An Australian Twitch streamer charged with assault after allegedly hitting his wife during a stream was unbanned on the platform, but re-banned last night.
Luke “MrDeadMoth” Munday was charged with common assault for the Dec. 9 incident. Clips from the stream show Munday leaving his chair multiple times to allegedly assault his pregnant wife off-camera. A woman and children can be heard yelling in the videos posted online. Police arrested Munday hours after the assault, according to Australian media. Police told Australian press that the woman was not “seriously injured,” but “shaken” by the incident.
Related: Twitch streamer appears to assault his wife on stream while playing Fortnite
Munday announced a return to Twitch less three weeks after the incident. His channel was up and active for a few days before being banned again by Twitch. Another channel associated with Munday—listed in his Twitter bio—has also been banned. Twitch has not responded to Dot Esports’ multiple requests for comment regarding the situation.
Kotaku Australia reported that Munday’s assault case is ongoing in court. It’s unclear why Twitch would unban the account while the case is ongoing. Many people on social media have been critical of Twitch’s decision to initially unban the account; Twitch users have received harsher punishments for less severe infractions.
Twitch updated its community guidelines in February 2018, set to be enforced in March 2018. Community response to the guidelines was not positive; users expressed displeasure with the vague details regarding on- and off-stream behavior.
Update, Dec. 4 at 3:09pm: A Twitch spokesperson issued a statement to Dot Esports regarding Munday’s unban. “Protecting the integrity of our community is incredibly important to us,” the spokesperson wrote. “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.”
