Vaush | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kochinski in 2023 | |
| Born | Ian Anthony Kochinski (1994-02-14)February 14, 1994 (age 31) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Education | California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (BA) |
| Occupation | YouTuber |
| Twitch information | |
| Channel | |
| Genres | |
| Followers | 104 thousand |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2019–present |
| Subscribers | 535 thousand |
| Views | 428 million |
| Last updated: April 14, 2025 | |
Ian Anthony Kochinski (born February 14, 1994), better known asVaush (/vɔːʃ/ ⓘVAWSH), is an Americanleft-wingYouTuber and formerTwitch streamer. Kochinski started his online career as a member of streamerDestiny's community, before creating his Twitch channel and YouTube account in 2019. His content consists of commentary on various news and media topics,men's fashion,video games, andurbanist policies. Debates and discussions with various political figures have been a large part of his channel. Noted for his confrontational style, use ofmemes, and mimicry fromright-wing YouTubers, he is regarded as part of theBreadTube community.
Described as aprogressive andlibertarian socialist, Kochinski is considered a controversial figure online. He has received several bans on Twitch and criticism for various statements, and has also received praise for his sociological content, debates, and charity livestreams.
Ian Anthony Kochinski[1] was born on February 14, 1994,[‡ 1] inLos Angeles,California, and grew up inBeverly Hills.[‡ 2] Kochinski studied sociology atHumboldt State University,[2] graduating with aBA in 2018.[‡ 3][3] Kochinski identifies aspansexual.[4][5] He isautistic and also hasADHD.[‡ 4]
Kochinski has livestreamed debates withfar-right figures such asStefan Molyneux andSargon of Akkad, which have millions of views.[6][7] His first appearances online were in discussions with the political streamerDestiny, and encouraged by Destiny's audience he later began aTwitch channel of his own.[6] He also created his YouTube account in January 2019.[3] Kochinski felt that other members of the online left at the time were too academic to reach the demographic of insecure white men that he thought was most susceptible to onlineradicalization and he opted to instead create loud, angry content that he thought would be more likely to appeal to them.[6] While appealing to what he calls "masculine tendencies", Kochinski has aimed to create an inclusive community and has comparatively high proportions of female,gay andtrans people in his audience.[6]
Kochinski mimics the style of right-wing YouTubers and utilizes similar video titles so that his videos are suggested byrecommendation algorithms to those at risk of radicalization,[8] a common strategy employed by the left-wingBreadTube community on YouTube.[9][10] He also usesmemes andinternet slang in his videos to appeal to the audience of primarily young people online.[6] Listed as an example of a BreadTube channel, his content features himself discussing news events and contentious issues, and debating other political streamers from the left and right,[6][7] often in a confrontational style aimed at making his opponent appear unintelligent,[6] and often utilizing the research skills and knowledge he gained from his sociology education to back up his arguments.[3] However, when engaging withconspiracy theorists, Kochinski generally does not spend much time on research or debunking debated topics, as he believes that taking a more amiable approach is better at influencing people away from such hardened views.[11] His channel also features discussions and debates with offline figures, including journalists, radio hosts, and political candidates.[3] By 2021, he amassed over 350,000 subscribers and 120 million views on his YouTube channel.[3]
In 2019, he was banned from Twitch for saying that the US should invade Israel in defense of Palestinians, an incident which he later described as himself "going too far criticising Israeli imperialism".[6] As a result, he transitioned to YouTube as his main platform,[6] after having created his YouTube channel that January.[3] In June 2019, Kochinski debated conservative YouTuber Hunter Avallone. Avallone later said he "got wrecked in [that] debate" and subsequent to the debate his views took a leftward turn, resulting in a video titled "Why I Left The Right".[11][12] In December 2021, Kochinski was again banned from Twitch indefinitely for using the racialepithet "cracker" on stream. He used the term while discussing whether it could be considered a racial slur and if saying it should be a bannable offense following the ban of fellow Twitch streamerHasan Piker for saying the word on stream.[13][14][15][16] In response to the ban, Kochinski toldThe Washington Post that social media platforms are "terrible at acknowledging context and power relations when it comes to harassment."[17]
