VTuber Kirsche has been banned from participating in a panel at Offkai Expo.
This ban effectively “blacklists” Kirsche from participating in any official capacity, despite a claim from the official Offkai account that it’s not a “blacklist” as she’s free to “attend or participate in other ways”. Outside of a panel, there appears to be very few ways to participate as a VTuber, especially without the technical support of convention staff.
When asked for clarification, Lysander, the director for this year’s Offkai Expo directed Kirsche to a series of tweets where she made comments about pronoun discourse, DEI initiatives, and LGBT+ acronyms. You can find a video of Kirsche discussing her correspondence with Offkai Expo below. (Thanks Azehara!)
Disclosure: One of the Tweets provided as an example of Kirsche’s “polarizing” comments is a response to Niche Gamer’s Social Media Manager. Niche Gamer does not generally police the personal accounts of its staff, and has a diverse staff with diverse opinions.
Throughout the video, Kirsche maintains that her statements weren’t hateful and were at worst divorced from context. When asked if staff who disliked her could simply not assist the panel she’d appear in, she was told that since Offkai’s staff is volunteers, that it’d be difficult for staff to compartmentalize.
It’s worth mentioning that Offkai Expo is one of the largest VTuber conventions and is hosting talent from Hololive, Idol Corp, Phase Connect, and more.
You can check out Kirsche on YouTube here.
