"If you don't enjoy it, skip it" - GMHikaru responds to those criticizing his gambling content on Kick

Popular streamer and Chess Grandmaster Hikaru "GMHikaru" Nakamura has responded to criticism of his recent content. For those out of the loop, on April 26, 2024, GMHikaru hosted his first-ever gambling livestream on Kick. This quickly went viral on social media, with Hans Niemann commenting on the situation.

While Niemann did not specifically name Hikaru, he did state that his "main competition" was actively promoting an unregulated gambling platform to his audience. Expressing his optimism at becoming number one on Chess.com, Hans Niemann tweeted:

"I'm optimistic about getting #1 on Chess.com, as it seems my main competition is busy promoting an unregulated gambling site to their underage audience."

The following day (April 27, 2024), Neimann seemingly threw shade at GMHikaru by commenting on his viewership. He remarked:

"Going from 20k viewers with an embed to 1,300 views whilst gambling for almost five hours is karma at its finest. Instead of promoting gambling to my audience, I'm making a Chess course that provides real value to my fans, some of which is free."

On April 29, 2024, Hikaru took to X to announce his livestreaming schedule for the upcoming week. He also addressed criticism of his gambling content, stating that if someone does not "enjoy it," they can "skip it."

He added:

"This is the schedule for next week's chess streams. I'm streaming right now on (link to his official Kick channel) for an 18+-only casino stream. If you don't enjoy it, skip it and I'll see you back in the Chess world. If you are an adult and enjoy some gamba (gambling content), come visit!"

Hans Niemann's tweets that were seemingly directed at Hikaru Nakamura (Image via X)

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"We aren't owed anything from you" - Fans react to GMHikaru's response to criticisms about his gambling content on Kick

GMHikaru is one of the most prominent figures in the livestreaming and Chess communities, having joined Twitch in September 2015. On March 29, 2023, the Japanese-American personality surprised fans by revealing that he had signed with Kick.

After more than a year of broadcasting on the Stake-backed platform, Hikaru finally hosted his first gambling stream on April 26, 2024.

As mentioned earlier, he addressed the criticisms on April 29, 2024, and several netizens have chimed in with their thoughts. Some fans supported the 36-year-old, with X user @RooceColer writing that GMHikaru had "given a lot of content" to the Chess community and that his followers "aren't owed anything" from him.

Fans react to the Chess streamer's recent tweet 1/2 (Image via X)

On the other hand, some followers were not pleased with GMHikaru's decision to gamble on his livestreams, with X user @crispakarati writing that the Chess streamer had "sold his soul":

Fans react to the Chess streamer's recent tweet 2/2 (Image via X)

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A few days ago (April 25, 2024), Hikaru responded to Magnus Carlsen's claims that he could beat him in a Chessboxing match by telling the latter to "come with 10 million bucks."