Celebrities You Didn't Realize Were Twitch Streamers

Celebrities are traditionally at the forefront of popular culture. In many ways, they are the trendsetters, boundary pushers, and arbiters of "cool" in their era. Where celebrities go, money and influence follows, so tracking what types of media they are producing can give insight into the future of popular culture.

One trend that has been gaining steam in recent years is that a number of mainstream celebrities have begun bridging the gap between old-school and new-school entertainment by starting their own Twitch channels. Twitch is the largest streaming platform in the world by a healthy margin, and it continues to add big names to its current roster of active streamers.

Twitch's interactivity offers people who already have a dedicated fan base an even easier way to engage with them directly. With its wide variety of content categories — from music production to "Just Chatting," as well as traditional video game streams — Twitch offers a place for just about anybody who is internet-savvy. Here are some of the biggest names to have already joined the fun over on Twitch.

Drake is an impossible figure to miss in popular culture. His fame began before his music career even took off, catching fans' eyes as a cast member in the teen-show "Degrassi." And from there, Drake's career only grew to greater audiences. His seemingly endless list of hit songs has led to publications like Slate questioning whether his fame and success should be considered on the same level as The Beatles.

Drake's extreme level of fame also brought extra attention to the streaming industry when, in March of 2018, he decided to hop into some "Fortnite" lobbies with Twitch star Ninja, alongside fellow celebrities Travis Scott and Juju Smith-Schuster. All the fun was hosted on Ninja's stream, which, at its peak, topped out at over 600,000+ concurrent viewers, breaking the viewership record for an individual stream at the time (per CNET).

However, this chart-topping stream was one of just a few instances in which Drake has directly engaged with the streaming industry. More recently, he's continued his involvement with game streaming by explicitly giving NickMercs permission to use his music on-stream in the midst of widespread copyright strikes on Twitch and YouTube. Also, he randomly gifted an Australian streamer $100,000 in Bitcoin — which was immediately gambled away and lost. 

Drake is a headline-making machine, so every time he interacts with Twitch, its big news for the industry in the eyes of mainstream culture.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, often referred to by her abbreviated initials, AOC, was elected to office in 2019 as the youngest woman to ever serve in the Federal Congress. AOC's prominence in American mainstream culture has grown, in part, due to her connection with younger audiences.

During the "Among Us" craze in 2020, AOC and fellow congresswoman Ilhan Omar took to Twitch to play the game with some of the platform's biggest streamers. At the time, the stream broke concurrent viewership records with over 400,000 viewers. These now-landmark "Among Us" lobbies had the likes of HasanAbi, Pokimane, Disguised Toast, Corpse Husband, and more joining members of Congress to play a social deception game. One particularly popular highlight saw AOC and Ilhan as the Imposters trying to bamboozle the rest of the ship.

AOC has only engaged with Twitch a few times, but she still remains active in live community chats on her Instagram. She returned once to Twitch after her "Among Us" appearance, taking the opportunity to speak directly with younger audiences on Twitch during the GameStop stock rally of early 2021. Twitch offers a ready platform for podcasting, campaigning, and interacting with chat, which allowed AOC to do some outreach while still embracing Twitch's roots in gaming culture.

Back in 2018, the viral meme song "Mooo!" turned Doja Cat into an overnight star. The music video for the track possess many of the traits that Doja Cat has become known and loved for, showcasing a hilarious, irreverent personality backed up by real musical talent. She has also grown her audience by becoming a larger presence on social media. Her hit song "Say So" trended on TikTok and she has since stayed active on Twitter, Instagram, and Twitch.

In February of 2021, Doja Cat tweeted an announcement that she was getting on Twitch. Almost immediately, big streamers like Pokimane, Corpse Husband, and others threw in their support and showed their excitement. That month, Doja began streaming and rapidly grew her channel, but she slowed down and didn't stream much again until June of 2022 (per TwitchTracker).

"Grand Theft Auto Online" has been a fan favorite among her viewers, along with her successful playthroughs of "Five Nights at Freddy's." It also didn't take long for Twitch chatters to start trolling Doja Cat with copypastas (per Dexerto), but that's all part of the fun. She goes live with no cam, but that lo-fi streaming style only seems to amplify her sarcastic sense of humor. Doja's spontaneous presence on the platform should prove interesting to track over time.

Most recognizable from his eponymous MTV series, "The Andy Milonakis Show," which aired between 2005-2007, Andy Milonakis is famous for his absurdist brand of sketch comedy. The theme song for his show, known for bizarrely quotable lines like, "When life gives me lemons, I make beef stew," showcased Andy's early adoption of internet sarcasm and penchant for virality. Originally brought into the mainstream comedy scene by Jimmy Kimmel in the early 2000s, Andy has become a recognizable face in internet culture over the years.

