KICK signs Mizkif after months of controversy as he announces he’s joining the dark side

Michael Hassall Published December 16, 2025

Streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo has officially joined Kick, as per a Star Wars-themed announcement on Dec. 15. The streamer, whose notoriety had primarily been focused on Twitch, now joins the rival platform.

In the announcement, viewed over 5 million times at the time of writing, Mizkif battles cloaked figures, before ‘joining the dark side.’ The streamer also announced he’d be giving away $20,000 via sweepstakes to celebrate his move to KICK.

KICK signs controversial streamer Mizkif in Star Wars-themed announcement

Image credit: Mizkif

The move comes after several months of controversy for Mizkif. In October, 2025, Mizkif was accused of numerous incidents of misconduct by his roommate Emiru. In a public livestream, detailed years of inappropriate touching and sexual assault, domestic abuse, stalking, and threats of blackmail. Emiru explained that she’d been reluctant to stream or create content due to Mizkif’s behavior.

Emiru and Mizkif had been in a relationship for several years, but that had ended in 2024. In a response, Mizkif admitted his attempts to control Emiru, explaining he’d told her to dress older, stop wearing pajamas, and prevented his fellow streamer from travelling without him – a public admission of several aspects of his controlling behavior.

However this isn’t the first time Mizkif courted controversy. For seemingly his entire career, Rinaudo has pinballed between remarkable incidents. In 2019 he was banned from PAX East after insensitive jokes were made towards a fellow streamer, before being unbanned later. In 2020 he was a cofounder of streaming group One True King (OTK), which became embroiled in numerous controversies.

Then, in 2022, he was a accused by KICK co-founder Tyler “Trainwreck” Nignam of attempting to cover up a sexual assault. The accusations also led to the uncovering of racist and sexist comments made by the streamer. This led to his temporary removal from OTK. In 2023, he was banned multiple times from Twitch for live streaming copyrighted and banned content on the platform.

Now the controversial livestreamer joins KICK . The streamer had previously stated in June that he would not go to KICK because “Their owner made me try to kill myself,” an apparent reference to Trainwreck.

“I will not go to Kick, period. That’s it. Why? Their owner made me try to kill myself. I will not go to Kick.”

 – Mizkif on a move to Kick in June.

Since then, much has changed for Miskif. With a declining audience and a lot of ire directed towards him, he’s moved to a platform which could give him a fresh start. Albeit with Mizkif admitting he’s joined “the dark side.”

Featured Image via Mizkif