toxic actions of their fans, especially when those actions weren't directly instigated by something they said and when the streamer has condemned the practice publicly, as with xQc.
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Aaron is an esports reporter with a background in media, technology, and communication education.
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