Livestreaming platform Kick, a top competitor of Amazon’s Twitch, faces disturbing allegations from a former employee.
The former staffer, who goes by the name Melissa, is accusing the platform of having a racist work environment and discriminating against streamers who have autism and cancer.
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In a new video on YouTube, posted on June 17, Melissa reveals that the office environment at Kick was “extremely hostile,” leading to her abrupt resignation from the company.
“The office environment meant for me was extremely hostile not only because I was being treated pretty poorly by a couple of individuals, and the people that I went to for help were not helpful at all, but because there was just a consistent disrespect to other people's opinions and beliefs,” said Melissa.
She accused the company’s social team of using offensive and racist slurs around upper management without facing any repercussions.
“This went as far as to just consistently hearing the F slur, and not even just in jest as a joke, it was specifically targeted towards people that it was supposed to discriminate against,” said Melissa. “Even so much as to walk past the socials room, the guys that run the Kick streaming and Kick community, and hear the N-word just dropped hard ‘R,’ and I'm like, what is this office? And the upper management was in the room.”
She even alleges that she saw a couple of her team members laughing at the fact that they were “deliberately misgendering” transgender streamers. She also details an incident in which a company manager who ran the partnerships team allegedly found it humorous that he offered a contract renewal for a streamer with special needs “below market set rate.”
“He had a smirk on his face and goes ‘I decimated his rate,’” said Melissa. “And this was apparently fucking hilarious because everybody else in the room laughed. I said, ‘Well, what did you put it down to?’ And he proceeded to then brag about the fact that he got him on a below market set rate for an English streamer.”
Melissa claims that the last straw for her involved an incident that happened two days before she finally decided to leave the company. She alleges that Kick was aiming to sign a “beloved Twitch streamer” who was publicly battling cancer, and the conversation in the office about signing her quickly turned “sinister.”
“The quote that I remember hearing was, ‘We can get her on Kick streaming stake for a relatively low price because she probably thinks she's going to die soon, and she'll want to leave more money for her family,’” said Melissa.
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Melissa also goes on to allege that a few staff members at the company were even defending a streamer who allegedly told two 14-year-old girls that he wanted to “do something sexual” to them.
“They (Kick) are not accountable for anything, as you can see they just let shit slide, they do anything,” said Melissa. “They don't care about pedophiles on the platform.’
Kick leader fires back at Melissa's claims
Since Melissa’s video was posted on YouTube, Kick Head of Strategic Partnerships Andrew Santamaria claimed in a post on social media platform X that Melissa’s accusations do not reflect Kick’s work environment.
I've spent time in the KICK offices, and it doesn't reflect the KICK I know. KICK listens not only to the voices of our Creators but also to the 100's of staff who work globally-24/7. We’re committed to making KICK the best place for streaming in the world. going live.
— Santamaria (@Svntvmvriv) June 18, 2024
He also said during a recent livestream that Melissa’s claims are “belittling the amazing work” of staff members at the company. He also questions why these allegations are being brought up for the first time in public and weren’t flagged internally when she was employed there. He also said that the company will be investigating these accusations.
“If evidence is ever presented, we will 100% look at that,” said Santamaria. “We take the allegations seriously, we’re continuing to investigate them internally, and this is despite evidence being presented. That’s something that’s very important to this team. It doesn’t matter that these are allegations, what matters is getting down to is this stuff really happening?’”
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Discrimination in the workplace discrimination is a very serious and common issue in the U.S. According to a 2023 poll by job recruiting website Monster, 91% of employees said they have experienced discrimination in the workplace, and 77% said they have witnessed an act of discrimination at work.
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