Popular YouTube host accuses Wall Street Journal of canceling over $26,000 in donation funds
The host of late-night YouTube show ‘The Ralph Retort Killstream’ is fighting back against the Wall Street Journal for allegedly canceling donations from a charity stream, meant to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
Killstream is known for both its controversial guests and similarly toxic chat. Users have been known to take advantage of YouTube’s Super Chat system to buy and pin toxic messages in the live chat, further defaming the stream’s reputation.
This prompted show host Ethan Ralph to fight back by holding a charity stream to benefit St. Jude’s, a research hospital for children with catastrophic diseases. However, YouTube’s new policy on harmful Super Chats has caused a major rift between Ralph and the platform, as well as the Wall Street Journal – which he is now accusing of taking money away from sick children.
I have spoken with @TheRalphRetort and he has forwarded the email to me, from the Wall Street Journal reporter. (See the date as October 31st? That likely means the article was meant to come out on November 1st. )#WSJKillsKids pic.twitter.com/dfjqNZdPP7
— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) November 2, 2018
Ralph claims that an upcoming article from the Wall Street Journal pressured YouTube into taking action against his stream, causing the company to cancel over $26,000 in donations, which St. Jude’s is now reportedly refunding.
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An email taken from a journalist at the WSJ claims that the Ralph Retort livestream is featured in an upcoming piece, which will detail how the alt-right is using YouTube’s Super Chat function to spread to ‘problematic’ ideology.
#WSJKillsKids pic.twitter.com/pcjKSPlSe5
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) November 2, 2018
Ralph has stated that his controversial show centers on the concept of free speech, and many fans of the stream hold that the show is not toxic in and of itself – including Drama Alert host KEEMSTAR, who uploaded a series of Twitter videos explaining the debacle.
Ethan Ralph has since claimed that all of his affiliate channels have been deleted from YouTube, and has come out with a campaign against the WSJ, named #WSJKillsKids.