"I just didn't want to give people another reason to hate me" - RiceGum explains why he's trying to avoid interacting with Leafy on-stream

During a recent Rumble livestream, Bryan "RiceGum" got together with Nico "Sneako," who asked why the former had not spoken with controversial internet personality Calvin "LeafyIsHere," also known as "Leafy." In response, RiceGum said he was willing to interact with Leafy and reminisced about knowing the permanently banned YouTuber since 2015.

Bryan said he did not want to reconnect with Leafy because the streamer "weaponized" certain things against him. He said that if Calvin had been a "real friend," he would have met with him in person.

Continuing further, the 26-year-old stated that Leafy had been tweeting hateful messages. RiceGum added that he didn't want to be associated with such sentiments because he believed that people on the internet "hated" him:

"In my opinion, just hateful s**t. I mean, you know, he's just hateful. Like just, all these tweets about, like, trans people should kill themselves. All that s**t is so... like... I feel like people already hate me in a certain way. I just didn't want to give people another reason to hate me. I don't even want to be attached to that and I don't even support all that."

The YouTuber also said:

"So, people might think, 'Yo, if you're friends with Leafy, then you might feel the same way he does.' So, I was just trying to avoid all that.'"

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RiceGum says he is open to reconnecting with Leafy off-stream, latter responds

As mentioned, the discussion began when Sneako asked RiceGum why he did not want to interact with Leafy on-stream. The Rumble streamer responded, saying:

"Okay, so I think I'm down to talk to him. You know what I mean? I think I'm down to call him. Okay, so one, I guess - I said I didn't want to talk to him and then he was using it, to kind of like, weaponize me and say, like, I changed. Beacuse, I knew him for a long time. But, to be fair, I mean, I knew him since 2015 or 2016. But we've never met in person. If he was really my friend, maybe we would meet in person."

According to RiceGum, Leafy was adamant about speaking with him during his first-ever Rumble livestream:

"I was down to call him off-stream. Like, he wanted to call me on-stream, on my first stream ever. So, a lot was going on. And then, on the second stream, he just kept blowing me up. But, in my head, I mean, like, bro - I'm all about freedom of speech. He can say whatever he wants."

After claiming that he did not want to be associated with Leafy because of his hateful tweets, RiceGum said the 27-year-old personality could contact him "anytime he wants" off-stream:

"But, you know, he can hit me up off-stream. Anytime he wants. You know? If talking to me is what he really wants to do, then he could talk to me. But, as far as on-stream, I just feel like - I don't know what we have to talk about. You know? S**t like that."

Leafy responds to the Rumble streamer's sentiments (Image via Twitter)

Leafy responded to RiceGum's sentiments earlier today, inviting the Rumble streamer to meet and "square up" their dispute. The latter went on to say that he would address the situation on his livestream.