Two separate Twitch streams, both affiliated with the United States military, were recently met with controversy after sharing a number of offensive jokes. Both the Army and Navy run streams hosted by military personnel, although other Twitch users are able to spectate and comment on what they were watching.
The United States Navy's esports team, named Goats & Glory, is officially sponsored by the Navy and is composed of Navy sailors. The United States Army National Guard also has its own Twitch stream for use by National Guard personnel. Both streams have been used by the military to communicate with potential recruits and maintain public communication throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
This week, Vice reported two separate incidents involving racist and anti-Semitic jokes during Goats & Glory and Army Nation Guard streams. The first incident occurred during the Navy's stream of Among Us, which was hosted by Navy Personnel Specialist Brandon Chandler. During gameplay, several players created usernames which referenced the atomic bombing of Japan, such as "Nagasaki" and "Japan 1945." Another username, "gamer word," appeared to be a sly reference to the n-word. An emoji of Pepe the Frog, which is viewed by some organizations as a hate symbol, was also featured. After an hour of gameplay, the stream was restarted, with the three offensive names now absent, and the stream ended early shortly afterwards. After reaching out for comment Vice received an e-mail response from the U.S. Navy Public Affairs Office, stating that the Navy esports team will be reconsidering its policies for players participating in its streams, and that Chandler will no longer appear. Two days later, Vice reported another incident which occurred on the Army National Guard's Twitch stream. Streamer Axel "ZexsOG" Torres was watching teammates play Call of Duty: Warzone when he gave a shout-out to a user named "six million wasn't enough." The phrase, often used by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, is a reference to the number of individuals killed during the Holocaust. This time, an email response said that the team would work to educate its members on avoiding offensive comments, and that it was deleting the clip in question.
These controversies are nothing new for US military Twitch streamers. Earlier this year, the channels were called out for running fake giveaways as fronts for recruitment drives and potentially violating Constitutional rights to free speech by banning viewers for talking about war crimes.
As representatives of the United States Armed Forces, it is imperative that military personnel conduct themselves professionally. Twitch streams are a great way to interact with an audience, but these organizations have pushed the boundaries of decency again and again. Whether these streamers were simply being absent-minded or intentionally promoting bigotry, it is clear that more capable streamers should be employed in the future.
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