xQc defends Hogwarts Legacy streamers after harassment from boycotters
Félix “xQc” Lengyel spoke up in defense of streamers playing Hogwarts Legacy after boycotters harassed GirlfriendReviews to tears for streaming it.
It all started when many fans decided not to support Hogwarts Legacy because of the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s alleged transphobic comments.
The controversy quickly expanded to Twitch, as several streamers spoke out against commercials for the game on the platform, while others even built a website to list who had streamed the Wizard game.
Recent targets of the boycotters include Matt and Shelby, well-known as the duo behind the GirlfriendReviews YouTube channel.
The pair was live-streaming Hogwarts Legacy on Twitch when the chat turned into many unpleasant insults.
According to Reddit u/Bittucharya, who posted a video of the incident, GirlfriendReviews changed the chat to sub-only as the hate comments started.
However, the boycotters started subscribing to continue the harassment. Shelby was eventually forced to leave the stream in tears.
XQc commented on the unfolding drama during his recent gameplay, warning his audience that they would “hate him” for what he was going to say.
He began by suggesting that people fuel all kinds of “evil with their purchases” in far harsher ways than they can fathom.
The Canadian continued his tirade, saying, “now you’re trying to make people feel bad for f**king purchasing a video game?”
“Bro, you need to s**k my balls. F**king libt**d andys. What the f*ck is this sh*t,” the former Overwatch professional player continued.
Asmongold also criticized boycotters
XQc is not the only one who voiced his criticism. Another well-known streamer, Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt, had earlier expressed his exasperation with the boycott.
Asmongold uploaded a video in which he explained why he believed boycott supporters were doing more harm than good to their cause.
According to the Twitch personality, those who “force” others indifferent about the JK Rowling dispute to agree with them are only making those individuals disagree more.
He said streamers simply want to play video games and “don’t give a f**k!”
The American compared those streamers to school bus drivers, who have to “deal with s*t all day, every day.”
Those streamers, Asmongold noted, don’t want to return home and read about how horrible they were because they were playing a video game.
He said that the problem existed because these people are so self-righteous that they believe they “have the moral authority to sit around” and tell everyone else what they must do, then try to shame others for liking something.
Asmongold described the boycotters as “losers” with “no sense of perspective in the world.”
Hogwarts Legacy hits Twitch record amid boycott
Despite the boycott, Hogwarts Legacy set a new Twitch record for the most concurrent viewers of a single-player game.
It beat Cyberpunk 2077 for the top spot among single-player titles in viewership. According to real-time data from the directory, the game also had almost 1.2 million unique visitors on its pre-release day, February 7.
With over 108,000 concurrent viewers, xQc was the most popular Hogwarts Legacy streamer online.
In regards to other top channels, Juan “IIIoJuan” Alberto García had over 80,000 viewers, Saqib “LIRIK” Ali Zahid had about 40,000 and Nicholas “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff was fourth with 37,000.
Hogwarts Legacy will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S consoles on February 10, 2023.
Other platforms will have to wait a little longer since the game has been delayed on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One until April 4, 2023. The Nintendo Switch will have the game available on July 25, 2023.