Former YouTuber Dee Kosh hardly ever posts on social media these days. His last posts on Facebook and Twitter are all over a year old.
But he surfaced recently, posting on Instagram stories on Wednesday (Mar 16) to say why he hasn’t been on Twitch either.
For non-gamers (yes, some of us are still out there and not all of us are Boomers *coughs*), Twitch is a US-based live-streaming service that features esports competitions and music broadcasts, but it’s primarily known for video game live streaming.
Streamers can receive commissions based on the sales of the games they play, so it can be a lucrative platform, perhaps particularly for Kosh, whose popularity took a sharp nosedive in 2020, after several young men accused him of sexual harassment.
He faces three counts of offering cash to boys below 18 for sexual services. He also faces three charges under the Films Act and one under the Children and Young Persons Act, for offences involving at least four boys aged between 15 and 17.
In January, Kosh’s lawyer, Mr Joel Wong of Eugene Thuraisingam LLP told District Judge Terence Tay that the prosecution was ready to proceed with Kosh’s case and that the former YouTuber’s instructions were that he is “ready to take a certain course of action”.
In video on Kosh’s YouTube channel which seems to have taken down, he had said he was “no paedophile” but would “plead guilty to making sex-for-cash offers to boys”.
Kosh, 33, (born Darryl Ian Koshy) is out on bail and is waiting his next court date. In the meantime, he said on Instagram, he’s been unable to do live streams on Twitch because he’s reportedly been “banned for life”.
This is what Kosh’s Twitch channel looks like now.
Another Twitch account he started was banned after two days.
He then said that he wished Twitch would tell him why he had been banned and asked followers to recommend alternative platforms for him.
Netizens commenting on a mothership story about Kosh being banned from Twitch obligingly provided answers as to why they thought he was banned from the platform, which is, after all, used primarily by young people.
One commenter posted a screenshot of Twitch’s community guidelines, from a pertinent section on “Off-Service Conduct.”
“Twitch is committed to facilitating vibrant and dynamic communities, which can only happen if our users feel secure and protected. In order to achieve this goal, Twitch enforces against severe offenses committed by members of the Twitch community that occur outside of our services, such as … sexual assault, and child grooming.
We will investigate reports that include verifiable evidence of these behaviors and, if we are able to confirm, issue enforcements against the relevant users.”
This was repeated by another netizen.
Others expressed surprise that Kosh seemed so clueless.
/TISG
Dee Kosh to plead guilty to multiple sexual offences, including attempts to exploit teenage boy