If there’s one thing Kick is good at, it’s staying on brand. The streamer launched in 2022 with one core, effective pitch: It would be cooler than Twitch. All the fun, sexy things Twitch didn’t want, like gambling and hot tub streams? Not only would Kick allow them, it would make dedicated front-page categories for them. And hey, streamers like Adin Ross, who were booted off Twitch for serious offenses? Kick wouldn’t ban them–it would welcome them.
Basically, Kick wanted to be the new bad boy on the scene.
And it is.
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But courting that edgy, contrarian reputation comes with drawbacks. We’ve written about some of them before. Now, it’s clear that some streamers look at Kick as a safety net, believing that if they’re kicked off Twitch, they’ll have a guaranteed big-money spot over there, just because it wants to get a shot in at its Amazon-owned competitor.
Those streamers include SoLLUMINATI, who returned to streaming May 1 after a five-year hiatus and was promptly banned twice by Twitch. One ban was for using a transphobic slur on stream, and the second was for reasons yet unclear, though it may be related to a stream where SoLLUMINATI verbally attacked Kai Cenat associate Zoe Spencer, upset about having been denied a spot in Cenat’s Streamer University.
When the second ban hit, SoLLUMINATI–true to his namesake–went conspiracist and theorized Twitch was unfairly targeting him because he had too many viewers.
“They saw me hit 87K viewers and thought, ‘Hold on. We got to stop this guy,'” he said in a YouTube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIOSTwmrugE
In the same vid, he said he’s cancelling plans to host a series of IRL streams on Twitch, and appealed to Adin Ross and Kick: “Adin, Kick, y’all time has come. I just had 87,000 viewers, it is time for y’all to spoil me. Kick, I think we’ve got to bring the culture and drama to Kick, y’all,” he said.
Ross responded positively on his own stream, saying, “Chat, SoLLUMINATI is going to come to Kick. It is happening. It is happening sooner than we all think. SoLLUMINATI, welcome to Kick.”
That may be true–there does appear to be an official SoLLUMINATI Kick channel with ~6K followers, though it has no content–but Kick co-founder/CEO Ed Craven was quick to clarify SoLLUMINATI’s not coming over on Kick’s dime.
“Kick doesn’t offer lump sum deals,” Craven tweeted. (That’s a change.) “You can earn a fair pay, far more competitive than anywhere else with KPP, but it’s based on real output and merit. We believe this to be the fairest way to reward great creators.”
“End of the day,” he added, “stream where you feel is best for you.”
Kick doesn’t offer lump sum deals. You can earn a fair pay, far more competitive then anywhere else with KPP, but it’s based on real output and merit. We believe this to be the fairest way to reward great creators.
End of the day, stream where you feel is best for you 🤘
— Eddie (@StakeEddie) May 28, 2025
SoLLUMINATI doesn’t appear to have responded yet, but Ross did, and clearly wasn’t pleased. “I actually have to pay SoLLUMINATI out of my own pocket to stream on Kick,” he said during a stream. “Why wouldn’t I? I want him to come. Fuck it, why not? He’s the GOAT.”
Whether any of this will pan out with SoLLUMINATI on Twitch remains to be seen, but the real interesting part here (aside from the potential conflict between Kick’s owner/CEO and one of its marquee right-wing stars) is that Craven is clearly setting a boundary. He’s letting creators know that even if they get themselves Twitch banhammered by spewing slurs and courting conspiracist ideas–two things popular with some top Kick streamers–they won’t be handed cash money as a consolation prize.
