Pokimane dead at 27

INTERNET — Fans mourn the loss of Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, who was found dead in her apartment by a family member Sunday evening. Authorities have not revealed a cause of death, but fans are speculating about the likelihood of suicide.

Pokimane’s death follows harsh criticism this week for defending the exploitive contracts at Twitch with the false claim that up-and-coming competitor Kick was, in her words, “making Twitch money,” a claim that Twitch CEO Dan Clancy later debunked.

In her stream Sunday afternoon, Pokimane mumbled to herself about the possibility of retiring from streaming due to the negativity in the streaming industry, and signed off with a cryptic suggestion that she wouldn’t be streaming anytime soon.

“I feel like [streaming] makes me a worse person,” she said, “I just want to be in a bubble, with my community … and that is very hard to do on Twitch.”

“People have been putting me down the whole way,” Pokimane said, fighting back tears as thousands of supporting comments flooded her channel. Pokimane hummed and fiddled with her earbuds in silence as hundreds of thousands of viewers watched in anticipation of what might happen next. The streamer repeatedly sighed, and apologized for leaving her audience with dead air for so long, “Sorry I shouldn’t just stream myself thinking about life. I have so many thoughts and I just can’t say them.”

Dr. Angstrom H. Troubador, showbiz analyst and longtime trendwatcher, told the Internet Chronicle, “All the big streamers are like this, with little or no talent for communication. Sometimes they will stare quietly at a slot machine for hours on end, without saying anything of interest. So why are these top streamers worth so much? These weird algorithms have selected them for how clickable they are, rather than any other metric. The result is so insipid and tasteless, without entertainment value, that these huge multi-million dollar contracts boggle the mind. My only conclusion is that there is a bubble in the streaming industry that’s about to pop, and Pokimane likely knows something that we don’t.”