MethodJosh: What Happened

Twitch streamer, MethodJosh, used to be one of, if not the most popular WoW streamers on Twitch. About a year ago he was banned from streaming, removed from esports team Method, and has dropped off the scene. So what happened to MethodJosh for all this to come at once?

MethodJosh, or now just Josh, was a U.K. streamer on the popular video streaming site Twitch. He built a big following thanks to him playing tons of World of Warcraft and his affiliation to the small Esports team, Method.

His following was just over 174,000 followers on Twitch before the controversy kicked in. He was deemed as the 13th highest World of Warcraft streamer on the platform. You can still find MethodJosh’s Twitch channel but the page does not load any of the older content because of the ban he received back in 2019.

Josh had earned himself a controversial reputation because of his interactions with women and unfortunately, underage girls. This ban was just the icing on the cake.

At the time, no one had known why MethodJosh received this email. It did not take very long for everyone to find out why.

From what you can assume, the ban came because of the various allegations against the popular streamer. It started when a woman named Caroline told Kotaku that she was interacting with Josh on Snapchat when she was a minor. The things he said are predatory, to say the least.

He told her that girls around 15 and 16 are the "perfect age." He asked to sleep with her multiple times. Around this time a different fan claims to have had similar interactions with Josh. She met him through Discord, where he took an unusually special interest in her once he found out she was a girl.

Various women in the Discord community attempted to reach out to Method about his treatment of these women in his community.

They responded by telling them they had to file a police report before acting and not post anything on social media. According to them, words and images could be “twisted”.

Then last summer, 2020, in a TwitLonger, the woman named Alex admitted that Josh had sexually harassed her and performed predatory behavior towards her while she was still a minor.

She stated that she was scared of being labeled a liar, but was inspired to share her story when others started coming forward.

After Alex called out Method for keeping Josh on their WoW roster, they finally took action. Method's general manager, Shanna "Darrie" Roberts, replied to Alex saying that she was "deeply sorry" for what happened. She stated that "action is coming," acknowledging that she knows it's "too late."

Soon after, Method confirmed that Josh was off the squad.

In a statement regarding Josh, Darrie said, “I can’t take back the pain and betrayal that the women who he abused felt when Method did nothing for a year. My focus now is working with our leadership team to develop policies that are unwavering, and without prejudice towards the perceived ‘value’ of a player."

Besides being banned, unaffiliated, and becoming famous for all the wrong reasons, what is next for MethodJosh?

There really is not much for him to do. As far as we know, there is limited information regarding his potential arrest.