An anime catboy just taught Bernie Sanders what vtubers are during a Twitch stream

Bernie Sanders met his first catboy vtuber on a Twitch stream yesterday to help promote presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and, I gotta say, he handled it pretty well. Most people—let alone U.S. Senators—might’ve been more hesitant, but Sanders took it in stride.

Twitch streamer and virtual YouTuber Sykkuno greeted Sanders in his anime avatar moments after he joined the stream and explained why he wasn’t on camera like the others, which included host AustinShow and popular streamer Pokimane.

“Do you know what a vtuber is?” Sykkuno asked. There wasa brief moment of awkward silence before Sykkuno repeated the question: “Have you heard of a vtuber before?”

“Nope,” Bernie admitted.

“No? I’m the first one! Thank you for supporting vtubers!” Sykkuno exclaimed while AustinShow tried to move the show forward.

Sanders smiled and told him he’s “looking very good.”

The short exchange was a treat in an hour-long Q&A where Sykkuno, Pokimane, Valkyrae, and Mark Hamill asked Sanders about politics and the upcoming election. They covered topics like his support for Harris, the conflict in Gaza, and U.S. healthcare. After Sanders made his departure, the conversation continued for another two hours with more guests, including Hank Green and Mark Cuban.

But Sanders stumbling into vtuber 101 was the most popular thing clipped out of the stream and shared all over social media. It’s not every day you get to see an 83-year-old senator talk politics with a messy-haired catboy in a hoodie. And the meetup felt reflective of, if not a bit more genuine than, the Harris campaign’s recent tactics to appeal to young voters. Brat Summer may be over, but Catboy Fall is here.

“This might be the funniest moment in American political history to date,” X user therealpanzer posted with a screenshot of the guests lined up on the Discord video call.

I’m never going to get over the absurdity of seeing a still shot of human faces joined by a single vtuber. Even after their explosive popularity on Twitch and YouTube during the pandemic, vtubers haven’t shaken all the novelty off. But we’re getting there: Pink-haired vtuber Ironmouse recently became the most subscribed-to Twitch streamer ever with over 320,000 subscribers earlier this month. I’m certain Sanders won’t be the last politician we see talking live on Twitch with an anime character, and I’m here for it.

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