YouTube/Gross Gore
- Ali Larsen, known as Gross Gore, has been indefinitely suspended from Twitch.
- The streamer posted on the RoastMe subreddit, unearthing sexual misconduct allegations.
- Larsen has started streaming on YouTube, undeterred by the ban.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Ali Larsen, a popular streamer known as Gross Gore on the live-streaming platform Twitch, has been indefinitely banned from the platform for violating harassment and hateful conduct policies.
Twitch confirmed the ban in an email to Insider.
"The safety of our community is our top priority," the company said in a statement. "We take appropriate action when we have evidence that a streamer has acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, including in certain instances where the behavior may have taken place off Twitch. These apply to all streamers regardless of status or prominence in the community."
The Amazon-run streaming service also pointed to the "Off-Service Harassment and Hateful Conduct" section of the site's Community Guidelines, which says the platform "may take action against persons for hateful conduct or harassment that occurs off Twitch services and is directed at Twitch users."
The ban follows years of sexual-misconduct allegations against the 28-year-old streamer stemming from an incident Larsen appeared to admit to of sending sexually explicit photos of streamer Celestia Vega, who was 17 at the time, to her mother on a USB drive in 2016.
Larsen announced his indefinite suspension Thursday night. In a video shared on Twitter, the streamer showed screenshots he said were emails from Twitch that explained the reasons for his ban. In the emails purportedly sent to Larsen from Twitch, the platform said it "reviewed multiple incidents of serious violations of Twitch's Terms of Service," and in a follow-up added that the bans were for "distributing nude images from another person in chat without their consent."
Larsen said in the video that he wasn't sure "why this is happening." When reached for comment, Larsen told Insider that there was "not really much to say" beyond the video he shared on Twitter.
Misconduct allegations have swirled around the streamer for years
Larsen, who had over 500,000 followers on Twitch before the ban, has been streaming full-time since 2013. Larsen's Twitch channel had been growing steadily over 2021, reaching roughly 9,000 viewers per stream before the ban.
He grew popular playing the card-throwing champion Twisted Fate in League of Legends, but his streaming career has been marked by a series of controversies.
He received an account suspension in 2016 after spreading rumors about multiple professional League of Legends players sleeping with sex workers and acting inappropriately. In 2018, he was accused of getting into a physical altercation at RuneFest, a gaming convention in London, which landed him a one-month Twitch suspension.
Online chatter about Larsen's controversial history resumed on March 12 when Larsen shared a picture of himself to the RoastMe subreddit, where posters are picked apart by users based on their looks. Some commenters knew who Larsen was from Twitch, and linked a list of all the indiscretions Larsen was accused of over the past five years. The post contains videos that appear to show Larsen admitting to asking a 15-year-old to show her breasts, saying he "fancies" a 16-year-old when he was 24 years old at the time, and saying that he slept with 17-year-old Vega.
Larsen was also accused of groping streamer Jenna at TwitchCon 2019 and a video appeared to show him saying he "whipped his d--- out" at her at another event. Jenna told Kotaku that Larsen was like a "big brother" and found the experiences "super creepy."
In a recent YouTube video responding to allegations, Larsen denied having sex with Vega when she was a minor, but did not deny the other claims.
"This isn't me, you can read those disgusting things in the past, I look back, I cringe and I'm embarrassed and I regret so much," he says in the video.
A recent grooming allegation brought new attention to the claims
On March 13, a Twitter user known as Eve posted a blog on Twitlonger that Larsen had "groomed" her when she was 13 and he was around 15 or 16.
"Grooming" refers to building "a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person" in order to "manipulate, exploit and abuse them," according to the UK's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
"I want people to know Ali has a long, deep-rooted history of sexual harassment," she wrote in the post.
-E (@EVEVE24) March 13, 2021
"It was never a secret what Ali did," Eve, who wished to remain anonymous to protect her identity, told Insider. "Back then people cheered him on, and he gained more followers. Fortunately, that's not the case anymore and people realize how disgusting his behavior was."
Larsen said in the YouTube video acknowledging several allegations that he had "no recollection" of the events Eve referenced, but did not deny the claims. "I was 15 back then and I've done a lot of growing up since then. If this is true, I'm really sorry," he said.
"His response was upsetting," Eve told Insider. "It's easier for him not to remember how horrible he was."
After the Twitch ban, Larsen has started livestreaming on his YouTube channel, where he currently has over 340,000 subscribers.