Complete timeline of Pokimane harassment scandal

Jan 19, 2022

Pokimane continues to face harassment and backlash this week, primarily from fans of JiDion, who was banned from Twitch after instigating harassment of Poki on numerous occasions over the past several days. The situation has continued to unfold, with streamers like Adin Ross and Ninja taking the side of JiDion, while other streamers like Asmongold, Valkyrae, Mizkif, and Ludwig have stood with Pokimane against the waves of abuse and harassment.

For those who are looking to get caught up on the entire story behind Pokimane's ongoing struggle against online harassment and abuse, we put together a timeline summarizing the major events of the past few days.

January 12th | Pokimane harassed by JiDion hate raid, ends stream early
January 12th-13th | JiDion fans harass Pokimane on twitter, prompting her to private her Twitter account
January 13th | JiDion is banned from Twitch permanently
January 14th | Pokimane faces bizarre, unfounded accusations of drug abuse
January 17th | Ninja supports JiDion, pretends to send a text to Twitch rep
January 17th | Ninja's wife and legal team threaten defamation lawsuit
January 19th | Pokimane calls out narratives that center her as the source of drama
January 19 | JiDion's ban appeal rejected by Twitch: "We do not unsuspend accounts for this level of abuse"

January 12th: Pokimane harassed by JiDion hate raid, ends stream early

On January 12th, YouTube creator and recently made Twitch partner JiDion reacted to Pokimane playing VALORANT on stream. During that portion of his stream, JiDion started mocking Pokimane, including repeatedly playing a clip of a time when she said the N-word, which she has since apologized for. JiDion then instigated a hate rate on Pokimane, telling his thousands of viewers to go to her stream and type "L + Ratio."

Soon after, Pokimane's chat and the whispers of her fans from her chat were filled with all manner of hateful comments from JiDion's viewers, that extended far beyond "L + Ratio." JiDion and his fans accused Poki and her fans of being racist, told fans to kill themselves and made all manner of inappropriate sexual comments about Pokimane and her fans as well. Among the sexual comments Jidion made was the implication that Pokimane viewers only watch her because they want to have sex with her, as well as JiDion making other sexually charged comments about her being in a relationship with Adin Ross.

After the hate raid continued for some time, Poki announced that she was ending her stream early.

She said: "I think I am going to end stream because, like as much as I can deal with this, I don't like that people on his stream are whispering people on my stream. I'll put up with the bullsh*t, but I don't want you guys to put up with bullsh*t."

January 12th & 13th: JiDion fans harass Pokimane on Twitter, prompting her to private her Twitter account

Soon after ending her stream, Pokimane posted on Twitter, condemning harassment from JiDion. In response to that now-deleted Tweet, her Twitter was quickly flooded with a wave of new harassment from JiDion's fan base. As a result, she ended up going private for some time on Twitter while the harassment died down.

In response to her initial Tweet, many streamers and individuals online spoke out in support of Pokimane, condemning the harassing behaviors. On January 13th, she once again posted on Twitter condemning sexism and thanking those who stood up for her.

At this same time, in the lead up to his eventual ban, JiDion encouraged his fans to harass Poki, including joking with his friend on stream that if he gets banned Poki is going to receive a ton of hate. He also jumped on Adin Ross's stream after his hate raid, where he and Ross discussed the possibility of a ban, and he lied about what he actually told his fans to do, claiming he told them to say "W + ratio." Ross said that what JiDion did doesn't constitute harassment, with Ross saying that he stands by JiDion.

January 13th: JiDion is banned from Twitch permanently, issues sarcastic apology

The day after harassing Pokimane, JiDion faced a permanent ban and was unpartnered from the platform. Following the ban, he posted a drunk, sarcastic apology, saying that he was supposed to play Fortnite with Ninja the next day.

"I apologize, I am down on my knees, like a tier 3 sub," JiDion said. He also encouraged his fans to continue to harass Poki and post about his ban online.

January 14th: Pokimane denies bizarre, unfounded accusations of drug abuse

Bizzare claims then surfaced online that Poki was doing cocaine on stream. The accusations prompted numerous memes and a new wave of harassment toward the streamer, who responded to the unfounded claims of drug abuse with a flat denial on Twitter.

January 17th: Ninja supports JiDion, pretends to send a text to Twitch rep

On January 17th, in response to JiDion's fans in his chat, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins claimed on stream that he would text his Twitch rep on JiDion's behalf, in hopes of lessening the severity of his ban. This was after JiDion gifted Ninja 100 subscribers.

Ninja also said about JiDion "you can't raise bitches on Twitch" referring to Poki as a bitch, which JiDion took as further justification for his own sexism.

Pokimane called out Ninja for supporting her harasser, to which Ninja sent her a DM claiming he had not actually reached out to a Twitch rep. He also told her she is "making a big mistake" which Poki read as a veiled threat. Poki showed that message to her chat on stream.

January 17th: Ninja's wife threatens to sue Pokimane for defamation

Ninja's wife, Jessica Blevins, followed up Ninja's claim that he lied on stream by threatening to sue Pokimane for defamation for pointing out that Ninja admitted to sending a Twitch rep a text in defense of JiDion. She also blamed Poki for the harassment Ninja was receiving from JiDion's fans.

"You are spewing lies to tens of thousands of people," Blevins stated angrily. " You know Twitch, you claim you know his rep, then you know from them that Tyler NEVER reached out to anyone, and AGAIN, just said that to stop the harassment in his chat from Jidion's viewers."

Pokimane published the Tweet DM on her Twitter, responding with: "I think Jessica is trying to say that ninja PRETENDED to text his twitch representative, which I’m willing to accept and cannot disprove. I just wanted the clip out there to show what happened."

On the same day, Poki talked with Mizkif on stream, telling him "I am tired of feeling alone and scared" when explaining why she published the DMs from Ninja and his wife.

January 19th: Pokimane calls out narratives that minimize harassment

On January 19th during a stream, Pokimane called out media outlets and commentators online who framed her situation as driven by her and minimized the harassment she is facing. She pointed out that she did nothing, and was harassed and threatened by JiDion, Adin Ross fans, Ninja, and his wife, without her having done anything other than respond to those people's harassment.

"I'm tired of people minimizing the harassment I've received over the last week to "just L+ratio spam," she said on Twitter, linking to a list of things that JiDion and others have done to instigate her harassment.

"I’m glad [JiDion] apologized and told his viewers to chill. Hope he does better in the future and that this’ll is the last time I have to talk about this," the streamer concluded under that post.

The entire situation has sparked a discussion about misogyny in gaming and streaming, with many pointing out that much of the hatred against Poki has been driven by sexist insults and demeaning comments about her being a woman from JiDion, Ninja, and their fans.