Off The Record

After Donald Trump Joined Adin Ross On A Kick Livestream, Things Started To Get Strange

Published on August 7, 2024

The presidential campaign of Donald Trump took an intriguing turn today when the former president participated in a livestream that streamer Adin Ross was hosting.

The Kick host hosted the livestream, which attracted over 580,000 people at its height.

Ross is a popular streamer who enjoys stirring up trouble. He amassed more than 7 million followers on Twitch during the height of his career.

He has hosted influencer Andrew Tate, who was investigated for rape and human trafficking in Romania.

Before being permanently banned from Twitch last year for hosting a chat stream where people were spamming racial and antisemitic remarks, he had been banned from the platform multiple times for using racial slurs.

After moving to Kick, an alternative streaming platform, Ross carried on with his shenanigans, including entertaining well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

Ross is a perfect medium for Trump to reach a younger audience because of his terms-of-service-breaking content.

Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is also attempting to reach a younger audience by having rallies with rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

There might be just as much controversy from the stream with Trump.

During the interview, Ross gave Trump a Rolex watch at one point.

Ross mentioned Georgia district attorney Fani Willis, who has an indictment against Trump for alleged election meddling in the 2020 presidential contest, shortly after giving him the watch.

“I have a friend who’s currently being treated very unfair by [District Attorney Willis]. He’s a rapper named Young Thug,” Ross said during the livestream, referencing Willis’ racketeering case against the rapper. “I was just wondering if there’s a way that we could make sure he gets treated fair?”

Donald Trump has previously assisted rappers in escaping difficult legal situations.

After the musician Lil Wayne entered a guilty plea to possessing an illegal firearm at the end of his term in 2021, Trump granted him a pardon.

Additionally, he shortened the 46-month sentence of rapper Kodak Black, who had been found guilty of lying on federal documents in an effort to obtain firearms.

Trump didn’t directly respond to Ross’ question, saying, “He’s gotta be treated fair.”

As the details of the stream spread across social media, observers wondered if Ross was attempting to bribe Trump or whether accepting such an expensive gift constituted some kind of campaign finance violation.

As the two carried on with the broadcast, Trump made one-word remarks about a number of officials and celebrities, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine.

At last, Ross gave Trump a second gift at the conclusion of the stream: a Tesla Cybertruck wrapped with a picture of the president that went viral after he was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

As “YMCA” played, Ross and Trump streamed from the Cybertruck to conclude the broadcast.