Twitch gamer accused of faking disability

A prominent Twitch.tv gamer has been accused of faking a disability in order to amass donations.

Streamer ZilianOP, whose real name is Angel Hamilton, had been streaming gameplay from Twitch under the pretense that he required the use of a wheelchair.

He had asked for donations based on wheelchair-related expenses previously, and according to Kotaku he had appeared in a video where he discussed the benefits of being in a wheelchair. The video has since been removed from YouTube.

The perception from the Twitch community was that Hamilton was entirely disabled. When, on April 5th, Hamilton suddenly stood up from his wheelchair before walking off-camera, people were understandably confused and angered.

Twitch has condemned the actions of both Hamilton and his girlfriend. As of the time of this writing, both Hamilton's Twitch account and his girlfriend's have been closed by Twitch. They have said that Hamilton's actions violated the terms of service and were a "slap in the face" to gamers with disabilities.

The Twitch broadcaster, Zilianop, did indeed have his channel closed and his partnership contract terminated on the basis of fraud. Moving forward, we'll be offering refunds to those who subscribed to his channel through Twitch. We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior and the character demonstrated in this situation is truly reprehensible. His actions are a huge slap in the face to Twitch community members with real disabilities such as Aieron, and groups such as AbleGamers, who have helped spread a message of inclusiveness and positivity to not only the Twitch community, but gaming as a whole.

A Reddit thread about the event claims that Hamilton received over $8,000 in donations, though this number has yet to be confirmed by Twitch.

It should be noted that, as far as we know, Hamilton has never said that he is confined to a wheelchair, though it is fair to say that he implied it. It is important to consider the possibility that Hamilton is capable of some limited mobility, despite normally requiring the use of a wheelchair for day-to-day activities.

There has been no response from Hamilton as of the time of this writing. If the story develops, DarkPixel will update you accordingly.