Twitch partner Kaceytron got people talking by livestreaming the 2015 horror film The Witch in its entirety without much commentary while also collecting donations for her ongoing copyright lawsuit defense. During the hours-long broadcast, Kaceytron barely added any input to the A24 film, spending most of her time on screen smoking marijuana.
The stream comes at a pretty sensitive time since Kaceytron is currently involved in legal proceedings over alleged copyright infringement. Reports suggest the lawsuit was brought by fellow content creator Ethan Klein as part of a broader wave of legal actions against streamers who make “react content”—a popular format where creators watch and respond to existing media.
“React content” lands in a tricky legal area on platforms like Twitch. While many creators aim to stay within fair use by adding a lot of commentary, criticism, or transformative parts, Kaceytron’s broadcast of The Witch didn’t seem to have these protections. No overlays or extra visuals showed up during the film, and viewers say she barely said anything during the stream.
This isn’t the first time Kaceytron has streamed copyrighted films. According to her audience, she’s previously broadcast unreleased movies on her channel, which could make her legal problems worse. That stands in stark contrast to her current efforts to raise money for her copyright defense.
Kacey Caviness (Kaceytron’s real name) has been on Twitch since 2012, first becoming well-known for her satirical “gamer girl” content before switching to more personality-based streams. Her latest choices show the ongoing tension between content creators, platforms, and copyright holders.
Twitch’s copyright enforcement has generally been more laid-back than YouTube’s Content ID system, working mostly through DMCA takedowns instead of scanning content ahead of time. This setup has let streamers push the boundaries with copyrighted material, though it’s unusual for someone to do that while also dealing with a copyright lawsuit.