He's been an active part of Twitch since late 2016, when he started heavily streaming during the "Pokemon Go" craze, and he's been all of over the streaming platform ever since. Andy is credited with being one of the pioneers of the IRL streaming category in its current form, where he began documenting his extensive travels (per Insider). His real-life broadcasts have gone in many different directions as he's also engaged with many of the platform's other popular creators. Through his comedy and streaming lifestyle, Andy has remained a constant presence on the internet.

Juju Smith-Schuster is a Pro-Bowl Wide Receiver who attained fame playing football at the University of Southern California and then on the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was then traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2022 offseason. He's racked up a number of his accolades in his time with the NFL (per NFL345), but that's not the only thing he's known for. Juju has also gained a large fanbase outside of his football skills. During his rookie year in 2017, he began streaming to Twitch. He generally plays popular FPS titles like "Call of Duty," "Fortnite," and "PUBG," explaining to CNN that he likes livestreaming as a way of connecting with his fans.

In 2019, the NFL began livestreaming Thursday Night Football games to Twitter and to Twitch. For one of its forays onto the platform, the NFL had TimTheTatMan and Juju Smith-Schuster host a live watch party. Normally, sponsored deals like this have NDAs barring any details from getting out, but Juju accidentally spilled the beans during one of his broadcasts by telling his audience that he was paid $100,000 for that Thursday Night Football watch party (per ESPN). As it turns out, being one of the faces that bridges internet culture and mainstream sports is a lucrative position.

Known to many NBA fans by the abbreviated nickname "KAT," Karl-Anthony Towns is a basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He started his illustrious basketball career playing at the University of Kentucky, where he earned himself a reputation stellar enough to become the first overall draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. In the NBA, he's earned the accolades of All-Star and Rookie of the Year.

KAT's off-the-court life is shaping up to be just as successful as his basketball playing due to the ways in which he has shared his love of video games. From the very start of his fame KAT proudly proclaimed his gamer nature. In 2017, he began streaming to Twitch as a variety streamer, watching anime, interacting with fans in the "Just Chatting" section, and playing popular FPS titles like "Fortnite" and "PUBG."

Some of KAT's most popular streams have been when he's taken a behind-the-scenes look at NBA drama, filling in some of the missing details for fans. Also, his streams about his friend and controversial internet star, JiDion, have brought KAT right into the heart of internet culture.

For Lando Norris, mainstream fame and stardom started following him around even before he reached his teenage years. Lando has been touted as a racing prodigy nearly his entire life, and he has been a full-time Grand Prix driver since 2019, when he was only 19 years old. Lando is known for his wisdom beyond his years, and often displays his creative side through his custom-designed racing gear.

Creative expression doesn't stop there for Lando; he's also been streaming on Twitch since 2017. Somewhat predictably, his most-played title is "iRacing," but he also enjoys playing "Call of Duty: Warzone," and interacting with his fans in "Just Chatting."

According to an interview with ESPN, Lando gives some props to Twitch for helping him find his voice, and he credits his genuine interactions with his fans as helping him through a comeback period in his career. Lando's Twitch streams have clocked in over 100,000+ concurrent viewers at a time, with one particularly memorable moment being when viewers watched him shave off his hair at the end of a charity event.

T-Pain is a Grammy Award-winning rapper, producer, and vocalist most famous for his popularization of auto-tuned vocals in hip-hop. His career especially boomed in the late 2000s, with his features on songs like "Low" going certified diamond — the highest award given to albums based on total units shipped. A perennial chart-topper, T-Pain has left an indelible mark on the music industry.

And luckily for Twitch watchers, T-Pain gives a look behind the curtain, so fans can see how he produces music. Since starting his Twitch channel in 2016, T-Pain has often produced music on-stream while interacting with his chat. His streaming frequency picked up in early 2020, when he began embracing the platform's interactivity and memeing potential even more. Fans who tune in can see he's totally engaged, shouting out subs, asking for a host, and talking himself up with his unique brand of humor.

T-Pain also frequently advocates for creator rights on the internet. In 2021, he opened up on his Twitter about the poor revenue sharing models facing creators on popular music streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music. His activism in the space is paired with his desire to help build it up, as seen when he reached out to Corpse Husband to possibly collaborate on music. T-Pain's career has taken a greater turn toward the digital realm in recent years, and the streaming space is all the better for it.

