A popular Twitch streamer has deleted his social media profiles after he was accused last week of sexual harassment by two different women, one of whom says she’s since learned of additional instances of assault from other alleged victims.
The Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts for Steve Blanchard, known by the username @steviebizznizz, have disappeared after a female Twitch streamer shared a letter on Twitter over the weekend in which she described being groped by Blanchard without her consent.
Shondra, a Toronto-based single mother known as @LewdWife who declined to be identified by her last name, told The Daily Beast that she initially met Blanchard through the social app Hover. The two streamed on Twitch to vastly different audiences, with his content revolving around sports and poker, while hers was mostly related to video games.
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“I didn’t know him that great beforehand. We had similar circles on Twitch,” Shondra, 39, tells The Daily Beast.
The two eventually met in person this past July at a Canada Day event with about 40 other streamers. That night, Shondra says, Blanchard groped her breast and grabbed another woman’s behind while they were at an outdoor bar. When the group moved to a different bar, she says she felt Blanchard press against her back as she waited for a drink inside.
“I grabbed my drink and felt his hand slide across my ass quickly moving forward between my legs… I jumped, turned and gave him a dirty look and ran to my table,” Shondra wrote in her letter. “I didn’t know what to do at that point and left the group to go back to my hotel and sleep. I was overwhelmed and scared and didn’t say anything.”
After that, her weekend was “ruined” and she “barely touched a drink” the rest of her time with the group, she wrote. “I pray other women come forward about this.”
Her post also includes secondhand allegations from other women, including one who allegedly told Shondra that Blanchard assaulted her at another streamer meet-up when he inserted his fingers into her vagina without her consent.
Blanchard is married and lives near Albany, New York, according to multiple people who know him from Twitch and identified him to The Daily Beast. His full name is included in Google search results for Instagram and LinkedIn accounts that are linked to his Twitch username. Those accounts have since been deleted.
When reached via email by The Daily Beast, Blanchard deferred to his attorney, Ryan Keleher, who said in a statement on Wednesday, “We have been assured by our client that the events alleged by certain Twitch members and others are wholly untrue.”
Twitch declined to comment, telling The Daily Beast they do not comment on individual accounts.
Just hours after Shondra shared her post, one of Blanchard’s former collaborators announced they no longer plan to work with him. Jojo, who goes by @LunaaCraft and declined to be identified by her last name due to privacy concerns, confirmed Blanchard’s real name to The Daily Beast and said she had been his primary video editor since January. In a tweet on Saturday, she wrote, “In light of recent news, I will no longer be StevieBizzNizz’s editor and have decided to cut ties.”
On Sunday, the day after Shondra posted her letter, another user who goes by @MissMegzie came forward with a similar story of being sexually assaulted by Blanchard during a group vacation with other streamers last month.
In her Twitter post, MissMegzie describes being “sexually” choked by Blanchard, whom she had previously considered one of her “closest friends” in the Twitch community. She says Blanchard twisted her nipple and slid his hand between her legs to grope her thigh and crotch, all without her consent.
“That is when I had to say again ‘STEVIE STOP WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!’ His response to the other people in the group, while putting his hands to his face, giggling in shock ‘I CAN’T HELP IT THAT I AM ATTRACTED TO THESE WOMEN,’” MissMegzie wrote, adding that Blanchard blamed his actions on being drunk and left the next day, after he was confronted by other men in the house about his behavior.
MissMegzie wrote that she has contacted multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles and New York Police Departments, in order to protect herself from retaliation. Neither agency was able to confirm the existence of any incident reports about Blanchard to The Daily Beast.
Jojo, Blanchard’s former video editor, told The Daily Beast that he disappeared from Twitch in recent weeks and hasn’t been in touch with her.
“Every time we checked up on him, he kept saying he was gone for mental health reasons,” she says. “He wouldn’t tell anybody what happened.”
MissMegzie similarly wrote in her letter, “Since he has been outed, he has deleted social media, deleted his discord server, and has the audacity to say that we, the victims, are making the assault up.”
Her post also includes a link to a Google Drive folder with screenshots that purportedly show Blanchard apologizing for his behavior. However, in one message dated Oct. 8—the day Shondra’s letter was published—Blanchard appears to deny the allegations against him: “I’m done with social media people are fucking gross and make shit up about the most serious things.”
