The Sidemen charity match is one of the largest charity events organized by any YouTube channel. The group, comprising prominent YouTubers such as KSI, Miniminter, and Minecraft legend Vikstar 123, first organized a match in 2016, and the 2023 match marked the fifth edition.
All the funds raised from this event are donated to various charities worldwide, including the Teenage Cancer Trust, CALM, MM7 Education, and Rays of Sunshine. The Sidemen are widely praised for using their audience for a good cause, but it appears that the Premier League has taken issue with it.
Premier League blocked the Sidemen charity match
The Sidemen charity match took place on September 9, 2023, with thousands attending the stadium and millions watching the live stream on the Sidemen YouTube channel. The match featured prominent figures like Mr. Beast and IShowSpeed, and the final result favored the Sidemen, with a score of 8-5.
Overall, it was a successful event, and the organizers managed to raise a substantial amount of money for donations. However, the Premier League has recently issued a copyright claim on the YouTube stream without providing a clear reason.
Many fans reported that the stream became inaccessible, displaying the message, ‘This video contains content from FA Premier League, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.’ It remained blocked for several hours but was later restored due to public demand.
The Sidemen charity match took place at London Stadium, which is a Premier League-registered venue. Speculation suggests that this association with a Premier League venue could have been the reason behind the strike.
Not only fans but the members of the group were also perplexed by this incident. English Youtuber/Boxer KSI expressed his confusion by tweeting, “Lmao how is this even possible?!?!”.
Sidemen charity raised over $2.5 million
The Sidemen charity match raised over £1 million in 2022, breaking their own record this year. The 2023 event successfully generated a total of £2,419,429. Group member KSI and his business partner Logan Paul also donated £250,000 from their own accounts. The Sidemen themselves were not expecting this and were surprised by the numbers. ‘All of our team put together something we could never have imagined,’ said Vikstar 123.
The stream got over 2.5 million live viewers. It is still available on the Sidemen YouTube channel and currently has 22 million views. The donations are still open and fans can help the cause by donating through the website.
