Pokimane calls out YouTube as her Oscars Will Smith slap video gets flagged

Virginia Glaze

Twitch star Pokimane is pleading with YouTube for help after the platform flagged her video reacting to Will Smith’s viral Oscar slap as “inappropriate” for advertisers.

The internet still can’t stop talking about the moment Will Smith walked on stage at the 94th Academy Awards to slap Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.

The moment took social media by storm, spawning a slew of reactions from high profile celebrities and fellow comedians like Joe Rogan and even Jim Carrey.

While tons of influencers have posted their takes on the situation online — including full footage of the slap, itself — Twitch streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys is experiencing some difficulties sharing her thoughts about the matter.

Anys pleads with YouTube for help over flagged Will Smith Oscars slap video

Anys notably uploaded her reaction to the slap on YouTube without issue on Monday, but says that now, her video has been flagged as not advertiser friendly.

The issue is completely befuddling her, as other creators have uploaded the slap to YouTube with ads enabled without any problems. Now, she’s reaching out to the platform and other creators for help.

Pokimane staying on twitch
Pokimane is one of Twitch’s biggest stars and the only woman in Twitch’s top 20 most-followed streamers.

“My video was flagged as non-advertiser friendly, even though there’s lots of videos with millions of views that talk about this topic with ads,” she wrote on Twitter. “Anyone have any idea why?”

Anys attached a screenshot of an email she’d received from YouTube, which said her video is “running limited or no ads due to content identified as not suitable for most advertisers.”

While most commenters theorize that the slap was considered too “violent” for advertisers, others question if her video wasn’t specifically targeted by internet trolls — something that recently happened to steamer JustaMinx, who was banned from TikTok three times due to mass reporting.

Luckily, Pokimane’s video remains viewable. Anys said that Jada’s alopecia was a “s**ty thing to joke about,” but ultimately called the situation “confusing” as Smith appeared to be laughing at Rock’s joke at first.

Will Smith has publicly apologized and he is currently being investigated by the Academy due to the slap.

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About The Author

Virginia is Dexerto's Entertainment Editor and an expert in all things TikTok, YouTube, and influencer-related. Boasting a background in esports, she's been tackling the social media space for over five years. You can reach Virginia at: virginia.glaze@dexerto.com.