An online comedian’s night out driving took a turn for the worst recently, after another individual pulled up mid-stream and started shooting in their direction.
Twitch streamer Jonny Zeta, whose channel goes by the name BeesOnMyHeadTV, was driving their car over the weekend and had pulled up in a parking lot. After getting out of the car, the streamer noticed another vehicle pull up.
A man got out of the back passenger door with a balaclava and began shooting a pistol in their direction. The shooter didn’t appear to directly target the streamer or another person nearby in the shot, but the obvious chaos resulted in the stream being cancelled, although Zeta let everyone know through Twitter later on that nobody was hurt.
im ok. everyone is ok.
— Jonny Zeta / BeesOnMyHeadTV (@JonnyZetaTV) September 15, 2019
The incident was clipped but later removed — although versions of it still exist online — after Twitch suspended Zeta’s channel, which Zeta said was the right thing to do. An email sent from Twitch support to Zeta later confirmed that the channel was “taken down to protect your privacy” following “an on-stream” emergency:
— Jonny Zeta / BeesOnMyHeadTV (@JonnyZetaTV) September 16, 2019
“I just wanted to show the screenshot that said the reason,” Zeta told Kotaku Australia over private message. “They did the right thing and I’m grateful for them taking it down when they did,” he said. The comedian and streamer has already talking to Twitch about getting his channel restored, although it’s not known whether the broadcast (and any Twitch clips made from it) will be restored.
Given the response from regulators to objectionable and violent livestreamed content, taking down the broadcast seems like the safest move. A bigger question is whether Twitch had the capacity to just take down the individual video and associated clips, or whether a temporary suspension of the whole channel was the only technical solution available.
Twitch was contacted for comment and clarification on its policies surrounding the restoration of channels like Zeta’s, but the company did not reply by the time of publication. This story will be updated should they provide a statement.
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