Hate Speech on Patreon
Some creators and patrons have questions regarding our removal of Sargon of Akkad for hate speech. We take a strong stance against hate speech and want to make sure everyone has the full context regarding this removal.
Before getting into the specifics, I’d like to warn you that there is some inflammatory language.
In an interview on another creator’s YouTube channel, Sargon said:
“I just can’t be bothered with people who chose to treat me like this. It’s really annoying. Like, I — . You’re acting like a bunch of n*****s, just so you know. You act like white n*****s. Exactly how you describe black people acting is the impression I get dealing with the Alt Right. I’m really, I’m just not in the mood to deal with this kind of disrespect.”
“Look, you carry on, but don’t expect me to then have a debate with one of your f**gots.…Like why would I bother?…Maybe you’re just acting like a n****r, mate? Have you considered that? Do you think white people act like this? White people are meant to be polite and respectful to one another, and you guys can’t even act like white people, it’s really amazing to me.”
Some people worry that we are reviewing content not posted on Patreon. As a funding platform, we don’t host much content, but we help fund creations across the internet. As a result, we review creations posted on other platforms that are funded through Patreon. Sargon is well known for his collaborations with other creators and so we apply our community guidelines to those collaborations, including this interview.
In our Community Guidelines, we state that we don’t allow hate speech. Part of how we define hate speech in those policies is:
“Hate speech includes serious attacks, or even negative generalizations, of people based on their race [and] sexual orientation.”
We also say:
“When reviewing an account for a potential hate speech violation, we consider some of the following questions:
-Is the creator using racial slurs or negative depictions of a protected class?”
In this case, Sargon used racial slurs to insult others and specifically linked those slurs with negative generalizations of behavior, in contrast to how people of other races act. He also used a slur related to sexual orientation to generally insult others.
Taken in whole, with all of the context, this violates our community guidelines.
We understand some people don’t believe in the concept of hate speech and don’t agree with Patreon removing creators on the grounds of violating our Community Guidelines for using hate speech. We have a different view. Patreon does not and will not condone hate speech in any of its forms. We stand by our policies against hate speech. We believe it’s essential for Patreon to have strong policies against hate speech to build a safe community for our creators and their patrons.
