Ethan Klein vs. Frogan Sabra Tier List Controversy

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Overview

Ethan Klein vs. Frogan Sabra Tier List Controversy, also known as TwitchCon 2024 Sabra Antisemitism Controversy, refers to an online controversy that took place in late October 2024 after H3H3 Productions' Ethan Klein accused the streaming site Twitch of platforming antisemitism at TwitchCon 2024, which was held in San Diego in late September of that year. Klein used the example of a tier list created by streamers Frogan, Capri and Raff, the creators of the Ayyrabs podcast, where they ranked fellow streamers on the basis of who they believe should be allowed to use the word "habibi," a term of endearment in many Arabic countries. Klein criticized the use of the term "Sabra" used at the bottom of the tier list, which is defined as "a native-born Israeli" in addition to being the name of an Israeli-owned hummus brand, and accused the podcasters of arranging streamers on a scale that he believes is diminishing and insulting to Jewish people. The creators of the Ayyrabs podcast responded by asserting that the phrase "Loves Sabra" in their tier list was a reference to the Sabra brand of hummus, which they believe to be sub-par and therefore low on the list. Following Klein's criticisms, the controversy spread online and received media coverage, with some defending the Ayyrabs segment and others finding it problematic and accusing Twitch of sponsoring antisemitism on its platform. The incident was further fueled by the discovery that Twitch blocked new users in Israel from signing up on the platform for roughly a year following the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas.

Background

Twitch streamers Frogan, Capri and Raff are part of a podcast called Ayyrabs ^[10] on which they discuss how their lives as a Jewish man, a Christian man and a Muslim woman intersect.

On September 21st, 2024, the three hosted an event at TwitchCon in San Diego where they ranked fellow streamers on the basis of who they believed should receive a pass to use the word "habibi," a term of endearment in Arabic that translates to "my love" or "beloved." They sorted various streamers into the categories "Arab," "Arab Coded," "Asks Perms [permission]," "Thinks it's a slur" and "Loves Sabra."^[5]

On October 18th, 2024, Redditor /u/Perfect_bleu posted to the subreddit /r/LiveStreamFail,^[1] sharing a clipped version of the aforementioned segment showing streamers Frogan, Capri and Raff sharing a tier list with the categories "Arab," "Arab Coded," "Asks perms," "Thinks It's A Slur" and "Loves Sabra." The Twitch description on the clip reads, "frogan rating streamers from arab to jew lower on a pane [sic]."

The Reddit post^[1] was captioned, "Twitchcon sponsored antisemitism," and gathered over 17,000 upvotes in a day.

The clip was then removed from Twitch in a day, leaving the post with a broken embed. The relevant clip can be found via a YouTube repost by theo linden.^[2]

Developments

Ethan Klein's Criticism and Video

On October 19th, 2024, Ethan Klein posted a video to his YouTube^[3] channel reacting to the aforementioned clip in a video titled, "Twitch Has a Major Problem." After discussing Twitch's decision to let Sneako back on the platform, he moved onto the Ayyrabs tier list segment at TwitchCon roughly a month before.

He accused Twitch of platforming antisemitism by asserting that the phrase "Sabra" in the tier list was a reference to its literal meaning in Hebrew, "Jewish person born in Israel,"^[11] in addition to "Sabra hummus," as presented by the Ayyrabs. The video gathered over 100,000 views in a day.

Frogan, Raff and Capri's Response

On October 19th, 2024, Raff made a post on his Twitter^[4] / X account criticizing people for misrepresenting the purpose of the tier list, adding that he, a Jewish man, had come up with the idea for the list. The post, which notably included the /r/LiveStreamFail post as a screenshot, gathered over 2,000 likes in a day.

Also on October 19th, Frogan^[5] posted a longer clip showing the context cut out of the /r/LiveStreamFail post, saying that "our tier list was 'who has habibi pass' which is a meme tier list we did with a variety of creators." Her post, which accused Ethan Klein of lying, received over 945,000 views, 9,700 likes and 410 replies in two days.

Also on October 19th, Capri^[6] made a seemingly sarcastic post joking about how the term "Sabra" as used in their tier list was because he "wanted to remind the panel of the time [his] Fathers people massacred [his] Mothers people in 'Sabra' and 'Shatila,'" adding, "It has nothing to do with assss store bought hummus it has to do with this very real deeper meaning."

Ethan Klein's Response

Ethan Klein appeared to take Capri's X / Twitter post at face value, reposting it on his Instagram stories on October 19th, 2024, and writing, "So I wasn't in the hummus category I was in the massacre category?" adding that he believes "these bozos can't keep their story straight."

On October 20th, Klein also posted an edit of the Ayyrabs tier list, adding the phrase "Jew born in Israel" after "Sabra" to double down on his assertion that the word "Sabra" as used in the tier list was a dog whistle for Jewish people and not just referring to the Sabra brand of hummus.^[7]

Online Reactions

As the controversy spread online in late October 2024, various internet users made posts in support of Frogan and the Ayyrabs, while others posted in support of Ethan Klein.

For example, on October 19th, 2024, X^[8] user @JakedChinatown shared a screenshot of Klein's YouTube video, showing how his comments are turned off, writing, "'They only turn off the comments when they know they’re wrong.' -Ethan Klein." The post gathered over 79,000 likes in two days.

Also on October 19th, X^[12] user @skelluii posted a clip reacting to the controversy with the caption, "Ethan Klein thinks not liking Sabra hummus is antisemitic," receiving over 79,000 views, 2,300 likes and 40 replies in two days.

Other internet users criticized Frogan for, in their opinion, repeatedly inciting arguments online. An October 20th, 2024, post by X^[9] user @iqkev quoted xQc as saying, "does this b*tch ever shut the f*ck up." It is unconfirmed if this is a real quote from the streamer. The post gathered over 8,000 likes in a day.