Twitch star Pokimane was shocked by a former Kick employee’s accusations toward the company, calling the streaming platform “evil” over its alleged offer to a creator battling cancer.
Kick is coming under scrutiny after a former employee, Melissa, uploaded a nearly 20-minute-long video claiming the company had an “extremely hostile” work environment.
One of Melissa’s more explosive allegations claimed that the company was trying to lowball a streamer battling cancer, saying they could offer her less because “she probably thinks she’s gonna die soon and she’ll want to leave more money for her family.”
Melissa’s claims have gone viral across social media, sparking big reactions from major personalities like xQc and more — and now, prominent Twitch streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has spoken out on the subject.
She reacted to Melissa’s video during a June 18 broadcast, where she was left completely speechless after hearing the former Kick employee’s story about the streamer with cancer.
“That’s not even just weird,” Pokimane said after pausing the video and taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “That’s like, evil.”
“I would believe someone wants to leave Kick,” she said toward the beginning of the video. “I also don’t really feel like they’re ‘booming’ right now. I think maybe when they first launched… but I don’t think that’s the consensus currently.
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“I think the thing that freaks me out the most is, these people are probably all in their twenties, thirties, and forties, and this is behavior that’s happening in an office. You know, sometimes you see this kind of sh*t happen in video games, with kids trying to get a reaction out of people. But like, grown men with jobs?”
It was widely believed that the streamer Melissa was referring to was Kyedae, who battled Leukemia in 2023. While xQc said he spoke with Kick’s leadership and confirmed they did not reach out to her with an offer, Kyedae would later confirm that they did on June 19 — and that she refused.
This is far from the first time Pokimane has openly criticized Kick. The streamer took aim at the platform back when she announced her departure from Twitch earlier this year, debunking rumors that she would be switching to Kick.
“I would not stream on Kick, because I know that that company as a whole is funded by online crypto gambling websites that are not legal in a lot of countries that, in my opinion are kind of shady, and I personally don’t want to stream somewhere and bring my audience somewhere where they could then potentially be funneled into an addiction,” she said.
It’s clear that Pokimane doesn’t have an affinity for Kick whatsoever, and she’s sticking to her proverbial guns as these latest accusations continue to spark backlash against the company online.