Kai Cenat is no stranger to the spotlight, but the internet gave him a shiny new moniker: Chancellor of the “Black Ivy League.” Fine, not literally, but in the wake of the internet taking one look at the student roster of his newly-minted “Streamers University,” which was the nickname, some were quick to give the latest and most unofficial HBCU on the block.
Kai Cenat, content king, and streamer supreme, recently introduced what he’s calling “Streamers University,” a space, project, and experience where up-and-coming content creators can gather, learn, and vibe out. Gen Z’s dream gig or what? But the internet did what it did, and it focused on one detail: everyone who was enrolled appeared to be Black.
Threadbared10 said… I’ve heard from chit-chat in the fashion blogosphere that a few online users, mostly white, supposedly began grumbling about how the space is not diverse enough. They quickly escalated to cries of exclusion and the process being too racially skewed. Others, perhaps more jocular than heated tones, dubbed it an HBCU for streamers.
There might be more diversity than any critic would care to recognize. Hell, a scroll through the footage shows at least one white participant and one Asian video game streamer, so the idea that this is some private, closed-door, Black-only club strikes as more like projection than fact.
This entire uproar overlooks the reality that streaming isn’t precisely a gated community. There are scores of tools, courses, and platforms where anyone can learn the craft regardless of background. It wasn’t as though Kai was a prolific sampler of other people’s things: Kai didn’t corner the market so much as he made a lane. And if that lane just so happens to reverberate with the Black community, that’s not exclusion. That’s culture doing what culture does: finding its people.
Oh, and Drake was the commencement speaker. Drizzy himself educated the people at this university. And T.I.’s son, King Harris, is also said to be trying to. So, if it wasn’t already a moment, it is now.
Kai Cenat didn’t invent streaming, but he sure changed who gets to lead in it. And for many people who have never seen themselves at the top of digital spaces, that matters. He’s not closing doors; he’s opening one that has been kept shut for far too long for the people who want access.
So, if you feel left out, don’t whine. Stream harder, stream smarter, or build your own “Streamer U.” Just don’t lash out at someone else’s shine because it doesn’t revolve solely around you.
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