Popular streamer Matthew ‘Mizkif’ Rinaudo has taken “full responsibility” after being temporarily banned on Twitch on February 23 for accidentally violating the platform’s guidelines surrounding nudity on-stream.
Mizkif, who is mainly known for his regular IRL and Just Chatting broadcasts, as well as a variety of gaming streams, has built a community of more than 330,000 followers on the Amazon-owned site over the past two years.
On February 23, however, the popular streamer was hit—temporarily, at least—with the Twitch banhammer for accidentally showing “sexually explicit content,” though the 25-year-old was able to restore his account soon after.
❌ Twitch Partner "Mizkif" (@REALMizkif) has been banned! ❌https://t.co/1ewIDhcBtu#twitch #ban #firstban #partner #twitchpartner ??♀️
— StreamerBans (@StreamerBans) February 24, 2020
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Why did Mizkif get banned from Twitch?
In the last moments of his stream, the Twitch personality flicked over to Twitter, where his friend and FaZe Clan member Soleil ‘Ewok’ Wheeler had posted a Twitlonger link with the simple title “quitting.”
While Ewok’s message ended up being a joke from the Fortnite star—the Twitlonger simply contained “sike you thought”—Mizkif’s foray onto the social media site showed something else accidentally: explicit content in reply to her joke.
Mizkif may not have made a choice to show the content, which was posted by a random Twitter user minutes after Ewok’s hoax, but the Amazon-owned platform made the decision to disable his account all the same.
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Mizkif takes full responsibility for his ‘mistake’
Less than half an hour later, however, he was back online again, though he didn’t divulge to fans exactly what had happened until his Feb 24 Just Chatting stream nearly 24 hours later. Once live, he explained why it was his fault.
According to the streaming star, one of his “VIP” subscribers sent him a link to Ewok’s joke message, but hadn’t seen the explicit content lurking in the replies to the FaZe star’s tweet before he sent it through.
“He sent it to me, and he didn’t know it [the image] was there… I clicked it, and there was this kid, from a documentary, from a third-world country, cheering something, and he had his d*ck out,” Mizkif explained in his first stream back.
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The Twitch star tried to liken it to a situation where you’re at the pool, and “you’re wearing your shirt, and you’re contemplating jumping in the pool,” and while that’s happening a tiny kid comes out and jumps into the pool.
“It’s like a kid in a baby pool-type scenario… but it is my fault. I take full responsibility for it, Twitch didn’t give me anything scripted to read—you know if they gave me anything scripted I wouldn’t be able to understand or remember it,” he said.
“It’s my fault, I take full responsibility. Don’t say it’s Twitch. I just shouldn’t have opened Twitter… a streamer should never open up Twitter, it’s just dumb.”
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Mizkif reveals he was “terrified” during ban
Twitch’s Community Guidelines state that sexually explicit content is strictly prohibited on the platform, and many believed the plug on Mizkif’s account was automatically pulled after the content aired accidentally.
The streamer cleared the air, however, revealing someone had reported him for it moments after the moment occurred. “They banned me for that… which really f**king sucks because someone clipped it and reported it.”
“I was scared sh*tless cause I get a message… I was shaking. I haven’t had a panic attack since July, it said ‘indefinitely suspended.’ I was like ‘oh my f**king god.’ That’s perma… It was scary as hell, I was terrified,” he said.
Less than half an hour later, however, the Twitch star was back online, after clearly reaching out to officials at the Amazon-owned platform to clear up any confusion about why he’d been knocked offline in the first place.
“Pluto [Mizkif’s Twitch partnership manager] called me soon after and sorted it all out, so thank god for that,” he continued. “I still have everything, I still have Partner, and I didn’t lose anything. Twitch has been really good, which is great.”
After that 27-minute scare, Mizkif is back. The Twitch star has slipped straight back into his streaming schedule without a hitch, although most of his February 24 broadcast, eventually titled “IM BACK,” was focused on the shock suspension.
For the most part, the 25-year-old’s blink and you’ll miss it ban stands as a good warning for anyone streaming: don’t venture onto Twitter, and any social media, without checking first—there’s no telling what’s lurking in the free-for-all comments.
