AM Coffee

This morning’s AM Coffee pulled no punches. The show opened with Royce shifting gears from casual Twitch banter into podcast mode and immediately went after TikTok. After a 24 hour marathon stream across Twitch and TikTok, Royce broke down just how broken TikTok’s creator payouts have become. What once offered 40%+ of revenue has now sunk to the low 30s, and the platform hit him with a 20% penalty for “reused content” despite the diamonds being earned legitimately. A payout that should have been $410 went from $340 to $168. For Royce, this wasn’t just about one paycheck it was proof that TikTok’s U.S. future is dead on arrival: lower payouts, weaker creative culture, and fewer opportunities for independent creators. From there, the morning’s rant turned toward Bob Iger. Not because of the current culture war headlines, but because Royce sees Iger as fundamentally weak. In fact, he argued, Michael Eisner’s legacy looks stronger by the day. The Jimmy Kimmel controversy became another example of selective free speech defense with Royce pointing out that late night TV is already a fading institution, more dependent on political narratives than comedy. But the bigger picture was media consolidation. With Oracle circling TikTok and eyeing deals around Paramount and Warner Bros., Royce warned that one company could soon hold Murdoch level power over news, entertainment, and social media algorithms. That kind of control, he argued, threatens culture, politics, and the future of kids growing up on these platforms. The conversation closed with a sharper call: accountability. TikTok, Discord, X, and Rumble have all been used to broadcast violence or enable exploitation, yet they remain shielded. Without real content moderation and legislation, the cycle continues. The grip of greedy tech companies and broken media giants has a firm hold on our future. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit roycedorazio.substack.com/subscribe