Image via YouTube/Adin Ross
Who is Adin Ross?
Adin Ross is a Twitch streamer and YouTube personality. He rose to fame by streaming himself playing video games like Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K, but he says he’s more of an “entertainer” than a gamer. He’s known for his loud personality, trolling celebrities with “sus” jokes, and wagering large sums of money on games like 2K.
To put it bluntly, his most recent (and most popular) shtick feels like an exaggerated version of a stereotypical teenage gamer who yells shocking things into his microphone for attention. But Ross has been much more successful at actually getting that attention than most. At the time of this writing, he has three million followers on Twitch, 800,000 followers on Instagram, and nearly one million followers across two YouTube channels, with most of this attention coming over the past few months.
Lately, he’s found even more success by moving away from video games in favor of inviting celebrities (mainly rappers) onto his Twitch streams and YouTube vlogs for pranks and freestyles.He has developed a very deep connection with his followers, who view him as a friend and an inspirational figure. Many of them look up to him for motivation and tune into his streams five or six nights a week.
How did he get popular?
Adin Ross started getting major buzz in early 2020, when he formed a friendly relationship with LeBron James’ son Bronny. The two bet thousands of dollars on games of 2K, which earned Ross his first major viral attention. From there, as he explained during a recent interview on No Jumper, he started hosting “e-dates” on his channel, which opened his eyes to the possibilities of non-video game content.
Spending time at home in Miami near the end of 2020, he played GTA with Tee Grizzley, the first rapper to appear on his streams. In early 2021, he moved to Los Angeles from Florida and hosted a stream in a hot tub with fellow YouTuber and Twitch streamer Corinna Kopf, another viral moment that attracted new followers. Since then, things have been escalating quickly for Ross. He formed a close bond with Sheck Wes and started collaborating with popular hip-hop reaction channel YouTubers ZIAS and B-Lou, who also frequently invite A-list rappers onto t. As his following spiked in April 2021, various rappers have made appearances on air, including Lil Yachty, Lil Tecca, Iann Dior, 24kGoldn, and Lil Tjay.
Ross made headlines in mid-April 2021 when he wrote “Polo G is so fine bro” on Instagram, shortly after trolling him with a “sus” freestyle. This wasn’t the first time he attempted the attention-seeking tactic (in 2020, he replied to a tweet from NFL wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and wrote, “Juju baby you’re so fine”) but he actually got a response when he did it to Polo G. The rapper replied to Ross’ comment, writing, “Aye fo stop playin u goin too far w dat sh*t now.” Getting the attention he wanted, Ross ran with the situation and milked the response for days: discussing it on TikTok, calling Polo G’s brother on the phone, making multiple videos about it, and recording an “apology freestyle.”
Why are rappers always on his stream?
The most obvious answer to this question is: Adin Ross is getting a lot of attention right now, and anyone who appears on his stream will get some, too. “I eat off it, but they do, too,” Ross told Adam22, referring to his frequent celebrity guests. “If a rapper that’s not on like they used to be, and they come onto my sh*t—which is hot right now—right before they drop a single or project, it’s perfect promotion.”
Some of the artists have come through as one-off guests, but others make more frequent appearances. “I’m closest with Sheck Wes,” he explained to Adam22. “I’m not signed to Cactus, but I’m very associated with Cactus Jack, so I work with a lot of the guys down there.” He also hinted at a larger Cactus Jack connection in the works, adding, “I don’t want to say too much, but if they were to do something with gaming, if they were to sign a client with gaming, I would definitely sign with them.”
So how is he making all these connections with rappers in the first place? “It all started with Tee Grizzley,” Ross pointed out on No Jumper, explaining that the Detroit rapper was the first hip-hop artist he streamed with. Tee Grizzley is a Twitch streamer himself, so they connected naturally through the platform. Twitch is also how he connected with Lil Yachty. During one of Yachty’s own streams, Ross jumped in the chat, and the two formed a relationship from there. Now that his audience is growing and he has so much buzz, the connections are happening more easily outside of Twitch, as artists (and presumably labels) are reaching out to get involved with his streams.
Isn’t it weird he’s getting all this attention and fame for making gay jokes?
