Facebook has cut ties with livestreamer Jerry Banfield who announced that they identified as a black man while on stream, despite actually being white.
During Black History Month, Banfield went live on Facebook and decided to share the announcement.
“Major new announcement that I’m very excited about today,” he told his viewers. “Today I’m grateful I have the courage to do something I wanted to do for a very long time. For years I’ve wanted to be black, I’m tired of being white…
“Let’s just get to the point: I am now identifying as a black man. As an African American. I no longer wish to be identified as a white man… That’s not who I am anymore. I’ve been wanting to make that change for a long time.”
Shortly after the livestream on Wednesday, February 16, Facebook Gaming acknowledged the incident and spoke out about Banfield, claiming that they have “cut ties with the creator in question.”
They added that Banfield had been removed from their official programs, including monetization features, with immediate effect.
Thank you to everyone who alerted us to a livestream this morning which ran counter to the spirit of Black History Month.
We have cut ties with the creator in question, removing them from our official programs, including access to monetization features, effective today.
— Facebook Gaming (@FacebookGaming) February 16, 2022
The streamer made several responses on his Facebook page, though since deleted, frustrated by how Facebook had treated him.
In one post, he revealed that he had been demonetized, saying that “we live in a world where we are free to change genders and therefore this must apply to race as well.”
Banfield revealed he had been demonetized on the platform, though his ‘coming out’ video was still monetized.In another post, he questioned Facebook Gaming referring to his announcement as ‘hate speech’. “Which part exactly [is hate speech]?” he asked. “The simple fact is that denying anyone the ability to self identify as any race they choose and denying them to celebrate all the related holidays is discrimination.”
In a follow-up comment, he stated that “The only way this makes sense is if I am not allowed to define myself as black because of my current skin tone which by definition is discrimination.”
Banfield questioned Facebook referring to his announcement as ‘hate speech.’ 
Banfield felt as though Facebook was discriminating against him because of his skin tone.Banfield’s Facebook page itself is still up at the time of writing, but needless to say, many are upset by the comments he made already. Whether he seeks an opportunity to continue monetizing his content on another platform, however, remains to be seen..
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