Big Twitch streamers using their platforms to raise money for a good cause will always shed a positive light on the gaming community. Despite the philanthropic nature, many streamers make a profit from their special charity broadcasts.
Benjamin "DrLupo" Lupo is a big advocate of using his following to raise awareness and donations for good causes, with the St. Judes Children's Hospital being the biggest benefactor. His last 24-hour fundraising stream, held in December 2019, raised $2.3 million for the pediatric facility.
xQc reveals streamers get paid for charity streams
On his latest broadcast on June 29th, Felix "xQc" Lengyel, one of the biggest names on Twitch, revealed that many streamers receive a fee from organisations to make these charity streams happen.
âWait, you guys know that most charities, they pay these streamers to do it right? You guys canât be that f**king stupid? You wouldnât know. The streamer that you watch that do charity days, theyâre pretty much all paid for it,â the streamer said.
The clip, which was shared on the Livestreamfail subreddit, has been viewed over 100,000 times, causing a heated debate on social media. DrLupo became aware of a few comments from the thread that said they would consider the streamer, "less wholesome", if it were to be true for his fundraising events. He took to Twitter to debunk these claims.
From an r/LivestreamFail post on Reddit regarding @xQc stating that a majority of streamers get paid to do charity streams - I've never been paid to raise money for @StJude. Just wanted to be sure that was clear. pic.twitter.com/n4Vbkl1NYf
â DrLupo (@DrLupo) June 30, 2020
âFrom an r/LivestreamFail post on Reddit regarding xQc stating that a majority of streamers get paid to do charity streams - I've never been paid to raise money for StJude. Just wanted to be sure that was clear,â the 33-year-old claimed.
xQc chimed in, explaining how the clip seemed more aggressive out of context and that he doesn't believe every organisation operates in this exact same way.
The topic went out of control and some of it was severly out of context but I think most people understood that top of the line charities with a good charity navigator score don't operate this way, as far as I know
â xQc (@xQc) June 30, 2020
"The topic went out of control and some of it was severely out of context but I think most people understood that top of the line charities with a good charity navigator score don't operate this way, as far as I know."
Twitch streamer NymN quoted DrLupoâs tweet and confirmed xQc's comments, adding that he immediately made this public during his stream and donated his paycheck back to the charity.
Feeling like I need to clear the air too:
â NymN (@nymnion) June 30, 2020
I got paid to do my charity stream - not only did I disclose this on the stream, but I donated the money they paid me to the cause plus another $1000 out of pocket https://t.co/cIynSidERZ
âFeeling like I need to clear the air too: I got paid to do my charity stream - not only did I disclose this on the stream, but I donated the money they paid me to the cause plus another $1000 out of pocket.â
Regardless of a streamer getting paid for a charity event, let's hope this bit of drama doesn't deter people in the industry trying to have a positive impact on the world.