Pokimane is Twitch’s most-followed female streamer — but being an internet superstar comes with some pretty severe drawbacks, as she noted in an interview with Anthony Padilla.
Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys is one of the most popular women on Twitch… and only one of two women in the site’s Top 20 most followed broadcasters.
The streamer recently reached 9 million followers on the site and continues to grow after her renewal with Twitch earlier this year, boasting an exclusive streaming deal with the purple platform.
However, broadcasting live to thousands of viewers each day can crop up some overzealous fans. These fans can develop parasocial relationships with influencers who have no idea who they are.
Pokimane recalls “scary” stalker incident
This has happened to Pokimane before. During a recent interview with Anthony Padilla, she recounted one frightening instance where a stalker found her home address and flew to California just to see her.
“There was a guy who showed up to our neighborhood and was just walking around looking for us,” she recalled. “He came across my roommate, and he was like, ‘Oh, I know you. You need to take me to Poki. We’re meant to be. I came down here for her.'”
Luckily, Poki’s roommate tipped her off about the situation and she was able to lock all her doors. However, she still stayed up all night streaming for fear something would happen to her.
“I was like, if this guy finds me, and tries to do something scary, at least I’ll be streaming, so people will see what happens.”
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Pokimane has three phone numbers to combat harassment
That’s not all; Pokimane also revealed that she refuses to purchase a home for fear that her address will get leaked, preferring to hop from lease to lease in the event she has to make a quick move.
She also has three phone numbers due to the amount of times her number gets leaked — leading to some truly disturbing messages toward her.
“I’ve received so many scary texts,” she said. “If someone finds your number and they’re like, ‘We’re gonna send someone out to SA you, to do this, to do that. I’m gonna find your family.'”
Pokimane is far from the only female streamer to have dealt with a stalker; streamers like Amouranth, Sweet Anita, BrookeAB and others have been open about harassment and threats toward their family for some time, calling for change on multiple online platforms.