I was about to sit down and watch Asmongold’s pathetic attempt at an apology. I’d have something to say about how it feels hollow because there are no repercussions for someone like him in his position.
However, thankfully, I don’t have to. The man who has – on record – used a dead rat as an alarm, wiped the blood from his rotting gums on the wall and lived in his own filth despite being rich enough to hire a cleaning company to do it for him, has already done a U-Turn on his supposed apology.
Who is Asmongold and what did he do?
Zack Hoyt, 34, or Asmongold, is a streamer best known for his World of Warcraft content. More recently, he’s best known for being a real-life pipeline for falling down the far-right well and fostering a community built out of racists and bigots.
Over the last couple of days, Hoyt has been embroiled in controversy as he went on a racist tirade over the genocide happening in Gaza. In a clip that quickly circled social media, he claimed that Palestinians and Muslims are an “inferior culture” and espoused other racist talking points. Based on this, he also said that he doesn’t care for those actively being genocided by Israel in the area.
As children burn, families and history are disintegrated as another volley is launched and babies starve, Asmongold saw it fit to spout Nazi speaking points.
Even after a lengthy chat with leftist streamer Hasan Piker, it didn’t fully sink in.
His first apology was to simply say “My bad” on Twitter, and that he was “too much of an asshole about the Palestine thing”. A callous, empty apology that was followed by a video of his plans going forward.
It took Twitch around 24 hours to ban his Zackrawrr channel, a secondary channel he seemingly uses to stream outside of his original remit. The Asmongold channel still remains up, along with presumably any others he owns.
Now, on his dedicated Reddit forum (or subreddit), r/Asmongold, he’s followed up with what can effectively be dubbed an apology to his audience. His core, pickled-brained audience, that whenever something in a video game that doesn’t fit their worldview appears, spam Asmongold’s chat with “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), in place of the ability to use any harsher language or slurs.
Hoyt opens his new apology with a slur and further quintuples down through many other words. This is the most sincere he’s been in the entire fiasco.
He then goes on to attribute his clear hatred and racism to “vibes” and that he plans to be more “positive” moving forward.
However, still finds room to continue polluting his incredibly impressionable audience with the same bullshit claims about companies like Sweet Baby Inc.
This is partially where the “DEI” thing stems from, a consulting firm used to ensure that video games won’t offend the cultures they’re using.
Asmongold also mentions he won’t be found “playing Dustborn”, a game that never made any splash within the spaces expected and was hounded by weirdos on the internet.
He also explains that his reasoning for stepping away from any roles he had outside of streaming – including PC company StarForge and OTK, a network of streamers – is that he had too many commitments, not that there was any internal pressure.
He then follows that up with that he can essentially say whatever he wants now because he’s not part of them. Sounds like the positive vibes will be enforced truly.
In the comments, Hoyt says that he’ll be reacting to “a DEI=DIE gaming video first day back to stream”, showing that he’s all in on his positive vibes. His own father appears to have mentioned to him that this slippery slope he’s already well and truly unable to get off of has been damaging his output.
However, there will never be any real comeuppance for Asmongold. There are no repercussions or any real consequences for his disgusting words. He is well and truly poison to anyone working with him in the future, but the world is against those with any real sense right now. He’s a microcosm, one festering and polluting everything he touches.
However, he’s poised to come back bigger than ever.
There’s no real consequences for Asmongold’s racism
Dr Disrespect, real name Herschel “Guy” Beahm, was accused of – and then confirmed – messaging a minor. After a lengthy period away and losing many deals, his return stream broke personal records. According to data collected by Nadestraight, the man who messaged a minor, earned an estimated $21,000 in donations. One person even donated $1500.
Asmongold makes a lot of his money via subscriptions to his Twitch account. In a stream a year ago, he says that he acquired 43,000 subscribers and paid around $4.53 for each one. That’s not just over the “$100,000” he claims, but nearly $200,000.
There’s no concern on Hoyt’s part, as he’ll be welcomed back with open arms, just as his weird tirade has been since he began to jetpack up the right-wing ladder.
As his hatred campaign has progressed, the Zackrawrr channel has actually grown. His YouTube channel has grown. In fact, his viewership has never been stronger as he rails against reboots of Tomb Raider – never actually consuming the show – and slams CD Projekt Red’s CEO for saying that DEI doesn’t influence their hiring process.
His rebuttal is a corporate incentive web page and a video uploaded two years ago going through the processes of inclusivity.
If Hoyt had taken more than five seconds to actually scroll down the page, he’d have found that most of the inclusivity and diversity goals are based around funding high school girls’ education in the sector. Offering menstrual leave. Creating a safer space for their staff. Hiring more women into the workforce. I don’t know, none of these sound bad, especially in a male-dominated environment. Fresh perspectives, and all that.
Something, again, if you were to browse their website rather than a cherry-picked subreddit, would come to realise just how male-centric CD Projekt Red actually is. Also, something for someone who spews racism, the website is mostly filled with white individuals.
Asmongold will be welcomed back with open arms and will break records. Websites like Dexerto will report on it, offering quotation marks around clearly racist content and the media’s inability to not put him on a pedestal – even accidentally – will only drive more views to him.
Hoyt is a disgusting, vile person who will never suffer the full consequences for his grotesque actions. Twitch’s ban lasts only for 14 days, after which he’ll re-earn every lost cent in moments. However, Hoyt’s takes have cultivated an entire hungry audience ready for more.
People offer him well wishes, even though he dehumanises entire people who are being battered by genocide.
His various YouTube channels will continue to rack up views and money, any lingering deals he has will continue to pay and while he’s “stepping away” from his other obligations, I’m sure that whatever contract he signed with Starforge and OTK will still pay dividends. Even with him now removed from Starforge.
This is a blip on his radar. A moment. This is nothing. Just like a majority of Asmongold’s content, this is nothing.
It’s impossible to know if Hoyt is aware of the impression he’s left on people, the damage he’s done to an entire swath of people. They hang on his every word, calling him “based”. He’s a symptom of a larger problem, in that Twitch or YouTube can’t just cull him entirely – he’s the golden goose.
The platforms that Hoyt spends his time rotting on will never truly punish him. More clicks, more ads, more value. Impressions and views. The line goes up whenever he says something horrendous. If that line goes up, who cares what he has to say? A slap on the wrist. The grim march goes on.
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