Hell hath no fury like the internet scorned. An Australian Fortnite streamer with the username MrDeadMoth — real name Luke Munday — has been banned from Twitch one again after the streaming platform briefly let him back.
Twitch had suspended MrDeadMoth after being caught on video allegedly assaulting his wife. The incident occurred earlier this December, just as Munday was streaming to thousands of viewers, where he could be heard suspectedly assaulting his partner.
Assault Recorded During Fortnite Stream On Twitch
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Munday asked her, as the livestreamed audio of the incident reveals. Munday's children could be heard crying in the background. In a subsequent report from The Washington Post, the woman said Munday hit her in the face. Authorities arrested and charged Munday with common assault hours later.
He was also banned from Twitch shortly thereafter following a public outcry. On Dec. 30, however, Munday posted a tweet promoting his new stream. Backlash soon ensued. Although Munday was able to resume streaming, his feed was inundated with an army of denizens confronting him about the assault, to which he responded by swatting them away.
As Dexerto reports, "[u]sers in his chat who referenced the December 9 incident were banned or timed out from chatting."
Twitch has since removed the MrDeadMoth channel completely.
To note, the Dec. 9 incident isn't the first time Munday has been accused of assault. In 2011, he was charged with "malicious damage" and "common assault," as news.com.au reports.
Twitch Ban
Twitch refuses to say how long Munday's ban is going to last. It did, however, provided a statement saying it values the "integrity of our community."
"We want everyone on Twitch to have a safe and positive experience and work constantly toward that goal," the streaming platform said, as The Verge reports. "Part of that work includes examining our policies and practices when we find they don't properly address specific incidents to ensure we're adapting as the Twitch community grows."
In February 2018, Twitch renewed its policies around online harassment while promising to enforce stricter rules around hateful behavior, both on- and off-site. Which is why it's odd that it would let Munday come back after the incident, especially with the tensioned backlash surrounding it.
Critics say Twitch choosing to remain mum on the issue makes it hard to take its commitment to community policies seriously.
