French streamer Safine Hamadi has denied responsibility for the death of his colleague, Raphaël Graven, during a live-streaming marathon that lasted 12 days.
Graven, 46, who streamed under the name Jean Pormanove, died in mid-August during a series of controversial broadcasts on the Kick platform. Speaking to RTL on Monday, Hamadi said, “I’m not the one who killed him. None of us killed him.”
Hamadi, 23, explained that the intense stunts shown in the stream were scripted and consensual. “I wasn’t mistreating him, not at all,” he said. “Everything was consensual. We wanted it to be spectacular and \[Graven’s] reactions were just that – exaggerated – so people would clip the videos, talk to Raphaël about us, create more buzz.”
Authorities in Nice confirmed after an autopsy that there was no third-party involvement in Graven’s death.
Hamadi revealed that both he and Graven were paid €6,000 monthly as “actors” by the channel operator, Owen Cenazandotti. He added that the dramatic scenes were part of the plan to grow their audience.
Prosecutors said that Graven and another participant in the channel’s videos had previously denied being abused, confirming that the violent-looking scenes were staged.
Following the incident, French authorities launched investigations into the Kick platform, accusing it of negligence in monitoring extreme content. The company, based in Australia, dismissed the allegations and accused government officials of “political opportunism.”
Paris prosecutors have since opened a separate probe into the platform as the case sparks debate about safety measures and ethics in live streaming.
