Meet xQc, Twitch's most popular streamer who's faced criticism and suspensions for everything from watching nudity in an adult-themed game to using a homophobic slur

Félix Lengyel, known online as xQc, is known for his eclectic personality, desire to say whatever is on his mind, and a penchant for the word "dude." The streamer has built up a massive audience hungry for his content.

On an average xQc stream, you might see him roleplay as a bank robber in "Grand Theft Auto Online" or share his take on the latest takes on the drama circling the Twitch-o-sphere.

Lengyel's popularity has grown since he began playing "Overwatch" professionally in 2016. His Twitch channel, created in 2016, now has nine million followers, has reached 400 million total views, and has streamed for over 15,000 hours.

Lengyel was the most-watched streamer from January to June 2021 and had nearly 15 million hours of watch time on his channel in July, according to the data collection platform Rainmaker.gg.

Here's everything you need to know about the creator.

On November 12, 1995, Lengyel was reportedly born in Laval, a city in southwest Quebec, Canada, according to fan-run wiki pages about the streamer.

As a child, he liked to bike and film the tricks he'd perform on a digital camera.

He was also a self-admitted troublemaker, once sharing a story on a stream about how he had gotten into trouble with his school principal after taping a bunch of pens together and breaking them.

"Overwatch" team Denial Esports picked up Lengyel in October 2016 before it disbanded in May 2017, according to his Twitter. "Overwatch" is a team-based shooter game where players take control of heroes who have unique abilities in six-versus-six combat.

The group of players formed a new team called Arc 6 before they disbanded in 2017, due to the formation of the Overwatch League, the game developer Blizzard's own esports franchise, which Lengyel became a member of.

In November 2017, one year after he had started streaming, he was averaging 5,200 concurrent viewers per stream.

The Dallas Fuel, one of the 20 teams competing in the Overwatch League, announced in October 2017 that Lengyel would be joining their roster.

But his time on stage was short-lived. He was suspended twice by the Overwatch League for disparaging remarks he made while streaming, including using the racist "Trihard 7" emote in Twitch chat and using a homophobic slur at another player. Lengyel and the Dallas Fuel eventually parted ways in March 2018.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Lengyel played for Team Canada at the Overwatch World Cup. In 2019, he was signed as a substitute player for the minor league franchise Overwatch Contenders' Gladiators Legion team, which disbanded when the league broke up in 2020.

Lengyel became a full-time streamer after that first suspension and continued his rise as a breakout star.

According to Twitch Tracker, he broke one million followers in January 2019 and was averaging around 15,000 concurrent viewers during his streams.

In addition to "Overwatch," he's played over 50 games on his Twitch channel, including "Among Us," "Fortnite," "League of Legends," and "Call of Duty." Lengyel also enjoys watching cringe YouTube compilations or other video content during his streams, which sometimes go on for nine hours per day.

Lengyel's gaming ability, combined with his penchant for saying whatever is on his mind, attracted viewers to his channel. But the streamer has also been known for insulting his teammates in the competitive games he played. In July 2021, he told "Call of Duty" opponents "terrible" and one a "loser."

The NoPixel community is a group of streamers who roleplay on a "Grand Theft Auto Online" server, mostly streaming on Twitch. Playing as multiple characters, including a bank robber named Jean Paul and a police officer named Pierre Paul, Lengyel built an infamous reputation for breaking character and twisting the rules of the server.

He has been banned and then unbanned from the server at least five times.

In April 2021, Lengyel started gambling with virtual slot machines on the cryptocurrency-fueled website Stakes.com.

His first gambling stream had over 125,000 concurrent viewers and Lengyel had his own promotion code for viewers to use on Stakes.

But after receiving backlash from the community, he announced on June 23 that he was "done" with gambling streams because he "gets addicted to things very easily."

Lengyel has been suspended from Twitch multiple times in his five years on the platform.

In 2020, he received three suspensions: one three-day in February for watching nudity in an adult-themed game; one in June for 24 hours for watching a video of two gorillas performing intercourse; and a 7-day suspension in November for stream sniping — watching another streamer's stream to get an in-game advantage — during a Twitch-sponsored "Fall Guys" tournament.

On July 28, Lengyel was briefly suspended on Twitch after the International Olympics Committee issued a copyright strike after he watched some of the games, he said in a tweet.

His account was quickly unbanned but the streamer disagreed with the strike, working with his lawyer and agent Ryan Morrison to issue a counterclaim.

"The thing that made this interesting to people is it's a massive company and a massive streamer," Morrison previously told Insider.

Read more from Insider's Digital Culture desk.