Pokimane Reveals A Shady Industry Pro Faked A Relationship With Her
Imane "Pokimane" Anys has been in the streaming game for a while now, and in that time, she has made sure to shine a light on the ugly truths in her industry. Though doing so has occasionally made enemies for the superstar streamer, Pokimane has no qualms about calling out toxicity when she sees it. Unfortunately, the streamer's image and private information has been weaponized against several women, and Pokimane has had enough.
During a recent stream, Pokimane revealed that a high-ranking professional in the streaming business has crossed the line in a professional and personal sense. In calm, measured tones, Pokimane explained: "Someone that I and many streamers have been working with for years, someone who was also employed at a large company in the industry, has targeted and manipulated girls, specifically in my community, by falsifying a romantic and sexual relationship with me."
Pokimane explained that this unnamed individual was able to believably pretend to be in a relationship with her, thanks to his access to "privileged information he gathered from his job." She further claimed that the women he'd contacted were scared into silence because he "threaten[ed] to harm himself if these girls turned against him."
According to Pokimane, she first became aware of the issue months ago, when several woman approached her and her manager with screenshots and horror stories revolving around the same individual. "Because of his connection with streamers and the company he worked at, he seemed like a very trustworthy individual," she explained. Through leaking confidential info and other underhanded tactics, this person then would try to engage in a relationship with the women he targeted. Once he had gained their trust, he would begin manipulating them emotionally and pretending to have had an intimate relationship with Pokimane.
Pokimane's followers were manipulated by a high-ranking pro
Though Pokimane insists she's never officially met this person in real life — never even speaking to them, except for when business was concerned — she explained, "He acted like he knew and hung out with me and my friends in person ... He fabricated all of this just to manipulate these girls." Pokimane also revealed that she's not even sure how deep the lies became, as the women who came forward insisted that it would only upset her to see more of the faked conversations.
"He laid this groundwork over months and months," Pokimane said. "Like, he's been doing this for basically the two years that I've known or worked with him ... which makes me so f***ing mad to know that this was going on, like right under my nose, for so long."
This person also used doctored photos to ingratiate himself with the people he targeted. In addition to screenshots of alleged Discord conversations with Pokimane, the unnamed party also sent explicit images that he claimed were of Pokimane, all with the goal of proving that his relationship was legitimate. Pokimane explained that this person did so in the hopes that he could coerce these women to then share actual photos of themselves.
Just last month, when Twitch was on fire due to a scandal involving deepfake pornography of other streamers, Pokimane tweeted, "stop sexualizing people without their consent." At the time, nobody knew that Pokimane had just been through a similar nightmare.
Pokimane still feels afraid
"It was also really bothersome to me to find out about all of this and be told, 'Well, yeah, there's not really much that you can do,'" Pokimane said. "There's no legal course that I can really take, even though this has caused so much harm to so many people." Pokimane explained that the person who did all of this was eventually let go from their organization following an investigation, but she would not be revealing their name on-stream. According to her, allowing the women who had been manipulated to remain anonymous is of the utmost importance to her.
Needless to say, the entire situation has left the streamer feeling shaken. Pokimane told her viewers that she's still concerned that this person may return to his old tricks in the future. Through tears, she explained that she feels so much "anger, that someone would use my name, my reputation, my trust — and the trust that these girls had in me, to then manipulate them for his own benefit. It's just so f***ing disgusting."
Pokimane said that she finally came forward with this story in the hopes that it would allow her and the other women impacted by this incident to move forward with their lives. She expressed that she remains grateful for the fact that the women impacted by this breach of trust not only communicated with her, but with each other.