Kai Cenat proved he’s the Godfather of streaming by leveraging his appearance at the 2024 NBA season kickoff to build hype for his next Mafiathon stream.
Streamers don’t get much bigger than Kai Cenat. With a combination of quality marathon content, celebrity guests, and high-profile collabs, the streaming giant has become popular enough to break records on Twitch and cause riots at public appearances.
It goes beyond ordinary internet fame with major organizations like McDonald’s lining up to work with him. Having recently joined a creator program for the NBA, Cenat is set to create special behind-the-scenes content with the sporting body.
With the deal announced on October 21, 2024, Kai Cenat is already taking full advantage of the partnership. Heading to the 2024 NBA season kickoff game between the Boston Celtics and New York Nicks, the streamer has engineered a series of viral moments starting with him and his entourage showing up in full Mafia getup.
Kai Cenat dressed up like he apart of the Mafia while boarding a private jet 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/sGideXTP8l
— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) October 22, 2024
Initially, footage of Kai and his squad boarding a private jet in suits and fedoras holding briefcases had viewers confused. “I gotta know what they got planned cuz wtf they dressed like this for,” one user on X pondered.
Others compared the look of Cenat and his tagalongs to the Peaky Blinders from the popular TV show of the same name. It wasn’t until Cenat was ringside at the NBA season kickoff that the purpose of his outfit, and more importantly the briefcase, became clear.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Waiting until just the right moment, Cenat took advantage of the jumbotron and TV cameras to open the briefcase and reveal the punchline to his bit. Unveiling a plain white sheet of paper with the words ‘Mafiathon 2’ stamped across it in an unassuming font.
Kai Cenat was spotted at the Celtic game tonight with a brief case and a paper saying “Mafiathon 2” 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/GoANY3ebBk
— Kai Mafia Updates🗽💫 (@Kaimafiaupdates) October 23, 2024
The content creator recently announced his plans for a second Mafiathon stream in a bid to take back his subscriber record from VTuber IronMouse. Not content to keep his promotion for the event on stream, Cenat has advertised on a major televised event.
Whether it will be enough to draw in the 306,622 subscribers he needs to dethrone IronMouse remains to be seen. A date for the Mafiathon 2 stream has yet to be announced but it looks like Cenat is taking it seriously.
For their part, the NBA managed a number of photo ops out of the streamer’s appearance at the season kickoff. Cenat rubbed shoulders with Commissioner Adam Silver and even got snapped with the NBA Finals trophy.