Yes. A big part of Adin Ross’ whole persona is that he jokes about being gay in front of his celebrity guests and uploads videos of himself being “sus” around them. A sampling of titles from his YouTube videos over the past few weeks includes: “Adin Ross Acts SUS Around Lil Yachty… 😍😂,” “Adin Ross Acts SUS Around His BARBER…,” and “Adin Trolls Zias & Asks Him This… 🍆😂.”
In most of his videos, there are at least a few moments where he makes subtle comments that insinuate he’s gay and then immediately backtracks, saying things like, “Whoa, whoa, I’m not like that.” When he’s not making these jokes, Ross goes out of his way to make it clear that he is, in fact, not gay. He’s quick to point out that he has a girlfriend (PamiBaby) and he’s had girlfriends in the past.
To say the least, it’s surprising to see he’s made it so far by making these kind of outdated and offensive “I’m acting gay, but I’m not really gay” jokes in so many of his streams. The rap world is (finally) starting to outgrow “no hom*o” jokes, and humor like this has been disappearing from mainstream entertainment in recent years. At this point, most people finally realize how offensive it is for the entire punchline of a joke to be someone pretending to be gay. Generally, there’s a better understanding that making a joke out of being gay alienates and diminishes people who are actually gay. In Adin Ross’ streams, though, much of his content revolves around him trying to make guests uncomfortable by acting like he’s gay, and then denying it. By always presenting the idea of being gay as “sus” (or suspect), he’s adding to long-held stigmas.
This all started during freestyle sessions he would do while he played games. In one stream with the Migos’ tour DJ and producer DJ Durel, Adin rapped, “I’m gonna put this white stuff all over Rel’s face. Yeah, he’s going to like that sh*t. Yeah Rel, you like that dick? When it touches your lip? When it goes in your dick? Poppin’ on a beat. Poppin on a beat. I’m about to suck his meat.”
Ross hasn’t received much pushback for these jokes yet, but as his reach continues to extend beyond the gaming world, it seems inevitable that he’ll face more criticism from people who will point out how offensive it is to make a punchline out of being gay. After all the progress that has been made when it comes to acceptance in recent years, you can’t help but feel like we’ve regressed when you watch a video like “I pranked ZIAS *HE GOT MAD*,” where Ross strips to his underwear and sits on ZIAS’ lap while he bench presses, as a joke. In 10 days, the video already has over 1.3 million views.
Throughout Adin Ross’ come-up, he has existed in gamer culture circles where humor like this is more commonplace than it is in other parts of the internet and mainstream entertainment. It’s a world where edgy comments are celebrated, and not scrutinized as much as they are elsewhere. Many of his followers are very young and seem to lack the broader context to consider how these jokes revolve around the implication that the act of being gay is “cringey” and unacceptable.
Has there been any backlash at all?
In mid-April 2021, Twitch temporarily banned Ross’ Twitch account because ZIAS used a hom*ophobic slur during a stream, in response to his jokes. He quickly got his account back, though, and returned to his regular streaming schedule. Ross also received some backlash when he unknowingly rapped the disrespectful lyrics of Yungeen Ace’s “Who I Smoke” song—a diss record that disparages deceased rivals—on stream. But outside of these instances, he has largely avoided controversy and blowback to his jokes so far.
Throughout April 2021, Adin Ross’ name has been a consistent presence on hip-hop social media pages who post his content without second thought about its offensive nature. Outlets like @rapmusic have covered his “beef” with Polo G and pranks with artists like 24kGoldn and Iann Dior heavily. There are two explanations for why he’s suddenly all over these pages. It’s no secret that social media pages like these accept money for promotion, so some have theorized that he’s paying the accounts for coverage. But there’s also the undeniable fact that he’s managed to inject himself into daily hip-hop conversations by having so many interactions with notable rappers, so people are naturally interested in him right now. His back-and-forth with Polo G, in particular, made him a buzzed-about name on rap timelines.
What's next?
Near the end of his No Jumper interview, Ross said he wants to continue expanding and grow his audience as large as possible. As this happens, though, he’s going to leave the bubble of gamer culture that he’s freely operated in up to this point. And as Ross crosses over to more mainstream audiences, it seems likely that he’ll face backlash and resistance from people who will point out the offensive nature of his jokes. He has millions of young followers who look up to him, and it seemshe’s reached a pivotal point in his career.Unless he stops the “sus” content, more serious conversations and controversies feel inevitable in his future.
