Lithuania will not pay for the recent visit to Vilnius by YouTube star Darren Jason Watkins, known as IShowSpeed, if reports that he plans to travel to Russia are confirmed, the Economy and Innovation Ministry said on Tuesday.
"First of all, Travel Lithuania hasn’t even received an invoice yet. Second, under the influencer team’s proposal, Russia was not on the list of countries included in the European tour,” Karolis Vaitkevičius, an adviser to the economy minister, told BNS.
“If the information that the influencer will travel to Russia is confirmed and an invoice is submitted, it will not match the agreed proposal and will not be paid,” he added.
According to Vaitkevičius, IShowSpeed’s possible trip to Russia is sufficient reason not to pay for the social media star’s visit.
Travel Lithuania, the government’s tourism promotion agency, has reportedly agreed to pay 20,000 euros for IShowSpeed’s streamed visit to the country.
Latvia’s Economy Minister Viktors Valainis voiced a similar stance earlier on Tuesday, saying that IShowSpeed’s visit to his country has not yet been paid for either.
The American social media star visited Lithuania in mid-July. The project was coordinated with Latvia and Estonia, where he also made stops.
IShowSpeed is a YouTube and Twitch streamer with around 40 million followers, known for his high-energy reactions and gaming content.
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