Twitch bans Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel for cheating at Twitch Rivals

Félix “xQcOW” Lengyel — former pro Overwatch player and currently one of the top streamers on Twitch — has been temporarily banned from the site for cheating at Twitch Rivals, a site-sponsored tournament series. Lengyel was playing this summer’s breakout smash Fall Guys, when he stream-sniped an opponent live on air and sent them home early. (Stream-sniping is looking at another player’s stream and intentionally griefing them when you happen to queue into a game together.)

Lengyel also forfeit his prize money and has been banned from appearing in a Twitch Rivals event for six months.

Lengyel posted a tweet a few days ago addressing the issue, which contained both an apology and an appeal to his fans.

Lengyel’s latest suspension is the third time this year he’s been kicked off Twitch temporarily. The first was in February, when he played an explicit version of Connect Four on stream and a CG opponent took her clothes off; the second was after he showed two gorillas having sex by accident, in his words. (And before that, while he was playing Overwatch professionally, Lengyel was no stranger to controversy.)

The reason all of this matters is because Lengyel is one of the biggest streamers on Twitch, period. He’s amassed 4.1 million Twitch followers and averages anywhere between 40,000 and 60,000 concurrent viewers in an average stream. Twitch has historically come under fire for not taking action against its largest channels, so Lengyel’s suspension is something of a big deal. He’s the biggest partner to be kicked off the site since Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm’s sudden (but permanent) ban earlier this year.