The American streamer Kai Cenat (21) made a meteoric rise on Twitch last year. Now, however, he has to take an unplanned break, as the streaming platform has suspended him after he consumed too many edibles.
What kind of streamer is he? Kai Cenat is huge in the USA, but still relatively unknown here. In 2022, he surpassed the previous sub-king of Twitch, the Canadian Félix “xQc” Lengyel, and cracked 80,000 paid subscriptions in September and shortly thereafter 90,000.
With his energetic streams, Kai Cenat mainly appeals to a younger, black audience. This target group receives little attention on Twitch otherwise, as other successful black streamers like JiDion and IShowSpeed have been permanently banned from the platform, the “Fortnite God” Myth switched to YouTube.
Streamer Munches Edibles Live on Twitch
What did Kai Cenat do? In a stream on January 24, our time, Kai Cenat ate edibles, which are candies enriched with cannabis extracts. They are known to have an effect that often takes a while to kick in, but when it does, it hits the consumer much harder.
Inexperienced newcomers tend to consume too much because they “don’t feel anything yet.” In a tweet before the stream, Kai Cenat had announced that it was the first time he was trying edibles.
We have included a clip of the stream that was posted by the US site Dexerto on Twitter:
How did the stream go? In the stream, Kai Cenat showed off his haul and let his chat advise him on how much he should take. However, he ignored the guidelines suggested by Google.
Apparently, the 21-year-old overestimated himself, as his energy noticeably decreased during the stream until he eventually slumped forward and remained motionless for a few moments. A friend of the streamer eventually helped him up and ended the stream.
While some viewers are sure that Kai Cenat lost consciousness and experienced a so-called “Green Out,” others believe that the streamer might have acted a bit and exaggerated the effects.
Why is this difficult? Twitch doesn’t joke around with this. The platform has clear guidelines regarding “self-destructive behavior.” According to the community guidelines, this includes:
- Dangerous consumption of alcohol or other substances that lead to loss of control
- Abuse of legal substances (e.g., prescription medications, nitrous oxide)
- Actions that endanger one’s life or health
- Any content or activities that include, promote, offer, or incite illegal actions (grass is not legal in Georgia, where Kai Cenat lives)
It explicitly states that no exceptions will be made if the behavior was meant as a joke or intended for entertainment purposes (via Twitch).
Twitch Takes Action, But the Timing is Unfortunate
How is Twitch reacting now? On January 26, it became known through the automated Twitter account StreamerBans that Kai Cenat received his fourth ban (via Twitter).
As is customary with Twitch, there are no details on why the ban was imposed. It is also not yet known how long it will last. However, it is quite likely that the ban is related to the edibles stream.
Ultimately, the action could be interpreted as a violation of the guidelines on self-destructive behavior. However, it remains unclear why action was taken only two days later, after the 21-year-old had already held another stream.
It is therefore not excluded that another violation was identified that has nothing to do with the edibles.
Why is the timing unfortunate? The ban hits Kai Cenat just before his announced subathon, a marathon stream where every completed subscription extends the time a streamer remains on air.
The subathon was likely planned for February, which is celebrated in the USA as “Black History Month.” On Twitter, Kai Cenat complains that at that time he wasn’t even live, so he couldn’t have done anything.
Whether the subathon can take place as planned is still uncertain.
For Twitch, this is probably a difficult situation, as a violation of the guidelines cannot simply be ignored. Banning the biggest black streamer during Black History Month, however, might not create a good image.
Kai Cenat is not the first streamer whose substance consumption has caused trouble:
