Gootecks is still upset at Twitch for removing his PogChamp emote

Fighting game icon and the former face of the Twitch emote PogChamp Ryan ‘Gootecks’ Gutierrez explained he’s still angry at the streaming site for removing his emote back in January of 2021.

Gootecks’s face was formerly one of the most popular emotes on Twitch. PogChamp was used by viewers whenever a hype moment took place on stream to visualize their reaction, normally one of shock and surprise.

The term remains popular to this day, as many with a Twitch lexicon often vocally say “Poggers,” “Pog” and other variants of PogChamp.

However, the Gootecks hasn’t been the face of PogChamp for awhile, and has since become KomodoHype following a site-wide poll.

Thanks @leahmndz01 for having me on the show! First time I’ve sat down for an interview since the PogChamp drama that kicked off 2021. Lots of spicy takes and hot topics that made for an interesting chat https://t.co/0R5L7Z2Ewr

— gootecks (@gootecks) August 23, 2021

The reason Twitch removed the emote stems from Gutierrez’s comments on Twitter asking if there would be civil unrest when a woman was shot and killed during the infamous Capitol Hill protests.

While Gootecks did respond to Twitch removing the emote in a YouTube video weeks after the incident, on August 23, he discussed it during podcast called “Local Landing.”

First, Gutierrez explained how Twitch allegedly never even asked him for permission to use his face as a global emote to begin with. (Segment begins at 18:00)

Gootecks says Twitch never asked for permission

“There was a very long legal… it never escalated to a lawsuit, but I’m no stranger to them. I knew them. So, they used my face for years. Literally years, until our lawyers worked out a deal,” he claimed. “Within hours of me posting this spicy tweet on Twitter, Twitch makes this statement on Twitter about how PogChamp is no longer going to be what pops up in chat.”

According to Gootecks, the fact his comments weren’t directed at Twitch, had nothing to do with gaming, and didn’t even happen on their platform, their decision was a bad one.

“It’s been used literally millions of times!” he exclaimed. “The vast majority of which don’t even know that it’s me. They just know PogChamp guy.”

He also took issue with Twitch claiming that he was “encouraging violence” with his tweet.

“Only a violent person would read what I said and think that!” he blasted.

A bit later on in the podcast, he complained that there were “never any expectations” or a “code of conduct” from Twitch in regards to PogChamp.

We've made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today.

— Twitch (@Twitch) January 7, 2021

Gootecks calls Twitch’s decision a “knee-jerk reaction”

“I didn’t sign up to be the face of Twitch. In fact, the way that they would use the emote on their site, actually isn’t what we had agreed upon anyway,” he revealed. “But since we were business partners, I’m like ‘whatever.’”

He added that he was never told to “tone it down on Twitter” and had been making statements previously that Twitch may not have agreed with.

“To me, what they did was such a knee-jerk reaction. Literally, like three hours, right? And clearly, whoever was making that decision, I don’t even think that they were aware of the deal that we have in place,” he added. “Cause if they did know, it would have gone up the ladder.”

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While Gootecks disagrees with how the situation was handled, he did end up getting paid when all was said and done, but he didn’t elaborate on how much the licensing deal with Twitch was actually worth.

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