A Twitch streamer who had his account deactivated after allegedly assaulting his pregnant partner while streaming Fortnite was back on the platform last week—but now his channel has been banned again following a social media outcry.
In a December stream, Luke "MrDeadMoth" Munday, 26, got into an argument with his 21-year-old partner while on camera, before continuing the dispute off-screen. Viewers heard a loud sound after which his partner called him a "woman basher” and said: "Don’t hit me in the face. Don’t touch me in the face. You hear that, all you people there, he just hit me in the face.” Munday's two young children can also be heard screaming in the background. Clips of the incident were uploaded to Twitter (warning: they're pretty disturbing viewing).
He is due in court on a common assault charge later this month. Twitch's rules state that violent acts are “considered zero-tolerance violations and all accounts associated with such activities will be indefinitely suspended". However, two weeks later Munday was streaming again to thousands of viewers, prompting outcry on social media, including from other streamers and director of Twitch Studios Marcus 'djWHEAT' Graham.
The man who beat his wife on stream (MrDeadMoth) is currently live streaming from your platform, how have you allowed this to happen bruh @TwitchJanuary 2, 2019
It's so great as a survivor of domestic abuse & content creator to see a streamer that beat the shit out of his wife while streaming still alive and well on @Twitch with 7000+ follows & affiliation. Way to send the right message 👌January 3, 2019
Yes, I work for Twitch. No, I do not know why every moderation decision is made. I appreciate many of you turning to me for answers, but I'm afraid I don't have any about this at this moment. However, I'm a concerned community member just like you, and I will look into it. TY.January 3, 2019
Yesterday, Munday's account was again deactivated. Twitch has not said whether the ban is permanent, but it issued the following statement to Kotaku:
“Protecting the integrity of our community is incredibly important to us. We want everyone on Twitch to have a safe and positive experience and work constantly toward that goal. Part of that work includes examining our policies and practices when we find they don’t properly address specific incidents to ensure we’re adapting as the Twitch community grows.”
Munday has not posted on Twitter since his latest stream, and his YouTube account is currently unavailable.
