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Why is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitch? A look at her game as Corpse Husband asked ‘am I allowed to cuss’

The Congresswoman played the game alongside star gamers like Pokimane, HasanAbi and YouTuber Corpse Husband and AOC's fellow Ilhan Omar

Politicians are entering the world of online gaming to appeal to America to vote. On Tuesday, October 20, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that she would play a highly popular video game ‘Among Us’ live on streaming site Twitch. She said to play alongside some sought after and celebrated streamers like Pokimane and HasanAbi. Piker is a popular progressive streamer and Anys, is one of the most famous people on Twitch, having nearly six million followers on the site. The move comes in light to "help folks make a voting plan at iwillvote.com”.

As per Ocasio-Cortez's tweet, she had to stream the game on her Twitch channel, which boasts of over 225,000 followers. The game was scheduled to be streamed at 9 pm EST on Tuesday. She also mentioned in her tweet that the game players "officially declare orange sus", alluding to a term that's become popular in ‘Among Us’ as shorthand for “suspicious” Insider reported.

However, the game's streaming started at 8.40 pm ET instead of 9 pm as advertised. As the game began, AOC, Pokimane and HasanAbi were joined by Ilhan Omar, a fellow Congresswoman to AOC. As per News Site CNET, the stream reached at 439,000 views, making it the third-highest viewed single stream in history. The all-time record is set by pro-gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins who teamed with rappers Drake and Travis Scott in a game of ‘Fortnite’ on Twitch. For the unversed, ‘Among Us’ is a social deduction game. CNET reports about how the game works, “Set on a spaceship, one or two players are ‘imposters’ attempting to sabotage a team of crewmates trying to do their tasks and figure out who the imposters are.” The site reports that in 2020 the fame’s popularity reached its zenith to become one of the most played games on online streaming site Twitch.

Why is AOC playing the game?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call to play the extremely popular popular ‘Among Us’ game is aimed to bring out the vote effort. She revealed the motive behind the game in a tweet, “Anyone wants to play ‘Among Us’ with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun).” LA Times also substantiated the fact that AOC’s venture into the gaming world of Twitch is to encourage voter participation ahead of next month’s election.

The site reported that during the 2020 Democratic National Convention in August, the influential congresswoman showed her support for Sanders, as a formality, but has since endorsed former vice-president Joe Biden. Recently, AOC has used social media to spread awareness about and resources for voting. This includes informing about guides for voter registration, polling information, community organizing and safely returning ballots in the middle of the pandemic.

AOC has always had a thing for online and video games. As per a report by Business Insider, AOC had shown admiration for the computer game ‘League of Legends’. AOC is not the only politician to enter into the gaming world on Twitch and innovatively connect with followers. Previously Democratic politician Bernie Sanders broadcasted the first Democratic debate for the 2020 election on Twitch as reported by Verve. 

Sanders’ stream aimed to connect with people. “It’s another opportunity, I think, to tap into a potentially supportive audience that we may not be hitting other ways,” said Josh Miller-Lewis, Sanders’ director of digital comms. He added as reported in Verve, “Our goal with Twitch is to not only let people know what we’re doing on the campaign every day, and what Bernie’s doing — but also hear from them, and bring their opinion into what we’re trying to do and into the political process.” President Donald Trump’s campaign also maintains a presence on Twitch as per the site.

As AOC played the game urging the public to vote, the news broke the Internet and got people to talk. Most of the public supported AOC calling her an innovative and kickass woman who charts out such ways to motivate people to vote. A user wrote in AOC's praise, “I have not a clue what twitch is, I am 57 and this is my first tweet, but just wanted to say, you are the best, we are so excited all the kicka** young women who are in tie House now. Give them Hell. Thanks for all your hard work.” Another concurred how she is gaining more traction, “AOC is currently driving more traffic than the entire population of Belize (around 450k) to watch her play Twitch (and drive people to sign up to go #vote.” 

A user wrote lauding AOC, “AOC Loving the twitch stream!!! Great job getting young people excited to vote!! also, orange is kinda sus haha.” Further in the game, YouTuber Corpse Husband joined in to play and apparently cussed too in excitement. A user wrote, "Corpse: 'Wait, am I allowed to cuss again?' Everyone: Yeah Corpse: 'F**k yeah dude! I'm so excited!'" Another user wrote, "Watching AOC and CORPSE play in the same game made my night."