- A Twitch streamer changed his avatar to a white man and received three times his usual views.
- Zach, or Just_Relax_Kid, is Black, and theorized that pretending to be white meant higher views.
A Twitch streamer, who is Black, changed his avatar to a white man, and immediately saw a major bump in views.
Just_Relax_Kid, whose name is Zach, has been a Twitch creator for about nine years, and has 77,000 followers on his channel where he normally streams gaming content.
On December 2, Zach decided to replace his video feed with a cartoon avatar of a white man with a beard — a method used by virtual YouTubers, or VTubers, who prefer to stay anonymous.
According to Dexerto, Zach, on average, amasses around 300-800 views per stream. But after changing the image, he saw that number increase by at least three times. One stream received 1,600 views, another 7,900, and another over 22,000.
"What the hell?" Zach said when he saw his view count rising. He then responded to a comment which suggested it's "because you a white dude with a beard now."
"Is this what it feels like to have privilege on Twitch?" Zach said. "That shit worked earlier than I thought it would."
Zach said he had a feeling it would have worked, and he should have tried the experiment before.
He shared a video to X, formerly Twitter, as well to prove his point.
"I really got 3x more viewers since I took off my cam and decided to be a white man," he said.
"Oh y'all think I'm joking?" he added. "My numbers while being black vs white."
Oh y’all think I’m joking? My numbers while being black vs white https://t.co/6CRaxGERSu pic.twitter.com/mhXmdyzsqE
— Just Relax Kid (@JustRelaxK1d) December 3, 2023
Zach told Dexerto in an interview that he was "hurt" by the realization, and that he didn't want "people feeling shame just for being who they are."
He also said he had fellow Black creators messaging him and saying they had changed their avatars and seen similar results.
While he didn't want to make a point, saying in a follow-up X post that he didn't ask for "people to pull out the pitch forks," Zach told Dexerto he received some criticism for his video.
"I was getting hate from everywhere, from Black people and white people," he said. "White people were mad at me because they said I was screaming racism, but Black people were mad at me because I wasn't screaming racism."
He added that he felt "betrayed" by Twitch, believing he did not receive the recognition he deserved for the time he had put into the platform.
"I've been one of your partnered streamers for almost a decade, and I've never gotten any love or nothing from Twitch ever," he said. "Like, not a single thing besides Black History Month. Like, nothing. It was wild to me, and I was like, 'You know what, I probably won't show my camera anymore.'"
Business Insider has reached out to Twitch for comment.