Twitch star Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys opened up to her audience during her February 8th 2020 broadcast, and detailed a terrifying experience of when a fan unexpectedly showed up near the OfflineTV house.
Being a successful streamer requires building a relationship with your audience. However for some personalities, those lines become crossed when a viewer truly starts to believe they are friends with them.
Twitch’s biggest female star Pokimane opened up about this during her recent broadcast, and explained why she has to keep her guard up. She even revealed a scary story when a donator tried to meet her in real life without permission.
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Fan shows up near Pokimane’s house
The streamer was reacting to a viral music video on YouTube called “Obsession” by penguinz0 when she decided to open up about her own experience with a fan similar to the one in the song.
“He just wasn’t all there in the head. He would like, send bits, and he would think that just because I respond, like that means we are friends. Like, real life friends. It’s like you guys are my community. And in a sense we are friends. But for this guy, it was way more than that,” she said.
She then detailed a scary situation where the fan tried to meet her in real life. “He showed up near our OTV house. It was difficult to deal with because I could tell he just didn’t understand. That when I respond to bits and am like thank you, it doesn’t mean that I personally know who you are. Or that you know personally who I am. Or that you can come to my house!” Pokimane said.
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The Twitch star also revealed during the stream that she wishes that she could be closer with some of her fans, but was afraid that some might take it the wrong way.
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“Sometimes I always wish that I could sometimes have a closer connection with certain members of my community. But I’ve always avoided talking to donators or communicating with people really outside of stream time. Because I don’t want them to develop a parasocial relationship,” she continued.
Proving her point, a viewer nastily commented that the streamer only felt that way because of her ego. Responding, she said, “It doesn’t matter what you do, people will twist it however they want in their mind. Even if you message them to be nice and be grateful for their donation in their mind they will be like “Oh she’s messaging me because she likes me!”
The 23-year-old then clarified why it’s better to not let delusional viewers have expectations grow. “And if you’re like oh I won’t message people, “your ego is too f**king high, you big b**ch” … Either way I’m being a b**ch. So I might as well be a safe b**ch, and not make it more likely for people to have expectations of me they shouldn’t,” she said.
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Unlike traditional celebrities, streamers have made their success by directly connecting with fans. However Pokimane’s scary story shows the downside to the medium, as some viewers can’t distinguish the lines between being a viewer and a friend.
The Twitch star continues to crush it on the platform, growing her audience to over 3.8 million followers. The Moroccan Canadian personality also has extremely successful Instagram and YouTube accounts as well, making her a juggernaut in entertainment.
