A viral clip from a Twitch streamer’s broadcast is sparking controversy online, showing that she was assaulted by a local bouncer outside a non-foreigner club.
It’s not unusual to see IRL streamers get into the occasional scuffle with locals during their trips abroad. Several streamers have, unfortunately, broadcast instances of intense racism and even thefts while sharing their tourist experiences with viewers.
However, a recent clip from half-Japanese, half-Irish Twitch streamer ‘sushipotato’ is sparking backlash across the net, which showed the broadcaster being forcibly removed from an establishment by a Japanese local during a night out on the town.
The clip itself is quite shocking; the local, who appears to be a bouncer for a night club, shoves the streamer before taking her umbrella, then drags her by her backpack away from the front of the club.
The streamer is visibly upset and dumbfounded by the bouncer’s aggression — but a further look into sushipotato’s VOD sheds more light on the situation. Sushipotato first approaches the bouncer and asks if the club is friendly to foreigners, to which he appears to answer no.
This prompts some angry questioning from the streamer, who shows her passport to the bouncer as proof that she is in the country legally as a citizen.
“Am I a foreigner?” she asks in English, before stating in Japanese, “I’m not a foreigner!” while flashing her passport. “You just said [no foreigners]. That’s really racist!”
“By my face, my looks, you assume I’m gaijin [a foreigner],” she continues. “[Isn’t that right?] That’s not cool!”
She then asks him to apologize, which he does, and walks away from the club before explaining the situation to her English-speaking followers.
This happens in Japan all the time,” she said. “They just assume! I was so mad! Dude, do I have to take out my passport every time? Still, ‘We can’t allow people who aren’t Japanese!’”
After grabbing some grub at a street vendor, the streamer sits back down in front of the club to rest and the bouncer approaches her once again… prompting her to flip him the bird before the events in the initial clip occur.
The unfortunate situation has prompted heated discussion among viewers and outrage over the discrimination against sushipotato — a Japanese citizen whose mixed heritage causes her to be turned away from venues in her own country over her looks.
