Ranboo and Tubbo, two Minecraft content producers, have criticized Sapnap’s decision to migrate to Kick, saying that it is not a secure platform for his supporters.
Kick first came to the attention of streamers and content producers at the end of 2022, when Twitch was giving them a lot of trouble. The Stake-backed network has been splurging the cash on a variety of different streams, inking huge non-exclusive partnerships with household names like xQc and Hikaru. However, there has also been a lot of criticism because the site is run by a gambling corporation and they have backed Adin Ross, who has frequently faced backlash for his inflammatory remarks. Even Kick’s CEO acknowledged that Adin posed a “brand risk.”
Sapnap, the hero of the Minecraft video game, has joined Kick as the newest well-known person, leaving behind a Twitch channel with over 3 million subscribers. He has received criticism from Tubbo and Ranboo, though, for using that platform to address his audience. Ranboo had been holding a Q&A session on his Tumblr page shortly after the change was announced, and he reinforced his position that he doesn’t support any creator migrating to Kick – and he himself would not quit YouTube for it.
Ranboo said; “I don’t respect any creator that joins that platform if they are aware of what happens on that platform. Nothing more to add to it. It is about money at the end of the day no matter how you try to spin it. And that’s sad that people are willing to put the safety and wellbeing of their community at risk and support what happens there for a high enough figure. I mean for Christ’s sake if the CEOs cared about making their platform safer they would have. Just say you want money and go. I could go more into it but honestly, it just makes me really f*cking sad so ill leave it at that. Please do not support creators that join Kick.”
In Tubbo’s case, he spoke about the change during his own stream and agreed with Ranboo in saying that Kick isn’t safe for Sapnap’s followers. He stated; “Sapnap, I’m just going to say it frankly. The majority of Sapnap’s demographic is people in communities such as LBTQIA+, younger demographic, and stuff like that. I feel like this platform is not a safe place to be openly trans, openly Jewish, not a safe place to be black for example, it’s insane. It’s great that you want to spearhead positive change, but also with such a large and powerful voice you have and so much good you could do with that voice, it’s best you’re more responsible with where you want to bring your community and you have a responsibility to protect them.”
As already said, Sapnap emphasized his desire for Kick to be “welcoming to everyone” and his own desire to “contribute to constructive change” on the platform.
