Japanese Twitch star flooded with subs after admitting to cheating on his wife

One of Japan’s most famous Twitch streamers, Junichi Kato, admitted to cheating on his wife — but was shocked to find himself flooded with subscriptions after revealing the news.

Junichi Kato, aka ‘Unko-chan,’ is a prominent Twitch streamer in Japan. Boasting over one million followers, Kato is also active in the esports scene and has established his own team with players competing in multiple titles.

However, on the weekend of September 14, Kato found himself in the middle of a scandal. During a live broadcast, Kato admitted that he had cheated on his wife… but the reaction from his fans was unexpected.

Rather than losing subscribers, viewers showed up in droves to purchase subscriptions toward his channel, causing the streamer to laugh out of apparent shock as his chat filled with subscription alerts and ‘lols’ from chatters.

“I had an affair,” he said. “My sub count’s going up right now. I’m trash, right? Don’t you think I’m trash? I lied and tricked women. Let me say it multiple times. I lied and tricked multiple women and had affairs.”

“I’m trash. I’m sorry,” he continued.

Prior to Kato’s live stream, fans discovered that he’d allegedly visited America with a fellow Twitch streamer.

The streamer he’d supposedly cheated with addressed the incident in a YouTube video, where she apologized to her viewers and claimed that Kato had told her he was divorced, thus tricking her into a relationship.

“I didn’t believe him at first, but after asking several more times, he insisted that he had already gotten a divorce,” she explained. “After several more meetings, we began dating. At first, I was concerned that dating him would lead to rumors of him committing adultery, but eventually we began dating.”

She also said that she became mentally distressed by their romance, saying that Kato refused to go public with her and his supposed ‘divorce.’ Due to this, the pair broke up several times, causing Hongo to engage in self-harm due to the anguish she was experiencing.

“I consulted with other people and came to the conclusion that staying inside and suffering alone would only make things worse, and so I decided to try and go out. I accepted an invitation from Kato and saw him again. I apologize to the man I was dating [at the time],” she said.

Instagram: ai_hongo_

The Twitch streamer who admitted to having an affair with fellow streamer Junichi Kato apologized to viewers in a YouTube video.

In his own stream, Kato also apologized to the streamer and asked his fans to refrain from “attacking” her due to his affair. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s all my fault. Attacking her is wrong. I’m the one who messed up. But from now on, I’m gonna stand my ground.”

Kato published a tweet discussing the situation on September 15, claiming that he will not publicly address the matter again.

“I will not commit adultery again, so please don’t bring this up in online news,” he wrote. “I will not make any further comments about the victim. I am sorry and I regret it.”

Kato famously live streamed his own wedding in March 2022 to the tune of 463,646 simultaneous viewers on YouTube and 111,196 on Twitch. 

Ironically, he isn’t the first streamer to broadcast his nuptials only to split up a short while later. Twitch streamers Natsumiii and BaboAbe also streamed their wedding in November 2022, only to part ways less than a year later.