Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo claims he lost close to a million dollars in June earnings after canceling the controversial Saudi Arabian sponsorship deal that sparked widespread backlash across Twitch and the streaming community.
He was one of several stars invited to a Fortnite streaming event to be hosted in the Middle Eastern country. Pokelawls, who was another, mentioned it on-stream, name-dropping Mizkif as one of the many streamers who had agreed to go.
This prompted a wave of backlash on social media. People called him out for supporting an event they deemed is a means of distracting people from ongoing human rights issues within the country. Mizkif originally said he ‘knew nothing’ about the controversies surrounding the Middle Eastern country.
Mizkif backflip cost him ‘close’ to $1 million
After talking with Hasan Piker, however, and learning the extent of the situation, he pulled out of the event. The move allegedly cost him around $1 million in lost revenue.
“I’m not going to Saudi Arabia [anymore],” he revealed to Imane “Pokimane” Anys during her stream on July 3 this week. And then, when she laughed and claimed he had lost a million dollars for the move, he responded by saying: “Close!”
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Mizkif jokingly roasted the masses for “coercing” him out of the deal and lamented the missed fortune—$1 million isn’t pocket change, even for Twitch’s top stars. But then he took a more somber tone and said he regretted accepting it in the first place.
He also said some stars are still going but didn’t reveal who. When Pokimane said it would probably be the end of their careers, he disagreed, claiming people won’t care.
“I don’t think so,” the Just Chatting celebrity said. “A lot of those streamers, I don’t think, are going to get canceled. People don’t give a fuck. Let’s be real. There are streamers and communities who do not give a fuck what they do.”
Mizkif used Turner “Tfue” Tenney as an example. He said he wouldn’t receive any flak for going to an event like that because people would be too excited to see him in a Fortnite tournament to care. In the end, though, he said it doesn’t change the fact he’s at peace with his decision, claiming it was never about the money.
Instead, it was more about the positive experience Mizkif thought he’d have.
