Twitch, the leading streaming platform owned by Amazon, has recently made headlines due to its ban on Hunter 'SicK' Mims, a professional Valorant player. This decision has sparked a significant backlash from SicK, who has expressed his intention to pursue legal action against Twitch and switch to a different platform.
SicK, widely acknowledged for his extraordinary gaming prowess in first-person shooter titles like Valorant, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, has etched a prominent place for himself in the esports community. However, the last few months have not been smooth for SicK as he has been seen getting into multiple controversies. In March, SicK encountered legal troubles, finding himself arrested for criminal trespassing, leading to a two-day stint at the Colin County jail in Dallas, Texas.
Unfortunately, SicK's troubles escalated when news emerged that he was arrested for criminal trespassing a second time earlier this month. Adding to his difficulties, on May 23, SicK took to Twitter to reveal that he had been handed a two-week ban from Twitch. Expressing confusion over the reason for the ban, he sought support from Twitch and expressed his intention to take legal action if the ban remained in place. SicK even contemplated streaming on an alternative platform, Kick, for the duration of the ban or potentially even permanently if he believed Twitch was banning him unjustly.
While Twitch has yet to respond to SicK's claims of an unfair ban, SicK has already found a new streaming home on Kick. Taking to Twitter, he expressed his positive impressions of Kick, stating that it's a pleasant platform to stream on, and he may even consider making it his primary streaming platform. SicK praised Kick's clean user interface and the absence of overly strict rules that he encountered on Twitch. Moreover, he mentioned that Kick's staff has proactively reached out to him, which contrasts with his experience on Twitch. SicK also hinted at the possibility of a sponsorship opportunity and expressed a desire to negotiate a potential deal with Trainwreck.
Sick is not the only prominent Twitch streamer to face an unexpected ban from the platform this month. On May 9, Twitch made headlines by announcing the suspension of PewDiePie's Twitch channel without offering a transparent explanation, leaving fans to speculate about the cause behind the ban. While Twitch typically refrains from disclosing the reasons for bans publicly, it occasionally informs the streamers privately. It will be interesting to see whether Sick will receive clarification regarding the reason for his ban and whether he will take legal action against the platform.