The far-right VTuber community, which, yes, is a real thing, is experiencing a rather complicated case of infighting at the moment, after a right-leaning VTuber by the name of Ember Paradox announced on a Twitch stream that they were assigned male at birth.
Ember Paradox is a well-known VTuber with a female avatar who streams on both Kick and Twitch, and is perhaps most famous for her collaborations with fellow “anti-woke” Kick streamers Tectone, Kirsche, and Strawb.
On October 26, a user on X posted a clip of Ember Paradox’s voice changer temporarily glitching during a livestream. This spurred the VTuber’s right-leaning former allies into an investigative hate campaign, resulting in VTuber Strawb posting this on X in reply to one of Ember Paradox’s posts: “you are a biological man though, right?”
Many immediately labelled this as a “leopards ate my face” moment, a phrase referring to those in marginalized communities who experience adverse consequences after supporting or allying themselves with right-wing figures or ideology. However, Ember Paradox still chose to discuss “the revelation” publicly in a stream on October 27.
When questioned as to whether she “consider[s] themselves to be trans or a man” during the stream, Ember Paradox offered a plaintive answer.
“I don’t know,” Ember Paradox replied. “I don’t have an answer for that. When I’m streaming, this is me. Any time I stream, this is me; Ember, the redhead, sometimes anime catgirl. Off stream? Outside of Discord? I’m just…normal. I’m not going to therapy, I’m not going through medications, I’m not spending my days dressing up or anything like that…on stream, this is me. That’s the best explanation that I can give you.”
I’m using she/her pronouns in this article based on Ember Paradox’s response. However, Ember Paradox stated later in the stream that they prefer to use male pronouns when not embracing their VTuber persona.
Many of her subscribers accused Ember Paradox of “[lying] about being a woman” in her Discord server following the stream, and her MAGA-supporting VTuber and Twitch collaborators accused her of “lying about his gender to get close to women and speak to them in ways they would not be speaking to a man.”
Sadly, while Ember Paradox has long been a “SJR hater” (a term she coined as a variant on SJW or “social justice warrior” that replaces “warrior” with a slur), using her voice to punch down on marginalized people has seemingly earned her little goodwill within her own community. Following the October 27 stream, Ember Paradox’s subscriber and follower count dipped by thousands across Kick, Twitch, and YouTube.