Mike Shinoda is most well-known as a co-founder of rock band Linkin Park, in which he operates as the band's keyboardist, songwriter, producer, and vocalist, sharing those last responsibilities with late frontman Chester Bennington. The band's major label debut album, "Hybrid Theory," launched the group into mainstream stardom in 2000, peaking at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 and earning the rank of best-selling rock album of the 21st century (per Billboard). Mike is also famous for his founding role in rap group Fort Minor, as well as his work as a graphic designer and artist, with pieces featured at the Japanese American National Museum.

His penchant for pushing genres forward brought him to Twitch in 2020, where Rolling Stone notes he found new connections with his fans during the global pandemic. Like other musical artists on Twitch, Mike likes to reveal parts of his secret sauce of music production. He sticks to a pretty consistent schedule on Twitch, with time mostly split between music production and visual art creation.

Games are not the primary draw in Mike's streams, but he has dipped his toes into the field with titles like "Animal Crossing: New Horizons." One of the most popular gaming-related moments from his channel came when he incorporated a KK Slider vocal from "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" into the song he was producing that day.

Snoop Dogg is an icon of the music industry, where he still ranks as one of the most famous and most popular rappers of all time. The D-O-double-G is well-regarded as a living legend — but even beyond his music career, Snoop is also an incredibly successful businessman.

The west-coast rapper has stayed relevant by embracing internet culture, partly through the Twitch streaming he began in 2017. Although he didn't stream much back then, he was already attuned to the potential of livestreaming, and he picked up broadcasting for fans much more consistently during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He mostly plays sports titles like "Madden" and "NBA 2K." And compared to other celebrities on this list, Snoop Dogg doesn't interact with his chat much –instead, his streaming style is better described as a backstage pass for chill sessions with his friends. His streams are also well-known for some of their hilarious technical issues, which the rapper typically ignores, like one time when Snoop's Twitch audio was accidentally muted for an entire week without him even noticing.

Joel Thomas Zimmerman, known by his professional name of deadmau5, is most recognizable from the iconic mouse helmet he wears during live performances of his electronic music. He's an acclaimed and accomplished DJ with six Grammy nominations under his belt and a career spanning over two decades, and that's even before you get into his streaming success.

An early-adopter of streaming culture, deadmau5 founded his Twitch channel in 2014. He plays games (mainly "PUBG") and creates music while streaming live. During these production streams, fans have seen him build out brand new tracks and even accidentally recreate meme-worthy songs like Darude's "Sandstorm," much to the delight of the chat.

In 2019, he was suspended by Twitch for a hate-speech controversy in one of his streams (per The Verge). After the incident, he deleted his Twitch account and posted a now-deleted statement on Reddit apparently cutting ties with the company. However, since March of 2021, he has been back on the platform streaming.

Kenneth Charles Blume III, a.k.a. Kenny Beats, is an American record producer and audio engineer known for his YouTube series "The Cave." His online presence is massive, with his YouTube series garnering over 60 million views across 35 episodes as of June 2022.

His live production style of inviting in-person guests to join in creating short, specifically-tailored songs lends itself well to Twitch's viewing audience. And so, in 2020, he brought much of what made his YouTube channel popular to Twitch, where he has remained a consistent and popular presence.

However, it hasn't been the easiest road. Kenny's easy-going personality and sense of humor was even stretched thin by Twitch. During one of his earlier livestreams, he vented some frustrations about Twitch's bizarre jargon and the chat's outrageous expectations of creators. Despite these funny qualms, Kenny has brought tons of great artists onto his Twitch streams, pairing up with Vince Staples for a relationship advice stream and jamming with the links of Thundercat and many others. Kenny's approach to combining music production and his social media presence has been a welcome addition to Twitch.

Steve Aoki is a giant in the EDM scene. Over the course of a career spanning over three decades, Aoki has gained fame as one of the top-grossing DJs in the entire industry, receiving multiple Grammy nominations. In 2021, Aoki also gained greater prominence as a digital artist when he sold an NFT piece called "hairy" for a record-setting $888,888.88 (per Insider). Though the record has since been broken, the sale brought even more eyes to Aoki and his work.

Beyond that, he is often seen as a pioneer in the livestreaming space on Twitch. In 2014, his inaugural stream on the platform came as a result from a Twitch poll asking its users if they were interested in watching livestreamed concerts. As noted by Polygon, Twitch quickly got in touch with Aoki to help bring this to reality after a positive audience response.

His livestreaming schedule on the platform really picked up between 2020-2021, as Aoki frequently logged on for "Just Chatting" streams to connect with fans during the pandemic. He also enjoyed playing a bit of "Call of Duty: Warzone," and even joined in on some of the "Pokemon" card-opening streams that were popular at the time.