Reimer, who has over 100,000 followers on Twitch and 855,000 on YouTube, was playing Call of Duty when he paused to pretend to threaten someone with a handgun. Although the footage seemed to show him emptying the chamber, a bullet was released which tore through an energy drink can and destroyed a computer monitor.
His Twitch channel was suspended for breaching community guidelines
Not long after the live-steam, his Twitch channel was suspended for breaching community guidelines that brandish lethal weapons as a “zero tolerance” violation. His gaming team SoaR additionally tweeted that he had been removed from the team.
In an apology later filmed on camera and posted on YouTube, Reimer stated that he was “clearly intoxicated” during the stream and argued that he thought he had emptied the bullets from the Glock pistol.
In the video, he stated, “guns are not a toy. They are not to be messed with…It’s a mistake, but it’s a mistake that could have cost somebody their life. I’m so broken about this…I made my biggest mistake of my entire life last night, and it could ruin my life. I could have hurt somebody, I could have hurt myself, I could have hurt one of my animals – and that’s unforgivable.”
He described how he had bought the gun for personal protection, and that he was in the wrong for handling it for entertainment purposes.
Fans have shown support for his apologetic stance and for how he accepted responsibility.
Reimer relies on his online career and following to make a living, having allegedly live-streamed every day for the last three or four years. The Twitch suspension could, therefore, be damaging for his career; streamer Ninja lost 40,000 Twitch subscribers after taking a two-day break in 2018.
Related: Popular YouTuber banned from Fortnite for life
The news of Reimer’s suspension comes just days after xQc was banned for briefly showing in-game nudity during his Twitch stream. It is unknown how long Reimer’s ban will last.
