OTK founder ‘Asmongold’ has hit back at claims the organization forced Twitch star Jinny out of America. It comes after Jinny announced she was moving back to Korea suddenly on February 5.
Popular Korean Twitch streamer Jinny has been at the centre of controversy in the last week.
The 28-year-old has exploded in the last 12 months, garnering a following of over 500,000 on the platform. She moved in with Esfand in Texas, one of the founders of One True King (OTK) in March 2020, and has been creating content with the group since their formation.
However, she announced on February 5 she’d be leaving the States to return home to Korea. While the streamer claimed she had to leave due to visa issues, other members were concerned about the global health crisis and quarantining.
Jinny’s situation has caught the ire of some of Twitch’s biggest stars, like Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel, who claimed she was “irresponsible.” Some even claimed that the group was purposefully kicking Jinny out of Esfand’s house.
However, Asmongold has shut down these critics, saying Jinny left on her own accord. While the streamer may not have described it as such, they reached a “generally amicable solution.”
“Going into 2021 we had basically a come to Jesus talk about…quarantining and [setting] hard rules and expectations that we expected everyone to follow which also extended to people in the houses as well,” Asmon explained in a Twitlonger.
“After Jinny saw that Esfand wasn’t able to go to events, she decided that she and Kevin (her brother) would leave as to not cause any more stress for him and also so that she could preserve her Visa time for when things were more open.
“This was a generally amicable solution that everyone was okay with so Jinny went on stream and explained it in a way that I think gave a lot of people the impression that me or OTK effectively kicked her out. This is categorically untrue, and it was not only her decision to leave but it was also her idea.”
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Clarifications Regarding Jinny, OTK and Covid
Read: https://t.co/hzBQ4wNRb5
— Zack (@Asmongold) February 9, 2021
Asmon added Jinny’s call to leave was a “smart idea.” However, he conceded the group could have avoided drama if they better communicated how they were going to approach her departure.
“I think that a lot of us, primarily myself and Mizkif, approached it the usual way by memeing and joking about it but after talking with Jinny today I realized how much the situation devastated her at which point I apologized.”
“Ultimately I think we learned a lot from this situation and while I think it’s been a negative for everyone involved, it’s shown how important communication is and how fast things can spiral out of control when you don’t do it properly. A cautionary tale no doubt.”
Jinny plans to return in the summer, depending on the global situation. For now though, she will continue creating content in Korea.