Superstar Twitch streamer Amouranth has addressed the controversy her fans raised over her buying two gas stations amid ongoing price hikes at gas pumps across the country.
In November 2021, Amouranth, whose real name is Kaitlyn Siragusa, invested an estimated total of $11 million into a Circle K and 7-Eleven to save money on her taxes, which bemused millions of fans and the press. Now some people are accusing her of buying those gas stations to price gouge customers.
As reported by Dexerto, a fan tweeted to Amouranth that she, along with the rest of the 1%, should be ashamed of herself for getting involved in the oil industry. Amouranth shared a screenshot of the tweet and explained that she’s not responsible for the increase in gas prices, which is now at or over $5 per gallon in most states.
“Gas stations probably fall under ‘distribution’ of the commodity. More gas stations prob puts downward pressure on cost at the pump,” she said. “If you are an oil company and decide to ‘raise the price at the pump’ you’ll go bankrupt in short order because you can’t just unilaterally decide to raise the price of an undifferentiated commodity.”
Some of the reasons for the increase in gas prices are due to Europe and the U.S. banning oil imports from Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, oil supply not keeping up with demand, and a lack of alternatives to Russian oil, even though it accounted for 14% of the global oil supply last year. Amouranth buying two gas stations shouldn’t be added to the list.
