By way of a particularly unfortunate stutter, veteran Dota 2 caster Austin “Cap” Walsh let the n-word slip while co-hosting a Twitch stream for Season 13 of DreamLeague. The situation was by no means intentional, as the racial slur was the result of a mispronunciation of the European esports organization “Nigma.”

Perhaps there wouldn’t have been too much attention on Cap’s stammer if he hadn’t set himself up for the fail; Only one month prior, the caster confidently addressed the risk of mispronouncing Nigma brought up by some of his viewers, stating that “nobody’s accidentally said that so, no, it’s not a problem.” A YouTube user was able to capitalize on the irony of the slip up by juxtaposing the two clips side-by-side.

As unfortunate as it is, the entire situation sprung from a “don’t think about -enter word-” effect. If someone is told not to think about a certain word over and over, it’s bound to make it harder to ignore. In this case, the chat asking about it definitely made things worse for Cap.

Twitch chat is often a manipulative and devious bunch, intentionally trying to create chaos for their own amusement – especially if it is at the expense of others. Many in the broadcast were quick to spam the “cmonBruh” emote in reaction, drawing attention to the stutter.

Reddit comments were quick to reflected the ill-will of many anonymous users, making it obvious that some people were eager to witness and/or cause a slip up such as this.

Another personality who knows this all-too-well is SweetAnita, a Twitch streamer with Tourette Syndrome. She ticked the n-word on stream last December and attracted a hate mob, despite her obvious lack of hateful intent. She also revealed that viewers in her chat consistently attempt to craft ways to get her to tic inappropriate things, so streaming with severe TS can be very difficult.

It’s safe to say that the n-word pass really doesn’t exist, so intentionally dropping the slur is something that would result in universal condemnation. Context is the most important thing to consider, however, and some people make honest mistakes – Cap’s case no exception.

Source: Reddit, YouTube