Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev has been banned from Twitch. The decision follows his use of a Russian homophobic slur to his teammate, apparently in jest. Thanks to the ban, other streamers are avoiding playing with s1mple, fearing repercussions.
Widely considered the world’s best CS:GO player, s1mple has a kill-death ratio of 1.41 over 151 maps according to stat tracker HLTV. That’s well above the competition: his closest rival, Device, has a KD of 1.29, and even he is significantly above other top players, who are grouped between 1.17 and 1.21. S1mple is so prolific that Valve immortalised his double no-scope in-game.
The incident took place during a FaceIT Pro League broadcast on July 29, with fans quickly making jokes about a suspension. The ban was initially reported by esports journalist Rod Breslau (via GameRant), who says it will last one week. S1mple has remained somewhat lighthearted about the action, tweeting “Get Twitch Ban – Completed”. Kostyliev’s Twitter also features a screenshot of the ban, which lists ‘engaging in hateful conduct’ as its reason.
As a result of the action, he called Twitch “a joke”, while apologising to the focus of the slur, teammate Boombl4. Some Russian language users indicate that while the word he used – ‘pidor’ – translates directly to a slur, it’s often not meant literally.
Twitch is a joke , sorry for such a hatred @Boombl4CS pic.twitter.com/P4SIVvjgsi
— Sasha (@s1mpleO) August 14, 2019
Meanwhile, fans once again voiced their confusion over the enforcement of the streaming platform’s code of conduct. In recent times, questions have been raised over its treatment of a female streamer who threw her cat over her shoulder, but is yet to face action.
Twitch also came under fire after one of its most popular streamers, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, left the platform for Microsoft’s Mixer. It began to promote other streamers on his now-defunct channel, including one channel that featured pornography.