Amazon’s popular streaming platform Twitch is reportedly removing Simp emotes to “prohibit harassment.”
According to a report from Kotaku, the streaming site is “deleting emotes that contain any mention of the word.”
Just in case you aren’t familiar, the simp emoji normally centers around white knights and thots; though it can be used for general white knighting on the internet as well.
According to the Urban Dictionary a Simp is “a man that puts himself in a subservient/submissive position under women in hopes of winning them over, without the female bringing anything to the table.”
Urban Dictionary explains that a perfect example of a simp is the Eddie Murphy’s Norbit character in Norbit.
The term isn’t new and has been around the internet since it was first popularized when hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia used it as an antonym for the word pimp according to the Daily Dot.
Related: Body Painter Responds to Twitch Ban: “I Did Nothing Wrong”
Many know that, that if you are affiliated and/or partnered with Twitch, you are able to create your own emotes and submit them to the platform for use on your own streams. However, it appears that Twitch is not only banning simp-related emotes and emojis, but is also rejecting them outright when they are submitted.
Twitch IRL streamer Joey Kaotyk shared to Twitter that his simp emojis were rejected with Twitch explaining, “Harassment: Disallowed content – Targeted insults, bullying, and threatening or inciting abuse.”
— Joeykaotyk 📍🇯🇵 (@JoeyKaotyk) May 5, 2020
Fellow Twitch streamer Fedmyster also reported that his fedSimp emote was also removed. for targeted harassment.
Fedmyster stated, “Fedsimp was removed from my emotes for targeted harassment and bullying.”
He added, “Very unfortunate. One of my favorite emotes. My community never used it with ill intent. It was mostly banter and some cases a compliment. Really unfortunate.”
When Kotaku asked Twitch why simp emotes were being banned, a company spokesperson responded, “Our community guidelines prohibit harassment, and as a part of this, we deny emotes that are designed to abuse or demean others, or can be misused for such behavior.”
Related: Twitch Bans Streamer FiendishMora After He Appears To Beat Cat In Stream
Jeremy Griggs at Geeks + Gamers reported on the ban saying, “Wow! What world are we living in now when the term simp is being banned and called offensive?”
He goes on to point out how ridiculous it was to ban an emote over the fact a few people were being offended by the term.
Griggs also pointed out that many terms and slang used online goes through a life cycle of use with it peaking, and then falling to the wayside for another term.
What do you think of Twitch’s ban on any emote related to simp?