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EVERYONE PAYS THE FANUM TAX
GQ US|February 2025
He got big by streaming videos of his gaming exploits. He got huge (like, millions-of-fans huge) streaming videos of his offline life. Now, one of Gen Z's wildest success stories explains his plans to revolutionize the rest of the media landscape.
- By KIERAN PRESS-REYNOLDS
EVERYONE PAYS THE FANUM TAX

ONE DAY LAST FALL, the Twitch streamer Fanum sat down at his computer and got to work—which, in his case, meant zoning out while that appeared to his millions of fans, but would baffle most folks over 30. He streamed himself, like, in a summer camp, along with nonstop inane activities. He began with a Vietnam-era Muling (went to a Vietnamese restaurant, ordered a meal, ate it) and then hit a Publix supermarket with fellow creator Jynxzi. He’d then meet up with another streamer, Speedy. Fanum cracked a few ran up on him, scape in the freezer aisle. Later, he and Jynxzi filled their Jenga blocks, like, pro file, appraising the women they came across; playing basketball and carried pumpkins together. All the while, Fanum’s monologue interacted with the way the Twitch chat filled the space with messages into a kind of unhinged DJ set’s worth of sound effects to fill the empty space. He signed off after more than six hours.

Say Fanum, though, to most adults, and you’ll be met with blank bewilderment. But mention him to any Twitch-using tween and they’ll spasm like a wind-up fidget toy. A 27-year-old Fanum, for his part, is among the most prominent—and perhaps most charming—of a new class of entertainers who represent the future of entertainment. For older generations, the idea of a young adult culture be based around sitting, chatting and hanging with friends might be confounding. Maybe the best way to think of it is like public access TV shows, only up to the public access TV of the 2020s, only if public access TV could be very rich.

This story is from the February 2025 edition of GQ US.

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This story is from the February 2025 edition of GQ US.

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