Twitch starlet Fleeksie draws online flak after telling her audience to stop any attempt at “painful” small talk.
Though this comes as an honest advice from the streamer on how fans should and shouldn’t interact with their favorite content creators, her strong statements still led to an inevitable backlash from many.
The list includes those who are part of the streaming community themselves.
Who is Fleeksie?
Fleeksie, a small Twitch streamer, has garnered over 30,000 followers on the platform. She dubbed herself as the “world’s most pointless Twitch streamer,” featuring a variety of titular games and Just Chatting broadcasts where she watches some videos and keeps up with her chat.
A growing number of viewers tune in to her live broadcasts, but it’s important to note how the streamer presented a few guidelines on how she wants others to act in her chat.
None of these strong recommendations are listed in her Twitch channel, though. It was on Twitter where she revealed her biggest audience pet peeve last September 5.
“stop going into people live streams and asking “how are you”
“we live. we streaming. other people are watching. the room is not on fire. things are ok. just comment on whats happening. ask someone else in the chat how they are doing if you want small talk”
Fleeksie also expressed how tiring it is to respond to the same question over and over again:
“everytime i say “im good how are you” i feel a little puke in the back of my throat rise up. its actually painful responding to that question while ik other people who been watching for 45 mins heard me say it 36 times to all the people before you came up in here wicho small talk”
According to the starlet, small talk should be exclusively kept within the Twitch chat and not to be directed towards the streamer.
Her mindset led to an instant backlash from the online community, where some of the huge names on Twitch also called her out for her statements.
Fellow streamer Simasaurus responded to her thread:
“Be grateful you’re getting engagement. This suggests that you’re unappreciative of your viewers. They’re just being polite”
While another Twitch affiliate said:
“sweetie i don’t think you belong on the platform if “how are you?” is too much.”
Constructive criticism
While many immediately jumped into the online hate, there were others like Diegosaurus who tried to give some constructive criticism at least:
“…I’m going to try to be constructive here, when people ask how you are, they are saying that usually because they’re an avid viewer. They’re checking up on you, and it’s more of a “hey I’m here to see you again.” Not an actual ask.”
He even dropped a few tips for Fleeksie to effectively address those who direct the small talk towards her, instead of lashing out at them to stop their behavior.
“So when they ask, if you don’t feel like answering directly, don’t. Just say “Hey X! Good to see you.” or ask them how they’ve been or tell them you hope them well, all they’re asking for is acknowledgement.”
No taking back
Regardless of the apparent backlash, Fleeksie doesn’t seem to have any plans of taking back her statements… yet.
She even followed up some strong statements on Twitter multiple times after the controversial tweets.
“Welcome to twitch, where teeny bopper, misogynistic boys wanna tell women what they should be doing and how. Wahhh wahhh b*tch! Stick to chasing internet clout and using pleasantries that work in high school settings Right pointing backhand index clearly it’s working for you since you have so much to say”
“OOOO a woman on the internet who shares her honest thoughts, has opinions and claps back.
As people who see women with no other value than just being pretty and acting like an AI program, I can see why this would upset you.”
Do you agree with Fleeksie’s controversial yet honest statements, or is she being ungrateful for the engagement she’s getting?
