It's Sunday and here’s a handpicked selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

But first, a “chicken theme park” is all fun and games until someone gets food poisoning. Omani influencer Ahmed Al-Saadi had a blast strapping whole chickens into theme park rides…and then the health department showed up.

CREATOR COMMOTION

The Fortnite Icon: Addison Rae is the latest creator with a custom Fortnite skin. The TikTok star-turned-pop songstress is pretty in pink as she becomes the latest creator featured in the Fortnite Icon Series. Rae says she started playing Fortnite in high school, and her inclusion in the game will be a “big flex” among her little brothers.

The voice actress: The newest Overwatch hero is voiced by LilyPichu. The Twitch streamer has already voiced characters in games like Genshin Impact and MapleStory 2, and she is now delivering the lines for D.Mon, a newcomer to Blizzard’s popular hero shooter.

The Hulu star: ExtraEmily is sharing her “creator essentials” with teens on Disney+ and Hulu. The media company pocket.watch searched for creators who could appeal to kids and teens through serial, long-form projects, and it found a partner in the form of ExtraEmily. In a 15-episode series subtitled Creator Essentials, Emily Xuechun Zhang will highlight her personality through challenges, adventures, and social experiments.

The Netflix deal: After breaking out on YouTube, where its primary channel counts nearly 100 million subscribers, ChuChuTV is joining the Netflix lineup. The family brand’s animated sing-alongs will be a strong addition for a platform that already offers content from YouTube faves like Ms. Rachel.

TECH TIME

The dubbing tech: Erling Haaland didn’t just thrive on the pitch during the World Cup—he also grew his YouTube channel by leaps and bounds. How did he do it? The AI dubbing startup DittoDub gave him a boost by translating his content into 44 different languages at the start of the World Cup.

The AI backlash: Hank Green is reassessing his AI usage after relying too much on LLMs. Green’s fans revolted after he published a video with a script that felt AI-generated. The vlogbrother admitted that he had become too reliant on engines like ChatGPT, which gave him a dopamine rush while helping him research topics. As he adjusts, he is putting himself on a regimen of limited LLM usage.

The conference: TheWrap and What’s Trending are launching a conference called AI Creator Day. Working together, the two publications will explore the ethics, sustainability, and potential of AI artistry. The event will take place on September 29 in Los Angeles; the next day, TheWrap will host its annual conference, titled TheGrill.

THE BIZ

The layoffs: Last week, TikTok announced that 250 workers will be let go amid the upcoming closure of its Nashville office, which housed members of its moderation team and other employees. No clarification has yet been made about the future of the app’s moderation efforts.

The entrepreneur: A fashion brand built with YouTube’s help is becoming a $12 million business. When she was in college, Hailey Weiner watched YouTube videos to learn how to run a clothing company. That company became Heiress Beverly Hills, a fashion house that is seeing its valuation skyrocket in the mid-2020s. What else can Gen Z entrepreneurs learn from their YouTube watch lists?

The collab: Liquid Death wants some of that MrBeast magic. The purveyor of heavy metal-themed fizzy beverages has a new drink out that tastes like peanut butter cups. The inspiration for that product is Feastables. MrBeast’s snack brand launched its own peanut butter cup last year, and that item has received positive reviews. But will it seltzer?

The $1M program: Kickstarter is investing $1 million in rising artists. With a program it has dubbed the Kickstarter Culture Fund, the crowdfunding will deliver direct payouts to campaigns led by independent artists, filmmakers, and musicians. The idea is to support those projects early on, when a funding injection can generate momentum that pays off (literally) in the long run.

WATCH THIS 👀

The channel: Look, we’re not telling Amazon Prime Video how it should bring its popular franchise to YouTube…but if we were launching Vought on YouTube, we’d aim for accurate lore by having the company operate as a shady multi-channel network.

Consistency aside, we’re not surprised to see Prime bringing clips from The Boys to YouTube, where superhero-inspired content often ends up pushing channels to the top of our weekly subscriber charts.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.