Botez Sisters Are Under Fire

Alexandra and Andrea Botez, Twitch stars, have been criticized online for allegedly “defending slavery” in Dubai during a recent Q&A session.

The Botez sisters, called Twitch’s “chess queens,” are currently on a world tour, competing against players from all over the world. The two sisters first traveled to Paris, then to England, and last to Norway. The Botez sisters are now in Dubai, where they recently hosted a live Twitch Q&A session. The two sisters have been accused of promoting “modern slavery” in Dubai, which exists in the form of foreign laborers made to live under sub-humane conditions.

When the Botez sisters were questioned about their thoughts on the hostility that surrounds Dubai in developed countries, they were in the middle of a Q&A session. Due to the presence of around 250,000 migrant laborers who, according to the WHO, are forced to live in sub-humane conditions under rigid contract requirements, Dubai has come under fire.

The video was posted on the popular Reddit forum “LivestreamFail,” but it was shortly removed. 

The existence of the modern form of slavery has come under special attention due to the 2022 Soccer World Cup that is scheduled to take place in Qatar.  Alexandra Botez answered in a hugely controversial manner, despite the fact that the sisters did not endorse slavery in general. 

Instead, they charged developed countries with blaming Dubai over issues that had previously existed in their own countries. Alexandra Botez expressed herself as follows: “Here is all I am trying to say. We are in Dubai so we are not gonna say anything in particular about the country. The only thing that bothers me is when people from the first world or developed countries, s**t on developing countries for doing things that those developed countries also did in the first place. It’s just you know, a little bit of ignorance, that’s all. Not to say we support it.”

As a result, Alexandra Botez only spoke out against people from first-world countries who condemn developing countries, as the clip also implies. Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, thus it is not a recent occurrence that people do not have the right to speak out against. So, while Alexandra Botez made some plainly tone-deaf remarks, she did not endorse slavery per se.

The post is full of criticism, and it appears that the Botez sisters will have to respond to it sooner rather than later.