The streaming community continues to embarrass Kamala Harris's campaign as the efforts to sway the youth vote continue to backfire.
As RedState reported previously, the wildly popular streamer Kai Cenat noted during a stream that the Secret Service had reached out to him in order to collab with a campaign. At the time, everyone assumed it was the Harris campaign, as there had been multiple confirmations from other influencers and streamers that they had been contacted for collaborative purposes.
(Embarrassing: Harris Campaign's Attempt to Use Popular Streamers to Astroturf Support Backfires)
The Harris campaign told TMZ it had never reached out to Cenat, but as Cenat noted after reading the TMZ article, he never said Kamala Harris's name, and he insisted that he would never lie. Cenat still has not said that Harris explicitly reached out to him, unwilling to get involved in politics.
*LANGUAGE WARNING*
Notice how Kamala Harris twists her words to throw Kai Cenat under the bus? pic.twitter.com/JNBEqV7PEJ
— Doc Reichenbach (@DocReichenbach) August 14, 2024
It appears that this is the Harris campaign attempting to throw Cenat under the bus in an effort to save face, despite the fact that Cenat never actually dropped Harris's name.
TMZ says that there has been a third party affiliated with the DNC convention team attempting to talk to him, and that these talks began prior to Biden dropping out of the race. However, if Cenat's video is true, then this is a lie, and the attempts to collaborate with him have been ongoing.
However, we do have evidence that Harris has been reaching out to various streamers and influencers and offering to pay them to either do collaborations or promotions for Harris and the Democrat Party. For instance, one influencer forwarded an offer email to Arizona Republican Jake Hoffman containing an offer for an Instagram influencer to create three posts promoting Harris for "compensation."
As RedState reported on Wednesday, a TikTok influencer named Lauren Mochen also came forward to reveal she, too, was offered to post videos talking up Kamala Harris but turned it down, warning everyone that influencers singing her praises are likely being paid to do so.
(READ: Another Influencer Comes Forward Exposing Harris Campaign Paying for Support)
Moreover, another streamer named Faze Ronaldo, who has over one million followers, has come forward demanding that Harris's campaign stop reaching out to him.
*LANGUAGE WARNING*
Kamala Harris is trying to stream with FaZe Ronaldo but he turned it down pic.twitter.com/lJ8FYzq6Ip
— FaZe HQ (@FaZe_HQ) August 7, 2024
It is unconfirmed if Ronaldo was reached out to, but if the pattern of reaching out to popular streamers holds, then the likelihood of him telling the truth is higher.
As I wrote on Wednesday, while it's embarrassing that the Harris campaign is being openly turned down by so many people, the strategy isn't at all stupid. The modern celebrity is no longer a Hollywood denizen, but a streamer or influencer that can come from anywhere and has a large, rabid following powered by parasocial relationships.
Many of these people want to attract the biggest audience they can and, thus, refuse to engage in politics for fear of alienating half their base. That said, the power of utilizing influencers to sway opinion can't be denied, and perhaps Republicans should start looking into doing the same.
(READ: Why Americans Are Still Easily Swayed by Democrat Lies)
Join the conversation as a VIP Member