An anime catboy just taught Bernie Sanders what vtubers are during a Twitch stream

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We've all been there.

A black-haired anime catboy avatar next to Bernie Sanders sitting in front of blue background
(Image credit: AustinShow / Twitch)

Bernie Sanders met his first catboy vtuber on a Twitch stream yesterday to help promote presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and, I gotta say, he handled it pretty well. Most people—let alone U.S. Senators—might've been more hesitant, but Sanders took it in stride.

Twitch streamer and virtual YouTuber Sykkuno greeted Sanders in his anime avatar moments after he joined the stream and explained why he wasn't on camera like the others, which included host AustinShow and popular streamer Pokimane.

"This might be the funniest moment in American political history to date," X user therealpanzer posted with a screenshot of the guests lined up on the Discord video call.

I'm never going to get over the absurdity of seeing a still shot of human faces joined by a single vtuber. Even after their explosive popularity on Twitch and YouTube during the pandemic, vtubers haven't shaken all the novelty off. But we're getting there: Pink-haired vtuber Ironmouse recently became the most subscribed-to Twitch streamer ever with over 320,000 subscribers earlier this month. I'm certain Sanders won't be the last politician we see talking live on Twitch with an anime character, and I'm here for it.

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Tyler Colp

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.