Bernie Sanders learned what a Vtuber is on Twitch

US Senator Bernie Sanders (DV.T.) took part in a Twitch livestream on Tuesday evening together with extremely popular YouTubers such as Imane “Pokimane” Anys and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter. The event allowed Sanders to campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the November election. As the evening progressed, viewers were surprised by celebrity guests like Mark Hamill and Hank Green, but perhaps the most memorable moment was when the group told Sanders about Vtubers.

Sanders and the other event attendees did not play video games during the stream, as U.S. House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) did in 2020. Instead, the content creators chatted with the politician and asked him questions about politics and the upcoming election. These included pressing political questions about Senator Sanders’ stance on the ongoing conflict in Gaza, but there were also some quieter moments.

Skykkuno, one of the stream’s content creators, appeared on the stream as a Vtuber, making his face look like an anime avatar. Sykkuno is not known to be a dedicated Vtuber, but said he is Vtubing because he suffers from a skin condition. This brought up the topic of Vtuber in general. The short conversation was great and a bit awkward, so I’ll just include a full transcript of the moment below.

Sykkuno asks, “Do you know what a Vtuber is?”

The video call falls silent for a moment.

Sykkuno asks again, “Have you ever heard of a Vtuber?”

“No,” Sanders said.

“NO? I’m the first! Thank you for supporting Vtubers!” Sykkuno exclaimed.

At this point, Pokimane interjected, telling Sanders, “There you have this animated profile,” and AustinShow, who helped moderate the conversation, led the show on other topics. If you’d like to watch the full exchange for yourself, we’ve embedded the stream below with a link to the moment.

Many commented online about how bizarre the entire event seemed. Well-known actor Mark Hamill, who is an active supporter of the Democratic Party, also appeared on the stream. So people could see Sanders, Hamill, and an anime cat boy in one giant video call. A tweet that was liked more than 113,000 times shared a clip and said, “This may be the funniest moment yet in American political history.”

“Shark Tank” star and entrepreneur Mark Cuban was also on the stream. At one point, Pokimane asked him if he was the one who bid $200,000 to play video games with her at a charity auction, and Cuban responded by saying, “You know it wasn’t me because it wasn’t high enough.” was.” And later Sykkuno got the opportunity to talk about Vtubers againwhen popular YouTuber, author and educator Hank Green joined the call and actually knew what a Vtuber was.

All in all, it wasn’t a glitzy political rally that filled a stadium with cheering fans, but all of the light chatter and its quirks make for a memorable and entertaining evening on Twitch.