Why Influencers Treat Fatal Disasters Like Tourist Attractions For Clout

Five people died on a Sunday afternoon when an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport and smashed into a van. Most people felt horror and grief. Livestreamers saw a photo opportunity.

Within hours of the deadly crash, social media creators rushed to the perimeter fence. They pulled out selfie sticks, flashed wide grins, and broadcasted the wreckage to thousands of followers. When the internet erupted in outrage, the creators doubled down. They claimed ignorance, refused to take down the posts, and blamed the backlash for hurting their engagement.

This isn't just about bad taste anymore. It exposes a broken feedback loop where human tragedy gets processed entirely as currency.

The Economy of Outrage and Access

Content creation runs on velocity. If you aren't streaming, you're losing momentum. When a breaking news event happens nearby, digital chasers treat public safety perimeters like VIP lounges.

Kick streamers "ChickenAndy" and "BinxBasilisk" showed up at the Miami crash site roughly four hours after the jet tore through a fence and killed five individuals on the ground. They didn't stumble upon it by accident. They tracked the coordinates, pulled out their gear, and started filming.

The rationale is simple. Shock value drives clicks. Clicks drive ad revenue, subscriptions, and algorithmic push. When you monetize attention, empathy becomes a financial liability.

Playing Dumb Doesn't Work

When the internet called them out, the excuses started flying. The primary defense was simple: "I didn't know anyone died."

Think about that logic for a second. An enormous cargo plane is smashed into pieces against a chain-link fence, emergency services are swarming the area, and a commercial jet is broken open. Even if zero people had died—though five individuals tragically lost their lives—treating an active aviation accident site like a scenic backdrop shows a staggering lack of basic human decency.

Yet, the streamer claimed removing the content would make him look like a "criminal" hiding something. He even threatened to sue the airline for defamation because the backlash hurt his metrics and follower count.

That shift from perpetrator of bad behavior to aggrieved victim is classic influencer playbook material. When accountability arrives, scream censorship or defamation.

Where Platforms Fail

Platforms like Kick, Instagram, and X profit from engagement. Whether people are sharing a post to praise it or express pure disgust, the algorithm counts it as a win.

When creators face zero structural penalties from the platforms hosting them, bad behavior persists. A community note on Instagram can flag a post with context, but if the video already generated thousands of views and monetization ticks upward, the slap on the wrist doesn't matter.

We are training a generation of creators to view real-world suffering through a camera lens. If you want to stop this behavior, stop feeding the machine. Don't share their clips. Don't look at their profiles. Starve the clout economy of the only thing it actually cares about.