xQc recounts Twitch strike after calling character a "fat whale" in VRChat

Twitch icon and former Overwatch League pro, Felix "xQc" Lengyel recently recounted a story where Twitch gave him an official warning for calling an in-game character model a "fat whale" while playing VRChat on stream.

The streaming legend explained the irony of the incident and recently shared his thoughts on body shaming during a Twitch broadcast.

xQc recounts Twitch strike for calling avatar "fat whale" in VRChat

xQc recounted the story where he got an official warning from Twitch for "harassment" in a recent live stream on the 9th of August.

He said, "The time we played VRChat, I insulted an avatar [...] and I called it a 'fat whale'. I still have, on my account, an official strike or warning because of harassment".

You can watch the original clip of xQc calling the player's avatar a "big whale" below.

xQc further explained that the strike will likely not go away until he is permabanned or until he retires. "It's like a stain that's never going away because of a literal in-game avatar", he said.

xQc later commented on the irony of how "fat-shaming" is condemned but yet if someone calls him a "skinny skeleton", it's not.

"Why is it that if people call me a 'skinny skeleton stick idiot small man' then nobody blinks an eye", xQc said before adding that if he called someone "big and fat" then it's met with outrage. 

"Nah, you don't get to do that. You just don't. No. I don't agree, f*** you dude", he said.

Indeed, body shaming should work both ways since calling someone either "skinny" or "fat" are equally demeaning. Although we can't help but think that moderators at Twitch didn't appreciate the "joke".

On the contrary, many fans on Reddit expressed that they did, in fact, understand the humour and that Twitch's objection to xQc's joke was "outrageously dense" and "peak 2020 society.

One Redditor said: "He was in a roleplay lobby and the "whale" is a skinny Asian girl IRL. She was meant to bait insults. Nobody in the game was offended. Twitch staff are actually braindead at their jobs".

Indeed, body-shaming is a touchy topic with serious mental health implications but we'll leave it up to you to decide whether the Twitch strike was justified or not.

We do at least hope that xQc will be more mindful of these kinds of sensitive topics. Hopefully, he learned from the incident and will be more careful with his words in the future.

• Read more: xQc gives his take on Apex Legends: "nobody actually fights!"

Don't forget to check out our dedicated Twitch section for news, streamer antics, drama, and more.

Header image via Twitch / xQc.