Twitch CEO Dan Clancy faces backlash from fans for 'shamelessly promoting' his own channel

Twitch, the globally renowned livestreaming platform, often makes the headlines, particularly for events concerning the streamers.

From banning them to controversies rising during a broadcast, the site remains in the spotlight frequently. However, this time, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy is in the news.

The Twitch CEO has now become the talk of the town for "shamelessly" self-promoting his channel.  His act of asking others for raids, as cited by Dexerto, has been making the rounds on social media platforms.

Netizens are bashing him for his unexpected stunt of self-promotion.  

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy encountered criticism for promoting his channel shamelessly

Clancy recently came under the radar for promoting his channel and asking for assistance from streamers. According to a Dexerto report, he hosted a livestream on July 18. He was live for four hours for a charity for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital as part of the GCX Marathon. Starting from July 14 to 21, the stream's goal is to fundraise for the hospital.

The helpful initiative for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital has already collected a donation exceeding $350,000. Amid the intense backlash for self-promotion, Dan's controversial livestream made around $4,000.

While no one is standing against his noble cause of doing his first charity stream, netizens began slamming him after a screenshot of his message stating his self-promotion in several Twitch channels went viral on the internet.

As the outlet confirmed, his method of self-promoting in several Twitch channels for raids does not imply taking a stand against Twitch’s Terms of Service or Community Guidelines. However, it is considered an improper take.

On July 20, streaming reporter Zach Bussey 🇨🇦 (@zachbussey) shared a screenshot of Clancy's screenshot on X (formerly Twitter), with the caption,

"It's 2025, and Twitch Partners are still self-promoting in people's chats."

It's 2025, and Twitch Partners are still self-promoting in people's chats. pic.twitter.com/vjD9duhZpL

— Zach Bussey 🇨🇦 (@zachbussey) July 20, 2025

Texted on July 19 at 00:32:34, the chatlog screenshot reads,

"DJClancy: I am shamelessly going into chat of streamers I know to ask for raids when they are done."

Explaining the reason, he also added,

"I am doing my first charity stream for St Jude’s as part of the GCX Marathon."

Reflecting on the screenshot's authenticity, he elaborated in the next post,

"And before you ask... Yes, this is real. I verified with multiple mods + streamers in the place(s) where the self-promo occurred. So disrespectful, and ignores the most basic of Twitch etiquette."

According to the Dexerto report, Dan sent this text to around five renowned channels on the platform. He particularly chose creators with an impressive following such as Fanfan and Gassymexican.

Interestingly, the CEO himself was blocked from the platform for a while. He lost the ability to chat for around 10 minutes for promoting himself "shamelessly." While his act was not unethical or worth a ban, it was considered spam, prompting a quick block.

Dexerto reported the Community Guidelines of Twitch, explaining,

"Spam and other deceptive practices create a negative user experience, decrease trust in our service, and mislead viewers, creators, and advertisers."

It further detailed,

"Any content or activity that disrupts, interrupts, harms, or otherwise violates the integrity of Twitch services or another user’s experience or devices is prohibited."

Renowned creators and netizens react to the Twitch CEO controversy

Since Zach Bussey's screenshot went viral on social media, users have been pouring into the comment section with their opinions. Gothalion is one of the co-founders of the noble initiative. Reflecting on the online fiasco, he commented,

"Man. I hate that this is what the thing I founded has become."

Man. I hate that this is what the thing I founded has become.

If real, @djclancy999, how did you not set up cameos and corporate support? Why was this reactive instead of proactive? https://t.co/Y4NDyszZ1H

— Gothalion (@Gothalion) July 20, 2025

Questioning Dan, he further asked, 

"If real, @djclancy999, how did you not set up cameos and corporate support? Why was this reactive instead of proactive?"

Judging Clancy's act, he later tweeted under the original post,

"Charity or not (I founded this event) this is rude as f*ck"

YouTuber Ethan Klein also joined the rush of netizens slamming Clancy by sharing the viral screenshot on his Instagram story and expressing his views, adding,

"Dan Clancy (CEO of Twitch) caught begging for views in chat. What a f*cking weirdo loser. I can't wait for him to be unemployed."

X user @KisakaToriama called Dan's stunt "disrespectful" and "legit spam," saying,

"Yeesh… Not only disrespectful but also legit spam since he’s saying it over and over in different channels 🤣 Isn’t that kinda against their own TOS or am I wrong…?"

Another netizen @LunariValkyrie remarked,

"Wow...Even if it's for charity, that's still so disrespectful and shameful, especially as the CEO..."

@UrFavModerator hilariously commented,

"LMFAOOO WHAT"

X user @AnabriellaTV judged Clancy by chiming in,

"What a weird way to set an example 🤦"

A social media user with the username @Cybersijn left a comment, reading,

"Bl**dy hell!  That's ... that's actually not very surprising to be honest.  Considering the whole double standards baseball bat they're being hit with atm.  It's why I went to Kick, in part."

It has been a while since Clancy's message began surfacing on multiple social media platforms, prompting a rush of criticism and judgments from many. However, neither the CEO nor a statement on behalf of Twitch has been released yet.