Surely you’ve seen one of those videos where a streamer or YouTuber reacts to another video in complete silence, acting as a mere spectator. Apparently, that’s considered valid content in 2023: duplicating what someone else has done and adding nothing more than occasional monosyllabic expressions of approval. The problem arises when this “content creator” is confronted. This is exactly what happened to xQc, one of Twitch‘s top five most influential streamers, who revealed his true colors when appearing on a podcast to discuss, ironically, copyright and content.
You are a worm
Félix Lengyel, aged 27, with his distinctive blonde mane, has become a millionaire through Twitch and, to a lesser extent, Kick. Despite launching his career as a professional ‘Overwatch’ player, he’s better known for his streams, where he occasionally serves as a sort of commentator. He plays videos or movies he feels like watching and, at least in theory, provides commentary. The issue is that, quite obviously, he doesn’t actually do so.
xQc appeared on the H3 Podcast precisely to discuss protected content and copyright, and he did so in a manner that, frankly, isn’t what you’d expect from someone well beyond their teenage years. When the host pointed out that the original videos received fewer views each time he posted a reaction to them, Lengyel responded with stammering, until the most embarrassing and unbelievable moment imaginable arrived.
The streamer took off his headphones, said, “People would rather watch me do the damn worm,” and proceeded to crawl on the ground for a cringe-inducing few seconds, only to end it by asking, “How about that, idiots?” Shortly after, H3 Podcast cut his connection, stating that it was clear he had nothing interesting to contribute from the moment he started acting foolishly instead of engaging in a debate.
During the discussion, host Ethan Klein, who became famous precisely for his reaction videos and won a lawsuit because they were deemed transformative enough to become something quite distinct, made xQc admit that he’s “not particularly concerned” about the legality of the matter and that those videos were “non-transformative crap.” Not bad for someone who pulls in $94,000 a month just from those videos. Perhaps doing the worm wouldn’t bring him as much profit as he believes, right?
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.
