Katherine “Katchii”, aka itsKatchii on Twitch, has been banned from the platform a day after she got a lot of backlash for performing a “salute” during OTK-affiliated streamer Emiru’s Lunar New Year celebration party broadcast on February 5, 2025. Clips from the party where Katherine seemingly mimicked the Sieg Heil garnered a lot of attention on social media websites like X and Reddit, with many calling her out for acting like a “Nazi”.
On February 6, 2025, Twitch suspended her account for violating community guidelines. Trying to open her channel on the Amazon-owned website shows this message:
“This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.”
The @StreamerBans bot on X was one of the first accounts to report the ban and also noted that it was Katchii’s first ban on Twitch.
Like its other suspensions, Twitch has not publicly disclosed what the reason for the ban was. However, users online are attributing it to the “salute” Katchii performed during Emiru’s party, with many sharing clips of the controversial incident. As per a screenshot from her Discord, it appears that the ban is for a week.
What led to Katchii’s first Twitch ban? Exploring the controversial “salute”
As mentioned, a day before the ban, Katchii got in a lot of trouble online for doing a particular salute during the hibachi dinner at Emiru’s Lunar New Year party. The streamer had been told by the hibachi chef at the event to put her right hand on her chest. The streamer was seemingly in a light mood and proceeded to raise her right hand in the style of Sieg Heil as a seeming joke.
The discourse around the gesture has been a big topic of conversation these days, considering her hands seemingly mimicked what Elon Musk did at Trump’s inauguration earlier last month. The “salute”, as she called it, caused widespread condemnation from the streaming community, with many viewers criticizing her.
With so much backlash, Katchii reportedly addressed the controversy in a Discord message where she denied being a Nazi and claimed she was just trying to be funny. A relevant part of her apology reads as follows:
“I was trying to be funny (???) but obviously I was insensitive and just plain dumb. I’m obviously not a nazi or a racist wtf I don’t even comprehend how there are people alive who genuinely hate others just because of the way they were born.”
She also blamed alcohol for the mishap and claimed she is quitting drinking.
“What I did was stupid and if there’s anything I learned from this it’s that I cannot handle alcohol even in the slightest – I’m quitting.”
Readers should note that this is not the first time that Katchii has caused controversy after getting drunk at a streamer-related event. In October 2024, she was criticized for her use of alcohol during yet another OTK event.
Edited by Niladri Roy
