Mom of streamer who died live on Kick defends creators accused of 'torturing' her son
Warning: This article contains allegations of violence, which some readers may find distressing.
The streaming world is facing more uncomfortable questions about safety, as French streamer Raphaël "Jean Pormanove" Graven was pronounced dead following a Kick livestream.
There has been an uncomfortable run of streamers dying while live, including TikTok creator Valeria Márquez, a Chicago man going live on Facebook, and YouTube star Finny Da Legend. While Pormanove wasn't shot while live on stream, he was allegedly subjected to 10 days of 'torture' during popular streams that saw him become the fourth most-watched channel globally.
These kinds of depravation streams, where people can donate money to put people in increasingly humiliating situations or deny them sleep, are not uncommon.
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Still, some claim Pormanove's story is even more tragic due to a 'heartbreaking' final message sent to his mother.
As the police investigation continues, Kick could face an AUD$49,000,000 fine, although it has also vowed to launch its own investigation into what happened, and said the others involved in the streams have been banned.
Those include creators Owen "Naruto" Cenazendotti and Safine Hamadi, who took part in streams with Pormanove. The pair is accused of physically abusing the 46-year-old, forcing him to ingest substances, and depriving him of sleep.
The autopsy reveals that Pormanove's death "was not traumatic in origin," and that his passing was "not related to the intervention of a third party."
As for Cenazendotti and Hamadi, Jean Pormanove's mother isn't laying blame at their door. Confirming that they attended her son's small funeral nine days after his death, Joelle told The Daily Mail she doesn't want the pair to be blamed: "People are talking nonsense, and you shouldn’t listen to what they say."
Continuing to defend Cenazendotti and Hamadi, she continued: "These are great people here. We have to do our best to help them as much as possible.
"They are really great people because Jean was able to do so much with them. They have values. JP was able to do things with them he wasn't able to do back home."
Praising them for helping bring her son to the attention of the world, Joelle said: "He had a life, he had a good life, they gave him a good life, he was single but he enjoyed his life. I'm proud of them and I want to thank them for it. I'm not afraid to say it."
She also asked for others to support them, reiterating they only hurt her son 'once' in the gym. JP's mother says that they left their work at the door, and what's seen on a stream isn't a true representation of Cenazendotti and Hamadi: "They are generous people. They are great people. What happens in the live stream, is in the live stream what happens off the live stream is off the live stream."
Despite saying their streams were scripted and they take 'no responsibility' for Pormanove’s death, Cenazendotti and Hamadi remain banned from Kick. Similarly, the streaming platform has also cut ties with its French social media agency for using images of Pormanove to promote merchandise.