Kochinski and fellow political streamer Destiny organized their communities to knock on more than 10,000 doors and make 50,000 phone calls in support ofJanet Protasiewicz during the2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election.[18] In aProgressive Victory livestream that September, Kochinski, along with Destiny, Emma Vigeland, andKeffals, interviewedU.S. RepresentativeRo Khanna about various topics, including the importance of youth political participation and ways to pushprogressive political sentiment.[18][19]
Noted as a left-wing streamer,[20][21] Kochinski is a self-describedprogressive,[8]anti-fascist,[22] andlibertarian socialist.[6][23][22] He has also described himself as a "dirtbag leftist".[7] In the2020 United States presidential election, he opposed the "Bernie or Bust" movement and urged people to vote forJoe Biden,[6] calling a refusal to vote "stupid" and motivated by "[an] incredibly narcissistic 'doomerism' that prevents people from engaging in meaningful action".[6] Kochinski opposes theUnited States embargo against Cuba and supported thewithdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan. He also opposedDonald Trump's withdrawal of United States troops fromRojava.[‡ 5] While believing that tech companies have too much power, Kochinski also felt that Donald Trump being banned from various social media websites was an "unequivocally good thing".[6] In 2022, Kochinski posted multiple videos and broadcast multiplelivestreams condemning theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[22][24]
Kochinski has criticized the online right for creating a "pipeline" that pushes people to radicalhard-right views such asethnic nationalism,disenfranchising women, and for engaging in "absolute abject cruelty to trans people". He has also criticized the online left for "purity politics" and for engaging in actions that create "great content but terrible political advocacy".[6] Nonetheless, he believes that the left should engage in online advocacy because the internet allows for their message to reach a wider audience than any other medium and has argued that BreadTube has decreased the number of people online moving to the political right.[‡ 5] Following the arrest ofmanosphere influencerAndrew Tate, Vaush argued that Tate's rise to popularity was due to the left failing to address the problems of young men and boys, saying they were being "pulled into fascism" because "the right talks to them and the left doesn't".[25][20]
In May 2021, he opposed Twitch's use of the term "womxn", saying "There is already an inclusive term fortrans women and cis women, and it's 'women' ... The only reason you [would not] believe that is if you don't believe trans women are women."[26] He has criticized Twitter for banning trans people for using the termTERF, which he argues is "categorically not a slur".[17]
In 2021, controversy on Twitter surrounding Vaush was prompted by the reemergence of videos in which he justified his past uses of the wordnigger and argued that the word is acceptable in certain contexts.[23] Responding to the controversy on his livestream, Kochinski said that earlier statements that he had made had been a failed attempt at being "overlyedgy" and that he "no longer stand[s] by" his arguments justifying the use of the word.[‡ 6]
Later in 2021, his arguments thatkink should be excluded from somepride events for not beingfamily-friendly, and for making pride inaccessible to youngquestioning queer people were met with divided opinions on social media[4] and criticism from writers forVox,[27]The Mary Sue,[28] andThe Bulwark,[29] though he later renounced his statements, saying "[During the] kink at pride discourse, I said some stuff that I later came to regret. I think that there were some issues I wasreactionary on ... kink at pride isn't a problem".[‡ 7]
Also in 2021, Kochinski received praise fromKotaku for a charity livestream in which he raised over US$200,000 for thePalestine Children's Relief Fund[30] and fromThe Daily Beast for challengingTim Pool on the meaning ofcritical race theory while appearing on his podcastTimcast IRL.[21] He was also positively cited by sociologist Anthony Knowles for successfully communicating sociological ideas to a large audience outside the reach of academic sociologists.[3]
