FerociouslySteph responded to her critics and fellow streamers within the Twitch community yesterday in a series of tweets. In the thread, Steph takes some responsibility for the drama she has caused while maintaining that her words were taken out of context and used against her. Steph apologizes to her peers and friends and makes an effort to clarify her point of view and goals on the Twitch Safety Advisory Council.
Steph has been fairly active on Twitter throughout all of the backlash to her appointment on the council. She has continued to defend and expand upon her position against in-game voice chat and engage in discourse around her assertion that a lot of gamers are white supremacists.
In yesterday’s thread, Steph starts by saying that she feels her voice has been taken away from her, referring to the collection of clips that have been used to power-hungry SJW that quickly calls anyone who opposes her a white supremacist. Steph rejects that label, writing “I do not haphazardly apply this perception to anyone or everyone. Disagreeing with me is not cause for me to label someone like this.”
Steph explains that while the harassment against her continues every day, she now understands better “bounds of this extreme standard” she is held to. Anything she says can get clipped, shared without context, and used to reinforce beliefs about her that, Steph says, mischaracterize her.
By way of apologies, Steph says that she is sorry for the target this drama has painted on her community. “I didn’t ask for this, neither did you” ends her apology tweet. The harassment Steph has endured has extended beyond her to other marginalized streamers and gamers, which is perhaps the most upsetting thing about this entire saga.
Overall, Steph seems to have taken the right lessons for this ordeal. She understands that having a bigger platform is a double-edged sword now, and the increase of attention to her and her causes makes her a target, and the like it or not, she needs to be very careful about the way she represents herself and her community.
Though she doesn’t specifically talk about her “I have power” clip here, a tweet from last Friday refers to the way her “most frustrated takes” are being used against her. There is a type of self-satisfied gloating in some of the “power” clips where Steph can be seen dancing around and bragging about her Twitch endorsement that doesn’t sit right with a lot of people, and Steph still hasn’t really addressed that issue.
Hopefully the fervor will die down sooner rather than later. No one deserves harassment for their beliefs, and there’s a legitimate discourse that needs to be had about the things Steph believes, we just need to do it calmly and respectfully.
