Bystander screams abuse at Ninja as he feeds the homeless during Super Bowl trip
NinjaAs the most popular Twitch streamer in the world, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins has superseded many of his peers and broken out into ‘mainstream’, beyond just gaming – but a certain amount of internet toxicity he cannot get away from.
As part of his growing brand, Ninja was invited out to the Super Bowl in Atlanta, and even featured in a commercial for the big match alongside the biggest names in the sport.
He and his wife/manger Jessica ‘JGhosty’ Blevins, and fellow streamer Tim ‘TimTheTatman‘ Betar, were even spotted on the ‘celebrity’ cam during the match, proving the growing mainstream appeal of gaming entertainment.
Ninja setting out for his Super Bowl trip with wife JGhosty.Ninja is generally well-liked, but with extreme popularity also comes a side helping of extreme negativity, albeit from a small portion of the community.
Typically, this negativity would be consigned to Twitch chats, Twitter and YouTube comments, but as Ninja’s brand moves out-with the confines of the internet, it appears these “haters” are following.
JGhosty explains that while she and her husband were handing out leftover catering food to the homeless in Atlanta, one such hater hurled abuse at Ninja, in a public setting.
After the Super Bowl in Atlanta, @Ninja and I didn't go out. Instead, we packed up a ton of the extra suite food employees are required to throw away, and drove around giving it to the homeless. While doing this, someone screamed horrible things at Tyler. It breaks my heart.
— Jess Blevins (@JGhosty) February 7, 2019
JGhosty, a popular streamer in her own right, explains that some ‘fans’ only see Ninja as the ‘video game streamer’, and not a more human side to him.
We are trying to do something so good in this position we've been blessed to have & unfortunately we'll never be able to show that to everyone. People just see Tyler streaming games or us traveling & make their opinions. We want to change the world. That's always been the goal.
— Jess Blevins (@JGhosty) February 7, 2019
Ninja’s influence has likely outgrown even his own expectations, thanks to a year of rapid growth over 2018, which saw his following on social medias expand ten times over.
He now sits with over 13 million followers on Twitch – he had only 874,000 on January 1, 2018 – which puts him eight million followers ahead of the second most followed streamer, Michael ‘shroud‘ Grzesiek.
Ninja gave an estimate of his earnings in 2018 of around $10 million, but this is likely a very conservative estimate. He has contributed constantly to charity efforts however, and even during his Super Bowl trip, was involved in a fundraising raffle, raising thousands for national disaster charity BBQ Relief.
